The UFC has called a press conference for today at 2:00 pm eastern. Instead of audio-only, they’ve informed the press there will be video of this announcement as well. In terms of clues, there’s not much besides speculation. Below I will handicap various possibilities.
The return of Tito Ortiz: The announcement that they’ve re-signed Tito Ortiz is almost surely coming tomorrow morning. All the hints in the world are out there, and I expect we’ll see Dana White and Tito Ortiz shake hands tomorrow for the first time in a long time. Given their problems finding main events for shows lately, he is a welcome and necessary addition to the roster. I think that coming off a major surgery they should give him an easy first fight, but there are no easy fights at 205, and they may throw him to the wolves right away.
A Deal with Fedor Emelianenko: Before last night, some people held onto hope that they were saving the announcement for Friday and were just playing coy Wednesday. That is not the case. There’s a reason they leaked that deal to Carmichael Dave, the deal is dead. As a fan, I’ve given up on the idea of Fedor ever coming to the UFC. We should all just hope to see Fedor fight against top competition elsewhere, because it’s not happening in the UFC.
Declaration of war on Strikeforce: I’m half-joking, but the friendly relationship between the companies is all but over. I expect them to start counter-promoting Strikeforce events and poaching fighters that score a few wins in a row. I’ve heard they are already looking to grab Diaz, Shields, and Rogers if they continue winning. Strikeforce better find a way to secure these guys. Along similar lines, everyone should listen closely to whether or not Dana says anything specific about Affliction’s contracts and who has the rights to use these fighters.
Network deal: Ah the elusive network deal. I’ve heard the same rumors everyone else has about ESPN. They announced a UK deal with ESPN yesterday, which is a good sign for a U.S. deal, but it doesn’t mean there will be any kind of partnership here. The holy grail for a network deal is ABC, because it affiliates them with ESPN and guarantees mainstream sports coverage on a near-regular basis. What are the odds of it? I’m a pessimist at heart, I’d put it at 10 to 1.
I always try to keep my hopes low for these things so as to not be disappointed. I’m expecting Tito Ortiz, anything else will be a moderate surprise.