Christian O’connell joins BT Sport UFC team

Christian O’Connell will join Gareth A Davies and Caroline Pearce as part of BT Sport’s UFC presenting team. The well-known Absolute Radio DJ, presenter of BBC Radio 5 Live’s Fighting Talk and stand-up comedian, joins BT Sport on the 4th February and will present the Tuesday night show UFC: Beyond The Octagon, broadcast at 9pm on BT Sport 1. 

BT Sport has exclusive rights to the UFC Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), one of the world's fastest growing sports. This includes more than 30 live events per year, including all the UFC's numbered pay-per-view events, shown as part of the BT Sport package. 

UFC: Beyond the Octagon is a weekly one hour magazine show, and Christian will join Gareth A Davies and Caroline Pearce in discussing the week’s action and the latest UFC news from around the world. 
Christian O’Connell said: "I'm a massive UFC fan and moving from my couch where I currently mumble to myself during fights, to a studio makes perfect sense. UFC, like BT Sport is growing bigger every day and it's an exciting time to be part of that." 

Grant Best, senior executive channel producer, BT Sport, said: “We’re delighted to have Christian join the UFC team; he’s a great addition to BT Sport’s fantastic line up of presenters. UFC is proving to be extremely popular with BT Sport viewers and fans can expect even more debate and discussion with Christian joining the team.” 

BT SPORT'S UFC COVERAGE AT A GLANCE 
BT Sport offers unprecedented coverage of UFC in the UK, with a full schedule of programmes, live shows and features planned throughout the year. Here's what viewers can expect from BT Sport in 2014 and beyond: 

MAIN CARDS - LIVE! 
BT Sport shows all the main cards from live UFC events shown on US television. These are broadcast live and in full, with repeats usually scheduled the following day for those who missed it. 

BIG EVENT PRELIMS – LIVE! 
In addition to the main card bouts, BT Sport also shows the US-televised preliminary cards from the UFC's big events. In the US, the prelim bouts are an appetiser to encourage fans to buy the main card on pay per view, but in the UK, with BT Sport, viewers get the prelims and the main card bouts for free. 

FEATURE-LENGTH PREVIEW SHOWS 
Nobody does pre-fight preview shows quite like the UFC, and BT Sport shows all the big event preview features on BT Sport. Whether it is the regular Countdown to UFC shows, the Fox-produced Road To The Octagon features or the big-budget UFC Primetime series that accompany the UFC's biggest fights. 

EXCLUSIVE TO THE UK - UFC: BEYOND THE OCTAGON 
UFC: Beyond The Octagon goes behind the scenes with the UFC's top fighters and personalities as we bring fans closer to the world's best fighters than ever before. Features, interviews and big fight action are guaranteed in the weekly show, presented by Caroline Pearce, Gareth A Davies and Christian O’Connell. 

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