UFC CEO drops hints about next broadcast partner
UFC CEO drops hints about next broadcast partner
In a podcast appearance, Dana White seemed to point to Netflix as an idea candidate for UFC rights.
Who will land the rights to distribute Ultimate Fighting Championship events when the promotion’s deal with Disney expires? UFC rights are the next big domino to fall in the highly competitive world of sports rights deals; the fighting promotion is signed with ESPN through the end of 2025, but after that, it’s anyone’s game. The worldwide leader in sports is still very much in the running to retain those rights, but recent comments from UFC president and CEO Dana White could point to another possibility, one that streaming fans are very familiar with.
Key Details:
- Taking stock: White pointed to Netflix’s success as a sign of the global shift in media away from linear TV.
- Not even its final form: White also said that UFC had “leveled up” every time it found a new media partner.
- In no hurry?: UFC may be keeping an eye on ESPN’s new streamer launch before making a final decision.
As reported by Sportico, White made an appearance on the “Full Send” podcast in July, and the topic of UFC’s next media partner was indeed broached. White indicated he was looking for an ally with “global” reach, and used Netflix as a specific example of the changes in the ways people are accessing media.
“Cable television is dying quickly, satellite’s dying quickly, these streaming services … Netflix’s f—kin’ stock is higher than it’s ever been, they’re killing it,” White said. “And the world’s gonna change a lot. When we do our next rights deal … the world will completely change by the time we come out the other side.”
White also talked about the history of past UFC deals, indicating that every time its rights hit the open market, it ultimately ended up partnering with a distributor that could take it to new heights.
“Every year that we’ve done a deal — if you think about, Spike TV [is where] we started, from there we went to Fox, from there we went to ESPN — we’ve leveled up every single time,” White said.
Those comments could indeed point to interest in Netflix, but would the streamer return that interest? Netflix has been historically conservative about sports deals, and its philosophy continues to insist upon pursuing only those sports that it can turn into major viewing events.
On the other hand, Netflix is already in business with TKO Holdings, the parent company of both UFC and WWE. Netflix began streaming episodes of “WWE Raw” each Monday earlier this year, and if the streaming giant feels that sports entertainment programming is enough of a viewing event, surely the argument can be made that UFC fights are appointment programming as well.
ESPN isn’t out of the running to retain the UFC’s rights, however. Disney is widely expected to reveal more details about ESPN’s upcoming streaming service with its quarterly earnings call this week, and the success of that streamer could go a long way toward luring UFC back into the fold.
UFC’s COO, Mark Shapiro, has indicated that UFC is in no major hurry to strike a new deal, despite the onset of the back half of the year. The fighting league knows it’s the biggest item on the block right now, and that puts it in the catbird seat when determining where its fights will air or stream in 2026 and beyond. ESPN officials have expressed confidence that UFC won’t stray beyond the channel’s purview.
Netflix
Netflix is a leading subscription-based video streaming service that offers on-demand access to an extensive library of over 3,000 movies, 2,000+ TV shows, and a growing collection of acclaimed Netflix originals. Renowned for producing groundbreaking content, Netflix has become a cultural powerhouse with hit originals like “Stranger Things,” “Wednesday,” “Squid Game,” “The Crown,” “Tiger King,” “Bridgerton,” “The Witcher,” and “Black Mirror.”