{"id":63498,"date":"2025-08-12T08:14:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T08:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/63498\/"},"modified":"2025-08-12T08:14:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T08:14:08","slug":"how-the-ufc-landed-a-7-7-billion-deal-with-paramount-after-a-whirlwind-48-hours-according-to-tko-execs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/63498\/","title":{"rendered":"How the UFC landed a $7.7 billion deal with Paramount after a whirlwind 48 hours, according to TKO execs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just how big of a surprise was the UFC\u2019s bombshell $7.7 billion deal with Paramount<\/a> and CBS? So big that even UFC CEO Dana White didn\u2019t see it coming.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I didn\u2019t think this is where we\u2019d end up,\u201d White said Monday during an appearance on \u201cThe Pat McAfee Show<\/a>\u201d to discuss the new broadcast rights deal. \u201cBut this is sort of how it played out. I love it. These guys are obviously very smart guys, very aggressive.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In an interview on CNBC<\/a>, TKO president and COO Mark Shapiro said he initially expected to make a deal that would bring only the UFC Fight Night events to Paramount. But after Skydance Media completed its deal to purchase control of Paramount last week, Shapiro said, the deal for the entirety of the UFC\u2019s U.S. broadcast rights came together in just 48 hours.<\/p>\n

Now, instead of just the 30 UFC Fight Night events per year, Paramount+ will feature all UFC content, including the 13 numbered UFC events each year.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re getting the brand, we\u2019re getting the reach, and they\u2019ll get the signups,\u201d Shapiro said of Paramount\u2019s streaming service.<\/p>\n

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Possibly the biggest news in all this for fight fans is the end of the UFC\u2019s pay-per-view era<\/a>. Ever since the very first UFC event in 1993, pay-per-view has been a vital part of the UFC\u2019s strategy. Under the current deal with ESPN, each UFC pay-per-view costs $79.99 in the U.S., plus the cost of the ESPN+ subscription on top of that.<\/p>\n

With pay-per-view revenues reportedly in decline, it makes sense for the UFC to finally ditch that model. The fact that it\u2019s doing so as part of a deal that will essentially double the roughly $550 million per year that the UFC currently receives from ESPN likely only made that calculation easier.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pay-per-view model is a thing of the past,\u201d Shapiro said on Monday. \u201cWhat\u2019s on pay-per-view anymore? Boxing? Movies on DirecTV? It\u2019s an outdated, antiquated model. So, it was paramount to us \u2014 forgive the pun \u2014 where it\u2019s one-stop shopping, especially for our younger fans in flyover states. When they find out, \u2018Wait, if I just sign up for Paramount+ for $12.99 a month, I\u2019m going to automatically get UFC\u2019s numbered fights and the rest of the portfolio?\u2019 That\u2019s a message we want to amplify.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s still unclear is exactly how and when UFC events might be included on the CBS network TV lineup. According to Shapiro, Paramount+ will be the home for all 43 UFC events per year \u2014 30 UFC Fight Nights and 13 numbered events \u2014 when the deal begins in 2026. But he added that those numbered events, which typically feature the title fights and the biggest names on the UFC roster, could also air on CBS.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt was important to us to have CBS play a big component in this,\u201d Shapiro said on CNBC. \u201cAs they\u2019ve laid out, this is Paramount+ exclusively. But CBS will have simulcast on many of the fights, and likely all of the numbered events, which are formerly the pay-per-view fights.\u201d<\/p>\n

For many, it was probably a surprise to see Paramount emerge as the winner in the battle for UFC broadcast rights, especially after months of speculation that pegged Netflix and ESPN as the most likely destinations. After all, Paramount+ is currently known more for TV dramas like \u201cYellowstone\u201d than it is for live sports.<\/p>\n

But, as the UFC CEO White added, many streaming services are looking to bolster their appeal to subscribers with the help of live sports, which create an urgency among viewers that scripted shows can\u2019t match.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think all these streaming services, no matter who they are, have to be involved in live sports,\u201d White said. \u201cAny type of sport, you have to watch it live. Nobody\u2019s going to watch a taped or delayed sporting event. So yeah, I think they all have to have it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just how big of a surprise was the UFC\u2019s bombshell $7.7 billion deal with Paramount and CBS? So…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63499,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[40882,49,48,10359,641,40881,638,9489,82,640],"class_list":{"0":"post-63498","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-broadcast-rights","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-dana-white","12":"tag-fighting","13":"tag-mark-shapiro","14":"tag-mma","15":"tag-paramount","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-ufc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63498\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}