The UFC has secured an enormous new broadcasting take care of Paramount, signing a 7-year contract price an unbelievable $7.7 billion, which begins in 2026. This transfer comes after the promotion’s partnership with ESPN fell aside in recent times, primarily as a consequence of low pay-per-view numbers and main streaming outages throughout occasions like UFC 304 and UFC 313. Earlier this month, stories confirmed that ESPN was by no means critically thought-about for a renewal, because the MMA juggernaut was sad with the present $500 million per yr settlement.
For a very long time, many believed Netflix would land the rights. In any case, the streaming large already struck a 10-year deal to broadcast WWE’s Monday Night time Uncooked, a flagship present for UFC’s sister firm beneath the TKO banner. Netflix did enter negotiations with the UFC, however the talks finally collapsed on the closing stage over a single sticking level.
TKO Head Reveals Netflix Solely Needed UFC’s Numbered Pay-Per-View Playing cards
In a current look on The Varsity podcast, TKO president and COO Mark Shapiro confirmed that talks with Netflix had been severe, however finally fell aside as a result of the streamer wasn’t interested by carrying the entire UFC’s occasions.
“Despite the fact that we had lots of totally different events, not everyone was writing an enormous verify,” Shapiro revealed.
He added, “So we knew it was going to take lots of time to finally get the numbers up there. I’d let you know the second, there was one second of disappointment, and that was once we had been getting fairly shut with Netflix, frankly.”
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The primary sticking level was that Netflix solely needed UFC’s numbered pay-per-view occasions, which have a lot deeper playing cards in comparison with the standard Battle Night time exhibits on the UFC Apex.
Netflix had little interest in the Battle Night time schedule and would have executed away with the normal pay-per-view mannequin altogether, as a substitute putting UFC’s largest playing cards behind its customary subscription paywall. TKO, nevertheless, needed to bundle Battle Nights with the numbered occasions.
As Shapiro defined, “They form of stood by the truth that they didn’t wish to have the amount, which we understood from the get-go.”
The TKO COO additional added, “We’re [Netflix] on the lookout for large occasions so the truth that you might give us one pay-per-view, which they had been simply going to placed on the platform totally free so long as you’re a subscriber, so long as you simply give us that, we’re in and we’ll pay premium for it, however we don’t wish to carry the opposite 30 Battle Nights.”
Netflix’s stance wasn’t shocking. The corporate has sometimes leaned towards broadcasting large, one-off spectacles like Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson or its NFL deal, which at present covers simply two Christmas Day video games.
CEO Ted Sarandos has additionally made it clear to buyers that Netflix is simply centered on marquee occasions like Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson final yr, which is why the once-a-month UFC numbered pay-per-view mannequin appealed to them, and the weekly Battle Night time schedule didn’t.
Whereas Netflix’s international attain of over 300 million subscribers made it a powerful candidate, splitting the UFC’s programming between platforms wasn’t one thing TKO needed. “Over the course of conversations, they actually didn’t come off of that,” Shapiro stated. “That’s what opened the door for Paramount/CBS.”
For the unversed, Dana White has already teased a packed calendar for 2026: 44 UFC occasions, plus 14 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu playing cards, 16–18 boxing exhibits beneath Zuffa Boxing, and presumably double the variety of Contender Sequence occasions. In the long run, the Paramount deal is a win for followers as effectively.
Battle nerds in the US received’t need to shell out $80 per occasion anymore or take care of ESPN’s frequent streaming points. As a substitute, they are going to get entry by Paramount+ at simply $13 monthly, a worth level that might not solely entice new subscribers but additionally pull in followers who had turned to piracy due to the previous pay-per-view prices.
