On Monday, Paramount and TKO Group Holdings, Inc. announced a seven-year media rights agreement in which Paramount will become the exclusive home of all UFC events in the U.S. beginning in 2026.
The deal, worth $7.7 billion, moves away from UFC’s existing Pay-Per-View model in favor of making premium events available at no additional cost to Paramount subscribers. UFC CEO Dana White provided more details about the partnership during Tuesday’s Dana White’s Contender Series Post-Fight Press Conference.
“It’s always trying to go to the next level, and obviously this TV deal is massive and a big deal. There’s still a lot more to it that you guys all don’t know, but now it’s about, you always have to prove yourself. Always,” said White.
“No matter how good last year was, it doesn’t mean Jack sh*t when you go into the next year. And we have to get in there and we have to deliver. These guys are investing in the sport and the athletes and we’ve got to get in there and kill it. We’ve got a lot of hard work to do over the next several months.”
The transition is already underway but will pick up next month. The fight promotion and the streaming platform have until January to get all the kinks ironed out.
“Already coordinating now to get the teams together, everybody start to meet each other and start to game plan for January,” White said. “There’s a lot of moving parts to this deal.”
“With the strategy they have over at Paramount and what they’re going to do with this company over the next – I go in five-year increments – So, over the next five years, there’s a lot more to come,” continued the UFC CEO.
“These are really smart, aggressive guys, and those are the kind of guys that I love to be in business with. We’re planning right now – I was talking to them today – to get together in September and start getting all the teams together and start working on the game plan for January.”
The deal with Paramount only includes UFC rights. Dana White’s Contender Series and TKO, or Zuffa Boxing are not included. The exclusive rights are for the U.S. and the fight promotion will negotiate new deals in other countries as those contracts expire.
“We still have the rights to the rest of the world. We will negotiate deals when they’re up,” said White.
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