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Kevin Kay, a key figure in MMA history, replaced by Viacom as head of Paramount Network

If someone was asked about who the most influential people have been in the history of MMA, the name Kevin Kay probably wouldn’t have been the first off the tip of one’s tongue.

But it should. After his ouster this past week as head of the Paramount Network, if you look back historically and take Kay out of the picture, it is very likely MMA wouldn’t be much more than an underground sport.

It was Kay, who at the time was working underneath Doug Herzog in running Spike TV, who greenlit “The Ultimate Fighter” reality show as well as agreed to put MMA live events on television in 2005, greatly changing the course of this sport’s history in North America.