MMAMMA NEWS

Dana White Talks Up The UFC's Next Broadcasting Deal

hasib

5 July 2024

Dana White has praised the UFC, stating that many organizations are interested in acquiring its rights.

The UFC inked a lucrative deal in 2018 with ESPN, which will last until 2025. The terms of the agreement meant that ESPN would show UFC fights exclusively. This also includes any PPV events. The deal is worth $1.5 billion. However, as the deal edges closer to expiring, the UFC has plenty to consider. The rise of streaming platforms has offered the UFC a new market. DAZN is making serious headway into boxing, making it an ideal platform for the UFC. DAZN has become a major player with the Saudis in broadcasting their fights on a global scale.

There is also the possibility of doing a deal with Amazon Prime Video. They ventured into boxing by signing a multi-year deal with the PBC. They have staged three PPV fights, the latest being the headline event featuring Gervonta Davis and Frank Martin.

UFC’s Future

Netflix has also entered the fray with combat sports. They were meant to air Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson this month on July 2020. The fight has been rescheduled for November 15 after Tyson withdrew with an inflamed ulcer. However, Netflix has plenty to offer after having signed a $5 billion deal to air WWE’s Monday Night Raw. This is for the next ten years, meaning the UFC could also become an option. White has said there are plenty of options.

"Listen, I think everyone is kicking the tires and is interested in making a bid. Yeah, everyone is kicking the tires. And over the however many last years that we’ve been together, I’ve had some headbutting with ESPN, but I feel like we are in a really good place right now and I’m really happy with my relationship with them and the way that this whole thing is running. We’ll see how it plays out," White said

Mark Shapiro, the President of TKO Group Holdings Inc., has previously stated that the preference is to stay with ESPN. But that all depends on if they can put up a huge sum of money.

The Next Deal

"It is our preference to stay at Disney, because of this history. But we’ve had impromptu three different platforms inquire about that window that you’re talking about and when we might be able to sit down with them to discuss moving to a different platform, which we will do if we can’t get the right deal. But the window opens in January. There’s no reason we can’t start talking about it earlier.

"ESPN and Disney are the greatest partners you could ever have. If we can replicate that at Netflix [with WWE], we’re going to be golden. They get the sport. They’re fans of the sport. It was Bob Iger, frankly, that saw the vision.“It was his decision to go bite off all the UFC, including the pay-per-views, but [ESPN chairman] Jimmy Pitaro and Burke Magnus and [Rosalyn] Durant, who now runs programming, are huge fans of the UFC and they support it in every way," said