Through a quirk of programming and misfortune striking two of the UFC bantamweight division’s biggest stars, Mario Bautista is about to etch his name permanently in the MMA record books.
This Saturday, UFC Brooklyn marks the promotion’s first show under its new five-year deal with ESPN, the largest sports news and broadcasting network on the planet. The broadcast is divided in a somewhat unorthodox manner that fans may soon have to become used to, with the first three preliminary bouts taking place on the ESPN+ streaming service and the next four on the ESPN channel before viewers will be asked to switch back to ESPN+ for the six-fight main card.