The
UFC has found a new home. They have reached a deal with ESPN to run 15 Fight
Night events on ESPN's new OTT service, ESPN+, beginning in January 2019. Dana
White's Tuesday Night Contender Series will also move exclusively to ESPN+ in
the summer of June 2019. That show was exclusive to UFC Fight Pass. The Fight
Night events will get pre and post fight shows on the main ESPN network. There
will also be 10 UFC shows run on the main ESPN network. An additional part of
the deal will give fans access to hundreds of hours of UFC library programming
and reruns of all the UFC PPV shows. The entire UFC package is a five year deal
with a total value of $1.5 billon dollars. ESPN outbid Fox Sports, NBC Sports
and Turner Sports for the package. UFC will continue to handle all of the TV
production. The Fox deal only brought UFC $116 million a year and now it’s
bringing in $300 million. An off shoot of the deal may have UFC and Top Rank
Boxing to team up on Saturday nights which would have UFC president Dana White
have to work with boxing promoter Bob Arum, who White can’t stand. One person
who also made out good with the deal is MMA journalist and insider Ariel Helwani.
He is now working for ESPN. His duties will include hosting the podcast Ariel
Helwani's MMA Show, co-hosting with Chael Sonnen Ariel & The Bad Guy", a weekly
30-minute digital show for the ESPN+ platform and cover MMA across ESPN's TV and
digital platforms. Helwani and UFC president Dana White have had issues but
money makes those things go away. |