Free to cut deals with anyone, the future of UFC’s stateside broadcasting is hard to predict
Where will fans in the U.S. go to watch UFC programming in 2026? As it stands, it’s quite hard to know the answer.
UFC has yet to sign a new deal with Disney/ESPN, the company that has exclusively hosted live programming from the promotion for over half a decade. And now that their three-month exclusive negotiation period with the sports juggernaut came to a close on Wednesday, the leading MMA promoter is now free to sign an agreement with anyone.
Reports have suggested that, along with ESPN’s sustained interest in the UFC, other players like Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video service are also interested in grabbing the rights. Whoever wants to come to the table has to be ready to open their chequebook: UFC is hoping to bank as much as $1 billion per year from their next deal, per a report early this year from Bloomberg.
UFC was a major part of ESPN’s digitalization strategy when they debuted on the channel in 2019. The promotion’s content has primarily been hosted on subscription-based service ESPN+, with all pay-per-views exclusively being shown on the platform and almost all other shows being streamed live as well.
All these years later, ESPN+ remains a major part of the network’s business plan. However, amid numerous cuts to their live programming portfolio—walking from new deals with MLB, Formula 1 and Top Rank Boxing all in just a few recent months—it’s unclear what their hunger is like regarding a new UFC agreement, which would be more expensive than ever.
Some may have perceived the willingness to allow an exclusive negotiation period lapse and let UFC test the waters of free agency as a sign of weakness for their partnership. However, a recent report from highly regarded sports media reporter John Ourand noted that the parties remain “motivated to stay in business together beyond December.”
Netflix is seen by many as another favorite in the equation due to their close ties to UFC and their known interest in sports programming. UFC’s sister company, through TKO Group Holdings, WWE, inked a massive 10-year, $5 billion deal to host Monday Night Raw on the streaming service beginning this year. On top of that, Netflix has dipped its toes into combat sports programming with boxing, notably presenting the infamous meeting between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson last year.
However, for a platform like Netflix, which has always been focused strictly on flat-fee subscriptions, it’s unclear how their business model would mesh with the long-standing practice of pay-per-view programming that UFC has become known for.
Amazon’s Prime Video service has similarly shown interest in live combat sports programming, hosting Premier Boxing Champions events and presenting shows from ONE Championship in recent years. Unlike Netflix, they have staged pay-per-view shows in the past.
While UFC has historically been homogenous with its media rights—putting nearly all of its programming on Fox Sports for years, before forming a tightly-knit partnership with ESPN—it’s not unlikely that the next media rights deal could split their shows up and place them on numerous networks. In fact, UFC CEO Dana White said as much just a few days ago: “There could be a time when we end up on several different networks like all other sports do,” he said at the UFC 314 post-fight press conference.
As of right now, it’s unclear where UFC will go. With still six-and-a-half months remaining before UFC is without a home domestically, the promotion has time to weigh its options and see what the market has to offer. The answer might be one of the options above, none of them, or even all of them at once.
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