After being acquired by Skydance Media in July, Paramount has a new deal that brings UFC to the long-running Hollywood studio.
NBC News reports that Paramount has acquired the U.S. rights to UFC for seven years in a deal that is worth $7.7 billion. The deal starts in 2026 and covers the fighting company’s 13 marquee shows and 30 Fight Night events annually.
The era of pay-per-view fights that ESPN utilized looks to be ending as all of the fights will stream on Paramount+ as part of the subscription, with some marquee bouts being simulcast on CBS. It also ends the current ESPN deal that expires at the end of 2025 and began in 2020.
What’s on pay-per-view anymore? Boxing? Movies on DirecTV? It’s an outdated, antiquated model.
Mark Shapiro, President of TKO Group
"What’s on pay-per-view anymore? Boxing? Movies on DirecTV? It’s an outdated, antiquated model," said Mark Shapiro, president of UFC's parent company, TKO Group said in an interview. TKO Group owns the rights to both UFC and WWE promotions. UFC and WWE merged to create TKO in 2023.
According to NBC News, Paramount currently has no plans to charge additional fees for access to the UFC fights.
With UFC fights occurring throughout the year with no real set schedule, this should keep MMA fans tethered to their Paramount+ subscriptions for longer.
Meaning you won’t see fans cancelling when the season is over in the same way that baseball or football fans might after the championship games end.
“UFC is a unicorn asset that comes up about once a decade,” said TKO Group CEO David Ellison. TKO Group
Between UFC and Paramount itself, Skydance has spent 15 billion dollars in less than a month. And it may not be done.
Reportedly, Paramount also wants the international rights to air UFC bouts. Due to the US deal, the company has an exclusive negotiation window with more than 20 countries that air UFC, allowing it, and because of the US deal, the company has an exclusive negotiation window with more than 20 countries that air UFC to secure those deals.
TKO seems prepared for the future going forward as the company just inked a five-year, $1.6 billion deal with ESPN that gives the sports brand the U.S. rights to premium WWE live events.
Moving fast
There are reports that Paramount placated the FCC and President Trump’s administration by settling a lawsuit with Trump over a “60 Minutes” Kamala Harris interview. This could have influenced the FCC to let the Skydance purchase go through.
The $16 million settlement will be allocated to a future Trump presidential library.
That and the controversial cancellation of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” has some speculating that CBS and Paramount are making moves to pacify President Trump and enable deals like the Skydance purchase.
Either way, the deal is done, and Paramount is diving headfirst into its new Skydance era with huge streaming moves.
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