A few months ago, it was reported on Sherdog radio that the rumored UFC/CBS deal was going to put UFC 81 on CBS. Ever since then, without any real confirmation, the entire MMA community has taken that report as fact and has assumed that was the plan. It's worth noting that in the same show, the host reported that he heard Couture and the UFC had reached a settlement allowing Couture to go to HDNet fights.
The UFC 81 show deal never made much sense to me. The Lesnar debut will probably draw, and sacraficing the buyrate on that one is a lot of money. Further, if the talks were back on because of the strike, CBS would be needing fresh mid-week content, not sports specials on a couple Saturdays a year. I always thought a better deal for the UFC would be some sort of weekly slot for a show combining the idea of Unleashed and Inside The UFC. Show fans some great fights, hype up the shows, and keep the big ones on PPV. Either that, or a series of mid week live shows a la UFN.
One of the problems right now for UFC is maintaining momentum. For non-internet fans, there's no steady stream of news or regular programming. TUF does not count. Inside The UFC was a great show, but it looks like it is gone for now, and a widely watched similar show might really help get new fans into things.
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