From the minute billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban announced his entry into mixed martial arts, it was assumed that the price tag for free-agent heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko would skyrocket.
That may yet turn out to be true.
But somehow, I get the feeling that Cuban, the maverick owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, isn't ready to sink his teeth into the big-name market yet.
Cuban's cable television channel, HDNet, which he says is available in more than 65 million homes, has plans to compete directly with the 800-pound gorilla of MMA promoters, the UFC.
HDNet will broadcast a fight card on Oct. 13 from the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
It will mark the first steps in a journey that Cuban hopes ends at the highest level of the business. That can only be good news for MMA fans, who could use someone to challenge the UFC to spur competition.
Guy Mezger, the former UFC fighter whom Cuban appointed as commissioner of HDNet Fight, believes there is plenty of room for both companies
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