Given the blurring success of the UFC and its heightened success of the UFC 100 last Saturday night, it may only be a matter of time when the title fights in the number one mixed martial arts association will be viewed for free on television.

Broadcast networks and cable companies alike have seen the demise of their efforts to replicate the success of the UFC and it may be time now for one of the channels to pony up and bring the UFC to the masses.

The notion of having UFC matches of the highest caliber air on a channel that is of network or major cable importance could certainly be immense. It would certainly shine light as to whether the UFC has grown to monumental proportions in the U.S. and across the world or if it is just another niche sport with a passionate and loyal following.

UFC 100 and the attached UFC Fan Expo taking place at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in the days leading up to the biggest event in UFC history, drew in record crowds for the sport. An estimated 30,000 to 50,000 fans attended the expo with the fight card itself drawing a sellout crowd of 11,000 which generated $5.1 million in revenue. Final pay-per-view numbers are estimated to exceed 1.5 million viewers, which would make it the most subscribed non-boxing event in the history of PPV.

Through an interview with Dana White by Yahoo! Sports contributor Kevin Iole, White is expecting to see the sport continually grow with free, live television being the next big step.

“I’m a big believer in having free fights on television,” White explained following the UFC 100 extravaganza. “I grew up a huge boxing fan and I used to see all the big fights on ABC’s ‘Wide World of Sports’ and USA’s ‘Tuesday Night Fights.’ What happened with the boxing model is, when the pay model came along, everyone got greedy and you never saw good fights on free TV.”

“We do the exact opposite. We put on 12 or 13 fights on pay-per-view a year that our fans pay for. I believe when you put on pay-per-views and the fans are buying, you need to give back to them and have big fights on free TV, too.”

Despite the post-fight antics of the number one UFC attraction Brock Lesnar, the UFC took a running leap forward last Saturday night but is the sport mainstream enough to surpass the NFL in America and soccer worldwide in popularity as White predicts, most likely not.

Mixed Martial Arts fighting is as boring as it is intoxicating. Watching two grown men wiggle and rive on the ground as one straddles another for minutes on end is hardly the action that most mainstream sports fans yearn for. When two MMA fighters are on their feet, is when the sport is at its best. Only the most ardent of fans can respect the action on the ground, not to mention the blood that covers the mat after almost every fight docket.

The sport is as brutal as it is exciting and a distaste for blood is what most Americans augment through movies, not real life. It is often said that in a car accident, rubber neckers look to see the carnage, but passing cars slow down in respect to the victims as to not zoom by an injured or fallen human being.

Certainly the ‘Sweet Science’ has suffered in recent years due to the greed of promoters and shrinking of the talent pool, but give boxing another Tyson and it will be right back on top of the UFC in American and worldwide appeal.

Another superstar of a lighter grade, Georges St. Pierre, showed his grit and professionalism at UFC 100. St. Pierre is a solid as a human being can be built and is the very definition of how technique over comes superior strength in hand-to-hand combat. Although he will never gain the attraction of the larger heavy weights, St. Pierre is as a big attraction as any in the sport and helped carry it in the pre-Lesnar era.

Time will tell if ultimate fighting can become as popular as the National Football League in America, but one thing is for certain is that MMA is not going anywhere and White and company have successfully put together something special with the UFC.