New Insurance policy for MMA Fighters

Las Vegas, Nevada – Zuffa, LLC, owner of the Ultimate Fighting Championship® brand, announced today that nearly 350 UFC® and STRIKEFORCE® independent contractor athletes will now be eligible for customized accident insurance coverage. The coverage will be underwritten by Houston Casualty Insurance Company and complement existing event coverage the company already provides its athletes. Never before has a combat sports promoter provided coverage to nearly 350 athletes, and this unprecedented policy will cover accidental injuries suffered by athletes while training, as well as non-training incidents such as automobile accidents.

To date, Zuffa event-related insurance has always met or exceeded Athletic Commission requirements and has covered all injuries sustained during competition. After exploring the purchase of “training insurance” for its athletes for several years – much of which was met with difficulty in finding an insurance company willing to insure mixed martial artists – Zuffa officials were able to secure a comprehensive plan through A+ rated Houston Casualty.

The new policy adds 24-hour worldwide medical life insurance and dental coverage, as well as emergency medical evacuation. Zuffa will pay 100 percent of the premiums for its athletes and have an employee dedicated to handling and filing all claims.

“Our athletes are some of the very best in the world and we’ve committed significant financial resources to provide them with insurance that complements the gold standard we have set for event-related coverage,” UFC Chairman and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta said. “We’re pleased to provide coverage that enables our athletes to seek and receive treatment for injuries sustained while preparing for bouts.”

“As this sport continues to grow, we have been working hard to secure additional insurance coverage so that our athletes can perform at the highest levels,” UFC President Dana White said. “We’re proud to give our athletes access to this type of insurance.”

For more information, or current fight news, visit www.ufc.com.

About Ultimate Fighting Championship®

Owned and operated by Zuffa, LLC, and headquartered in Las Vegas, Nev., UFC® produces over 12 UFC live Pay-Per-View events annually around the world.  UFC programming is distributed in the United States on Viacom, Inc.’s Spike TV and on Comcast, Inc.’s VERSUS network.  UFC content is distributed commercially through Joe Hand Promotions in the U.S. and Canadastar in Canada. Globally, UFC programming is broadcast in over 135 countries and territories, reaching 597 million homes worldwide, in 21 different languages.

UFC® also boasts a powerful presence online, with UFC.com attracting over six million unique visitors per month, while also possessing one of the most powerful social media followings in all of professional sports. To date, UFC has over five million fans on Facebook and over 250,000 followers on Twitter.  In addition, UFC President Dana White is one of the most accessible and most followed executives in sports with over 1.4 million followers on Twitter.  On January 22, 2011, UFC continued to set trends in social media, becoming the first major sports league to stream live, broadcast quality action on Facebook.

Ancillary businesses include the best-selling UFC “Undisputed” videogame franchise distributed by THQ, UFC Gym™, UFC Fight Club affinity program, UFC Fan Expo™ festivals, branded apparel, trading cards, articulated action figures and other media including best-selling DVDs and a bimonthly magazine.

Nick Diaz to fight Georges St.Pierre

Posted on May 6, 2011 by Damon Martin  

Nick Diaz and Georges St-Pierre

If the UFC is looking for another welterweight challenger to face champion Georges St-Pierre, they need look no further.
Nick Diaz is ready to accept the challenge to face St-Pierre in the Octagon, it’s just a matter of UFC owners Lorenzo Fertitta and Dana White making him the offer. This is according to his manager and trainer Cesar Gracie, who says Diaz is more than ready to step up to the challenge and face St-Pierre next.
“Nick wants that fight. He would love to take that fight,” Gracie told MMAWeekly Radio. “Obviously, I would like to put another one of my guys against Georges St-Pierre, so we definitely want that fight.”
Since his win over Paul Daley in Strikeforce in early April, Diaz has been making noise that he wants to take a shot in the pro boxing arena for his next contest in combat sports. His trainer believes Diaz definitely wants to box, but it has just as much to do with motivation or lack thereof with no contenders currently knocking on his door in Strikeforce.
“It’s no secret Nick was a little bit burnt out. He needs a bigger challenge,” Gracie stated. “No disrespect to the guys he’s been fighting because each one of them has brought something to the table. Paul Daley hits really hard, good hands, very dangerous opponent. (Evangelista) Cyborg, great kicks, dangerous opponent. K.J. Noons really good boxing also, dangerous, and Nick beat them all at their strengths.
“It’s definitely something Nick wants to motivate him even more. I think he kind of needs that, I really do.”

Nick Diaz putting the beatdown on Paul Daley

Diaz’s move to boxing was also financially motivated, according to Gracie. When the Stockton, Calif., native signed off on his new Strikeforce deal last year, he apparently accepted less per bout in the MMA realm on the condition that he’d be able to make up the difference by boxing.
As of yet, the boxing matches haven’t happened, so Diaz is looking to push himself out there to make it happen. The flipside, however, is if the UFC and Zuffa want Diaz to face St-Pierre, with a few conditions being met, they are happy to make that fight happen instead.
“The way we had the Strikeforce contract that we signed about a year ago, maybe a little less than that, was that here we’re going to pay you this much money per fight. It’s not quite the kind of money you probably should be making, but you’re going to be able to make it up because you’re going to be able to do boxing, and that might be the more lucrative deal. There was pluses involved and one of the benefits or bonuses, whatever you want to call it, was being able to box,” Gracie explained.
“Now all of a sudden if that’s taken away, we need to re-structure the contract maybe, that’s the only thing. I’m thinking that Dana’s going to be perceptive to this and Nick also working with that. It’s just one of those things we all have to sit down and figure it out.”
Over the UFC 129 weekend, UFC president Dana White stated several times that he planned on flying out to California to meet with Diaz and Gracie to iron out Diaz’s future. White admitted that Diaz has every right to box if he wants to based on his contract, but he was hopeful to keep him involved in MMA instead.
A fight with Georges St-Pierre might be just the medicine the doctor ordered.
“However, there’s a lot of questions to be answered and really the only people that can answer the questions are Lorenzo and Dana,” said Gracie.
“It’d be great, best case scenario for us would be Nick boxes and then he goes and fights GSP. But again, the person with the answer, the guys that have the answers to all of this and can make everything happen is Lorenzo Fertitta and Dana White.”
Gracie says that White has not called him or Diaz yet to schedule a meeting so they can sit down at the table and figure things out, but he believes it will happen soon enough.
Gracie also believes that stylistically, Diaz is the perfect combination of striking and ground skills to give St-Pierre fits, and if they do face off later this year he thinks it’s his fighter who will come home with a gold belt around his waist.
“I feel pretty good about that fight as far as Nick having the chance to take care of business and bring the belt home back to the U.S. and Northern California,” Gracie stated.
Now it’s up to the UFC and St-Pierre to decide if they want Nick Diaz as badly as Nick Diaz wants to face Georges St-Pierre.

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