David Ellison, the new CEO of Paramount, pinned a major new deal for the media company he just took over.
Paramount Skydance on Monday announced a seven-year media rights agreement with TKO Group under which Paramount+ will become the exclusive home of all UFC events in the U.S. — pulling the mixed martial arts events from ESPN. Disney’s ESPN had secured a deal that, starting in 2019, featured the MMA promoter’s matchups on TV and pay-per-view in ESPN+.
The seven-year term, which begins in 2026, has an average annual value of $1.1 billion, with an overall value of $7.7 billion over that period. The contract’s payment schedule is “weighted more toward the back end of the deal,” according to the companies.
Starting in 2026, Paramount will exclusively distribute UFC’s full slate of 13 annual marquee numbered events and 30 Fight Nights via the Paramount+ streaming platform. Select numbered UFC events will be simulcast on CBS, according to the companies.
As part of the agreement, UFC and Paramount will move away from UFC’s existing pay-per-view model — and instead, the events will be available at no additional cost to Paramount+’s U.S. subscribers. This shift in distribution strategy “will unlock greater accessibility and discoverability for sports fans and provide an important catalyst for driving engagement and further subscriber growth for Paramount+,” Paramount and TKO said.
Paramount said it plans to explore acquiring UFC rights outside the U.S. as they become available in the future.
News of the Paramount-UFC deal comes just days after Ellison, previously CEO of Skydance Media, closed the $8 billion deal for Paramount Global along with financial backers including his father, Larry Ellison, and RedBird Capital.
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“I couldn’t be more excited to join forces with Dana, Ari, and Mark,” Ellison said in a statement, referring to UFC CEO Dana White, TKO Group chief Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro, TKO’s president and COO.
Ellison continued, “Rarely do opportunities arise to partner on an exclusive basis with a global sports powerhouse like UFC — an organization with extraordinary global recognition, scale, and cultural impact. Paramount’s advantage lies in the expansive reach of our linear and streaming platforms. Live sports continue to be a cornerstone of our broader strategy — driving engagement, subscriber growth, and long-term loyalty, and the addition of UFC’s year-round must-watch events to our platforms is a major win. We look forward to delivering this premium content to millions of fans in the U.S., and potentially beyond.”
Among the UFC’s millions of fans is President Donald Trump, who is close friends with UFC’s White. Next year, as part of the celebrations for the U.S.’s 250th birthday, the White House will host a premier UFC fight.
Trump and Ellison met at two UFC events (April 12 and June 7) ahead of the FCC’s approval last month of the Skydance-Paramount deal. At the June 7 UFC fight, Trump and Ellison engaged in “a heated exchange which required White House and UFC officials to intervene” before the encounter concluded “with a firm handshake,” according to an FCC filing by tech company LiveVideo.AI, which had opposed the Skydance-Paramount merger.
TKO Group is the parent company of UFC and WWE, majority-owned by Endeavor Group Holdings (which went private earlier this year). TKO confirmed that ESPN had engaged in talks to renew the UFC pact; others said to have been bidding for the MMA rights included Netflix, Amazon and YouTube.
While ESPN is losing UFC, it’s gaining WWE: Starting in 2026, ESPN’s stand-alone streamer will be the exclusive U.S. home to WWE’s tentpole events like “WrestleMania” under a five-year deal. Since 2021, NBCUniversal’s Peacock has had the exclusive rights to the premium WWE events.
Emanuel, executive chair and CEO of TKO, said in a statement, “This is a milestone moment and landmark deal for UFC, solidifying its position as a preeminent global sports asset. Our decade-long journey with UFC has been defined by continuous growth and expansion, and this agreement is an important realization of our strategy. We believe wholeheartedly in David’s vision and look forward to being in business with a company that will prioritize technology as a means to enhance storytelling and the overall viewing experience.”
UFC stages about 43 live events annually and produces more than 350 hours of live event content, with a roster of about 600 of athletes representing 75 countries. In the U.S., UFC estimates, it has approximately 100 million fans across linear TV, digital and social platforms.
From Variety US