LOS ANGELES — UFC president Dana White has been waiting for Saturday night for a long time.

The UFC’s first network prime-time appearance on Fox will be a new peak in the growth of mixed martial arts from a banned sport into a billion-dollar enterprise.

Yet the UFC’s president and tireless one-man promotional machine sees Cain Velasquez’s heavyweight title defense against Brazil’s Junior Dos Santos as the beginning of a new growth spurt, not the end of a quest.

And that’s not the only reason he doesn’t feel like celebrating just yet.

“I’m sick, man,” White said Wednesday, rubbing his shaved head. “I haven’t slept in four days. I’m a basket case. I’m more of a control freak than I’ve ever been. I just want this to go perfect.”

New MMA fans?

Fox is counting on it. The network believes millions of uninitiated viewers will get their first taste of the violent, growing sport by tuning into the one-hour show from Anaheim, Calif.

White unflinchingly calls it the biggest night in UFC history, saying the bout will set a tone for its landmark seven-year television deal with Fox Sports, which doesn’t even start until January. The UFC will become a Friday fixture on FX, a major presence on Fuel TV, and a staple on Fox with four annual shows.

“We’ve broken records in arenas, been the largest pay-per-view provider in the world, done all these things that nobody could have imagined,” White said. “But on Saturday, millions of people will see mixed martial arts who have never seen it before. If you look at where we came from, our goal (once) was to get on free TV when we weren’t allowed on pay-per-view. Porn was, but we weren’t. We’ve come such a long way.”

Long-term investment

The UFC is giving up probably $40 million in pay-per-view revenue to put this glamorous fight on free television, but White sees it as a major investment in his brand and his sport. Fox Sports President Eric Shanks said the network sold every minute of advertising more than two months before the show.

The fighters say they don’t feel any demand to put on a spectacular brawl, even while White all but promises pyrotechnics.

“There’s no extra pressure, but it’s still a huge fight for me,” said Velasquez, the unbeaten champion. “I just want to enjoy everything about it, and I will.”

White probably could have put his product on any broadcast network several years earlier, but held out for the chance to produce his own programming. Fox readily agreed to White’s long-standing control demands while still putting its own spin on the UFC’s longstanding broadcast style.

The new biggest fight

Until Saturday night, the biggest bout in UFC history was Forrest Griffin’s victory over Stephan Bonnar on April 9, 2005, in the promotion’s first fight on live television. The bout was the finale of the debut season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” the UFC’s long-running reality show.

Griffin’s victory on Spike TV was a spectacle of blood and guts, with both fighters trading huge shots and taking enormous punishment in front of a delirious crowd and an apparently fascinated audience of TV executives. The UFC quickly inked a long-term broadcast contract and gradually grew into the sports marketing behemoth that stands shoulder-to-shoulder with every sport except pro football for popularity among young sports fans.

“Who knew that fight was the one that would get us there?” White said, referring to the two untested fighters who became popular UFC stars. “We were much more fortunate in this situation with Fox that we could hand-pick a fight. There aren’t two other guys in the entire UFC I’d rather put in there. I picked this fight for a reason.”

Network debut

When the UFC’s deal with Viacom and Spike neared its end this summer, Fox Sports launched a rapid courtship. After years of flirting with networks, the UFC reached a deal in days.

White has additional reasons for craving a network platform. An avid boxing fan since childhood, White acknowledges a sentimental longing for the days when boxing appeared regularly on free television, uniting fans across the country on Saturday nights with championship bouts.

“We’re doing something that I’ve always wanted to do,” White said. “If people have the best fights available to watch, they’re going to watch them. These sports are irresistible to people who love competition.”

MMA’s unpredictability also can cause problems for network programmers — just ask CBS, which had an embarrassing brawl in a Strikeforce cage after a show in April 2010. If the UFC heavyweight fight ends with an early stoppage, Fox has a plan to fill the time, but it won’t include another fight from the full card at Honda Center.

“I just want to nail this thing and have it come off perfect,” White said. “Everything that can be done on my side will be done, but when they get in there and the door shuts, it’s all up to them.”