It’s almost amazing to see how fast Mixed- Martial Arts grew. It seems like, what, 5 years ago that this stuff started showing up on people’s radar. Now, it’s going to be on network television:

CBS announced a deal Thursday with ProElite, which produces MMA events, to broadcast in prime time a sport that has been growing in popularity. The plan is to televise two-hour live specials four times a year on Saturday nights.

“Mixed martial arts is one of the fastest growing sports in the country and a wildly popular entertainment vehicle for upscale, young adult audiences,” Kelly Kahl, CBS Primetime’s senior executive vice president, said in a release.

You know, there used to be a sport that had major network television deals. It had fighting in it too, but the people who ran the league thought that nobody liked the fighting, and they took it away. Where’s that sport now? Oh yeah.