Earlier this week, I caught up over the phone with TKO president and C.O.O. Mark Shapiro, who’s been making the rounds in the afterglow of his landmark seven-year, $7.7 billion UFC deal with Paramount, which will platform the league on both its streaming service, Par+, and, in a twist, on CBS. Naturally, our conversation segued to Shapiro’s affection for CBS Sports chief David Berson. The two have history, after all. Back when Shapiro was a rake in his progress at ESPN, in 2001, he hired Berson into the business. “There’s nobody who’s happier about this deal than David Berson,” Shapiro told me. “He’s been waiting. He wants to be on offense.”