UFC President Dana White introduced Monday that the blended martial arts group has reached a landmark seven-year settlement with Paramount and CBS price $7.7 billion, basically altering how followers will entry the game’s largest fights.
UFC Now on Paramount Plus
The deal, which begins in January 2026, marks the tip of UFC’s conventional pay-per-view mannequin in america. Beginning subsequent yr, all UFC content material will stream completely on Paramount+ with choose numbered occasions simulcast on CBS, eliminating the extra $80 price followers beforehand paid for main fights.
“This historic cope with Paramount and CBS is unbelievable for UFC followers and our athletes,” White said. “For the primary time ever, followers within the US could have entry to all UFC content material with no pay-per-view mannequin, making it extra reasonably priced and accessible to view the best fights on an enormous platform.”
The settlement covers UFC’s full annual slate of 43 dwell occasions, together with 13 marquee numbered occasions and 30 Combat Nights, delivering greater than 350 hours of dwell content material. The deal represents a big improve from UFC’s present association with ESPN, which pays roughly $500 million yearly and expires on the finish of 2025.
TKO Group President Mark Shapiro referred to as the pay-per-view mannequin “a factor of the previous,” noting that few leisure choices nonetheless depend on the outdated system. “What’s on pay-per-view anymore? Boxing? Films on DirecTV? It’s an outdated, antiquated mannequin,” Shapiro informed CNBC.
The monetary construction favors UFC considerably, with Paramount paying a mean of $1.1 billion yearly, although the contract is weighted towards the again finish of the seven-year time period. This represents greater than double what ESPN at the moment pays for UFC rights.
For Paramount, the acquisition represents the primary main content material deal following the completion of its $8.4 billion merger with Skydance Media. CEO David Ellison described UFC as “a unicorn asset that comes up about as soon as a decade.” The deal positions Paramount+ alongside main sports activities content material, including to the platform’s present NFL and UEFA Champions League programming.
Paramount+ at the moment prices $7.99 month-to-month for the Important plan with adverts and $12.99 for Premium with out adverts. Subscribers will obtain entry to all UFC occasions at no further cost, doubtlessly saving followers over $1,000 yearly in comparison with buying particular person pay-per-view occasions.
The streaming platform reaches almost 950 million broadcast and digital households throughout greater than 210 nations and territories in 50 languages. UFC maintains tens of millions of followers in america who have interaction throughout linear, digital, and social platforms.
Trade observers view the transfer as a part of a broader shift away from conventional pay-per-view fashions towards subscription-based streaming. WWE, additionally owned by TKO Group, not too long ago moved its premium dwell occasions to Netflix and ESPN, abandoning its pay-per-view construction.
Paramount expressed curiosity in buying worldwide UFC rights as they turn out to be accessible on a rolling foundation, with roughly one-third of world rights changing into accessible annually. The corporate will obtain a 30-day unique negotiating interval for every nation’s rights once they come up for renewal.
The announcement alerts a serious transformation for fight sports activities distribution, doubtlessly influencing how different preventing organizations construction their media rights offers. For followers, the change eliminates the barrier of particular person occasion purchases whereas offering entry to UFC’s full programming schedule via a single month-to-month subscription.
