In a press release made today on UFC.com the UFC announced a new deal with AB Groupe’s RTL9 to bring UFC millions of French speaking homes across several countries.

Over 150,000 French fight fans have been tuning into UFC Unleashed since its RTL9 premiere in December 2008.

“I’m very excited that the UFC has hit the RTL9 airwaves and that from here on in, French and French-speaking mixed martial arts fans won’t miss out on any of the action from inside the Octagon,” said Dana White, UFC President. “As well as UFC Unleashed, fans also get to see the biggest and best events in all of combat sports. Next up is UFC 95 from London – which is a completely stacked card featuring some of the most exciting talents in the UFC.”

In addition to France, other territories covered in the agreement are DOM TOM, Guadeloupe, French Guyana, Saint Pierre, St. Miquelon Island, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Martin, Martinique, La Reunion, Wallis and Futuna Islands, New Caledonia, Mayotte and French Polynesia.

And, in French-speaking Africa: Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Togo, Tunisia and Zaire.

In addition to this French TV deal, the UFC also recently reached a deal with DSF, a German television network, to begin airing UFC programming in March according to MMAJunkie. This deal will go a long way towards generating a base for ticket sales for the upcoming UFC 99, which is rumored to be scheduled for Cologne, Germany.

Tags: UFC