UFC President Dana White said there is "no denying" the suspension of fighter Jon Jones will be a financial negative for the sport in the short term, but in the "long run, we feel it strengthens our brand," according to R. Thomas Umstead of MULTICHANNEL NEWS. White said, "We've made it clear that athletes need to abide by the Athlete Code of Conduct. We've had an overwhelming response from our fans and our consumers who have supported us in this decision." Meanwhile, White said of increased TV ratings in '15, "It's increased awareness of the UFC on Fox and Fox Sports 1. What most people don't realize is how hard it is to build a network; we were helping Fox build Fox Sports 1 last year." Asked if the UFC's success on Fox has translated into the PPV arena, White said, "Yes. When you talk about stars, you're going to have guys who fight on television and guys who fight on PPV. You have two different levels of stars. Not every PPV fight is going to do 1 million buys, but if you look at where we are, by May we'll beat last year's total number" (MULTICHANNEL NEWS, 5/4 issue).
