RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA – FEBRUARY 01: (R-L) Michael Page of England punches Shara Magomedov of Russia in a middleweight battle in the course of the UFC Fight Night occasion at anb Arena on February 01, 2025 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)
Chris Unger | Ufc | Getty Images
Days after finishing its merger with Skydance, Paramount has acquired the U.S. rights to TKO Group’s UFC for seven years, starting in 2026.
Paramount is paying a median of $1.1 billion per 12 months, totaling $7.7 billion, for UFC’s full slate of 13 marquee occasions and 30 “Fight Nights,” the businesses mentioned in a press release. All matches and occasions will likely be streamed in the U.S. through Paramount+, and choose occasions will likely be simulcast on CBS. The deal funds are weighted, with Paramount paying lower than $1.1 billion in the early years of the deal and better values later.
Paramount will not cost customers any extra charges for entry to the occasions, eliminating the pay-per-view mannequin that ESPN+ has used for sure premium UFC occasions. Disney’s ESPN had been paying a median of $500 million for 5 years of UFC rights. That deal expires on the finish of 2025.
“The pay-per-view model is a thing of the past,” mentioned Mark Shapiro, TKO Group’s president and chief working officer, in an interview. “What’s on pay-per-view anymore? Boxing? Movies on DirecTV? It’s an outdated, antiquated model. So, it was paramount to us – forgive the pun – where it’s one-stop shopping, especially for our younger fans in flyover states. When they find out, ‘Wait, if I just sign up for Paramount+ for $12.99 a month, I’m going to automatically get UFC’s numbered fights and the rest of the portfolio? That’s a message we want to amplify.”
It’s been a busy few days for each Paramount and TKO. Paramount formally offered management of the corporate to Skydance Media on Thursday, bringing in new management led by Chief Executive Officer David Ellison. Also final week, TKO inked a five-year, $1.6 billion deal with ESPN for the U.S. rights to WWE’s premium reside occasions. UFC and WWE merged to develop into TKO in 2023.
TKO management initially believed it will promote simply the 30 “Fight Night” occasions to Paramount and the premium numbered occasions to a different media companion, mentioned Shapiro. When the Skydance-Paramount deal closed Thursday, the 2 sides negotiated this deal in 48 hours, he mentioned.
It was vital for Ellison to purchase all the UFC bundle given the shortage of sports activities rights out there in the approaching years, he mentioned in an interview. With Formula 1 rights likely earmarked for Apple and Major League Baseball ready till 2028 to reorganize its main media packages, there will not be many top-shelf sports activities property coming to marketplace for Paramount to amass.
“UFC is a unicorn asset that comes up about once a decade,” mentioned Ellison in an interview. Ellison described himself as a UFC fan.
UFC occasions are fascinating for streamers as a result of they happen year-round — maintaining followers paying for month-to-month subscriptions with much less incentive to cancel seasonally than with different sports activities. There are 43 reside occasions yearly, consisting of 350 hours of reside programming.
Paramount is in shopping for UFC’s worldwide rights to pair with U.S. rights, the corporate mentioned in a press release. Those rights come up on a rolling foundation, with about one-third of them out there annually. UFC matches are at present out there in greater than 210 international locations.
Paramount may have a 30-day unique negotiating window for every nation’s rights once they’re up for renewal, Shapiro mentioned.