Cuban to Launch UFC-Style Fighting Show

By Chelsea Mueller Tue., Sep. 11 2007 at 3:29 PM

Apparently, Cubes ain’t content just dancing with the stars. Tomorrow, our favorite billionaire will announce a new show on his cable network called HDNet Fights, which isn’t much different than the Friday Night Fights show the network has already been airing. The main difference is that instead of relying on promoters to come up with fight cards, the Benefactor is now the promoter himself.

The announcement comes just weeks after a record crowd turned out for Art of War III, a pay-per-view Mixed Martial Arts fight card held at American Airlines Center. HDNet was set to air the event, but backed out over a scheduling conflict. Pay-per-view numbers are yet to come in, but the fight's promoters -- Sun Sports and Entertainment of Addison -- say the event was a success. Besides Tony Romo, Michael Irvin and a few other local celebrities, the bloody fight card drew nearly 8,000 fans to the AAC for an event MMA aficionados called impressive.

Weird thing is Cubes' new venture is in the hands of people who used to work for Sun. The fighters contracted to appear on the show are also former Art of War fighters.
But Sun Chief Buckeye Epstein says he has no hard feelings toward Cuban.

“Anybody that enters the business validates what we’re doing. We’ve had a real good relationship with Mark and we see that continuing,” Epstein says. “We’re in the business of promoting fights and he has a network that promotes fights, so it makes sense that we would work together.” -- Jesse Hyde