This one flew under the radar and is not a monumental event in and of itself, but is certainly worth recognition:

Brazilian sports fans now have access to the best mixed martial arts ( MMA ) fights in the world, as the Ultimate Fighting Championship® ( UFC® ) and Globosat today announced a three year television distribution agreement to show UFC events on two Globosat channels – Premiere Combate and SporTV.

Starting with UFC 92: THE ULTIMATE 2008, Premiere Combate, a Globosat subscription channel, will air all UFC live events per year, along with an active schedule of other UFC programs including UFC® Fight Night™ events, UFC® All Access™ and UFC® Unleashed™. These popular UFC series feature riveting fight action such as knockouts and historic mega-fights, as well as training highlights and behind-the-scenes action and commentary.

Also launching with UFC 92, the Globosat premium channel SporTV will feature five UFC live events on its annual programming lineup, as well as a one-hour weekly highlight series “SporTV Combate” to continue in early 2009.

“We are thrilled to have the world’s most exciting live sports event – the UFC – available through Globosat,” said Dana White, UFC President. “We have over 20 Brazilian fighters in the UFC, including our Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva, Interim Heavyweight Champion “Minotauro” Nogueira, Wanderlei Silva, Lyoto Machida, Gabriel Gonzaga, and the list goes on and on. Now fight fans in Brazil can see their fights and follow their favorite fighters starting December 28th with “Minotauro” and Wanderlei at UFC 92.”

“We are very happy to be able to show the UFC for another three years, this is the event that our subscribers continually request,” said Elton Simões, Globosat’s premium channels director. “We are certain this deal will allow Globosat to deliver the best mixed martial arts fights in the world.”

The bigger fish here is SporTV (although it's cable) as the scope of their coverage is wider, the network is older and more established and is mainstream enough within Brazil to offer "Football World Cup, the Olympic Games, the Pan American Games, the Brazilian Football Championship, the Gymnastics World Cup, the Volleyball World League, the Wimbledon and US Open tennis tournaments, basketball tournaments and several other tennis, in-door soccer, athletics, swimming and surfing events, in addition to the best of car racing, in Brazil and abroad." Again, this deal isn't some sort of game changer, but these small steps set up over time larger moves within markets. There likely isn't much money in promoting a ton of events in Brazil given the economic climate, but there is importance is further cemeting MMA as a worldwide sport carried by the worldwide leader in the UFC. This only faciliates the process of  establishing a clear delineation of fight promotion hierarchy for aspiring fighters in a country with arguably one of the richest traditions in fight sport.