• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, June 8, 2009

Men's media network Heavy.com has struck a content distribution partnership with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Online Media Daily has learned.

Heavy will now host a video channel containing content from the professional mixed martial arts organization's library, including fight highlights, interviews and analyses, backstage footage and previews of upcoming fights.

Heavy has recently made a concerted effort to expand its sports coverage. In April, its announced a partnership with "action" sports network Alli, the alliance of action sports.

Owned by NBC Sports and MTV Networks, Alli encompasses national and international action sports tours and events and multimedia production, as well as a consumer-facing lifestyle brand.

But, while expansion is the name of the game, the wide world of action sports is not exactly new to Heavy, according to its co-founder and co-CEO Heavy Simon Assaad, co-founder and co-CEO of Heavy.

"Heavy has always been a champion of action sports," said Assaad.

All UFC videos will employ Heavy's video ad units throughout -- known as "video skins" -- monetizing the video by wrapping it with a premium, high-CPM ad unit specifically designed for brand advertisers.

Amid layoffs late last year, questions arose regarding the health of Heavy.com. Last October, Heavy cut 14% of staff, or 12 people -- which followed an earlier round of layoffs in June in which Heavy reduced its workforce from 105 to 80.

Assaad has since addressed the layoffs, telling Online Media Daily: "Our layoffs were just done earlier than everyone else's, and our team is now feeling comfortable about the future."

Launched last March, the Heavy Men's Network features Heavy.com and other properties, including action sports community BNQT.com, Flash gaming portal Newgrounds, Inc., Quincy Jones' QD3 and Vidshadow, Inc.