Historic moment

LOS ANGELES -- It was a typical pre-UFC fight press conference Wednesday.

UFC president Dana White was there. Saturday's main event fighters, Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos, were on either side of him. The media were camped out in their rows of chairs just in front, the row of cameras were rolling and the fans were gathered behind the gates of the convention centre courtyard in L.A. just across the street from the Staples Center.

But something was different. There was a fresher feeling in the air.

We could sense that this was a big moment.

The UFC has been around for nearly two decades (Saturday will be 18 years to the day since UFC 1: The Beginning was held in Denver). The promotion's current owners celebrated their 10 years this year.

They've had many successful pay-per-views, had free shows on cable TV, been in countless countries and earlier this year held a show at a stadium in front of 55,000-plus fans in Toronto.

But this Saturday at the Honda Center in Anaheim, they will do something they haven't done before. In the biggest media market in the U.S. where MMA is legal (it is currently still unsanctioned in New York), for the first time, the UFC will put on a fight that will be available to everyone in the country (and other countries such as Canada) for free, when it holds the first event on live primetime network television on FOX. (It will also air on Sportsnet in Canada.)

"This is without a doubt the biggest fight in UFC history. This thing started as a small fringe sport and has grown to what it is today," White said. "We've broken records in arenas and done other big things, but this Saturday night as we step out onto FOX, millions of people will see UFC who've never watched before."

Yes, the UFC joins the slate of North American sports on the network that has a reputation for producing edgy programming, but also delivering quality coverage of other major sports leagues like Major League Baseball, the National Football League and NASCAR, and each of their biggest events.

MMA has been on network TV before. Strikeforce had events on CBS featuring stars like Dan Henderson and Fedor Emeliankenko. And remember the now-defunct EliteXC, which lasted barely longer than its headliner Kimbo Slice did in the headlining fight on the promotion's show on CBS?

But this is different. Why? Because people didn't know what Strikeforce was and CBS didn't promote it like FOX has, for example with commercials during Sunday's NFL broadcasts. Strikeforce was a promotion that tried (unsuccessfully) to compete with the UFC. But they weren't a game-changer.

The UFC is a game-changer. First with The Ultimate Fighter reality show, then with free shows, then with expansive social media integration, including streaming all their preliminary fights on Facebook.

Now, they've got a brand new seven-year deal with FOX that doesn't even start until January, but in partnership with the network, they are giving fans a little tease this Saturday.

The show will be just one hour and will consist of just one fight. But it's not just one fight, now is it? It's the most prestigious championship there is in combat sports. The heavyweight title bout.

And White said he couldn't ask for a better matchup than Velasquez, the UFC's undisputed -- and undefeated -- champion, vs. Junior Dos Santos, who is also unbeaten in the Octagon.

"Give me my entire roster of guys, make them healthy and this is the one I pick," White said. "You see what these two fight like, and you can pretty much guarantee the way that this fight is going to go.

"I can tell you what's not going to happen. It's not going to be boring. It's not going to be any stalemating. It's going to be an absolute war. I can't tell you how long it's going to go. It could go 15 second or it could go 15 minutes, but it's going to be good no matter what happens."

No, with Saturday's fight they're not falling into success like they did with the finale of TUF 1, when Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar put on a slugfest that opened a generation of viewers' eyes to the heart, determination and athletic skill of mixed martial artists. That fight is credited as the most important fight in the history of the sport (until now).

This time, they were able to set it up the way they wanted, with the exact fight they wanted.

"With Forrest Griffin-Stephan Bonnar, the two guys who came off The Ultimate Fighter, who knew (it was going to be so big)? We didn't know what these guys had or what was going to happen that night," White said. "It just unfolded and happened and it ended up becoming at the time the biggest fight in UFC history. It's the one that got us there and got us our television deal and put on the map.

"Today, as we take this step forward into what we call 'mainstream,' on network television we were much more fortunate in this situation that we were able to sit back and hand pick a fight that we wanted to put on FOX. If I had to go back do it all over again, this is still the fight I'd pick to put on network television."

It's now up to the two main event fighters to give the new fans a fight like Griffin-Bonnar that they can never forget. Because UFC on FOX 1 has the potential to be a game-changer.

NOTES:

Even though Saturday’s fight will be on FOX, don’t expect it to be drastically different. Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan will still do play-by-play and the main aspects of the production will remain the same as usual. "Everything will be (basically) exactly the same," White said. "There’s going to be some FOX Sports talent in the show. And it’s going to have a FOX Sports feel to it. But you’re going to see the UFC on Saturday, just like you saw last weekend and the weekend before that.”

QUOTABLE:

White, on his expectations for the fight: "I don't think it's going five rounds. But what do I know?"

On his expectations for the show: "No matter what, you know we’re going to deliver. We’re on FOX -- the biggest, baddest network on the planet. We couldn’t ask for anything more."

On whether we could see Simon Cowell (of FOX’s reality show “The X Factor” and formerly a judge on “American Idol”) as a judge in the UFC: “Uh, no ... Actually you know what? He’d be better than some of the judges we have in MMA now. So maybe we should look at Simon Cowell. Maybe he can ref too.”

Velasquez, on a fan’s suggestion that he adopt the nickname “The Shreksican” (because, according to the fan, the Mexican champion looks like the animated character “Shrek”): “Nah, I’m okay with no nickname.”

White, on the fan suggesting the UFC’s heavyweight champion looked like Shrek: “Dude, are you trying to get beat up?”

Follow fight-by-fight results for MMA events with Twitter. James will do live updates during all UFC events as well as many other promotions, including Canadian ones.