Aug 11, 2025 - Business

Paramount strikes 7-year, $7.7 billion deal to stream UFC

Sara Fischer

Two tattooed UFC fighters in the octagon; the one in green shorts delivers a punch to the other's head, who shields his face with his arm. Both wear UFC gloves, crowd blurred behind cage. — Anthony Hernandez elbows Roman Dolidze of Georgia in a middleweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on Aug. 9 in Las Vegas. Photo: Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Paramount Global acquired the U.S. rights to Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) for $7.7 billion over seven years, the company announced Monday.

Why it matters: The deal, which starts next year, was announced less than a week after Paramount completed its long-awaited merger with Skydance Media.

It took Skydance and Paramount executives months of controversial wrangling to get regulatory approval for the deal from President Trump's Federal Communications Commission.

Reality check: UFC CEO Dana White, a Trump ally, and UFC parent TKO were reportedly in discussions with Netflix and Amazon about a large-scale deal for months.

TKO Group is a publicly traded holding company that includes UFC and WWE. Endeavor, the talent and entertainment company, is the majority shareholder in TKO.

Zoom in: The deal will see all 43 annual UFC live events made available exclusively on Paramount+.

Previously, UFC matches were available via pay-per-view on ESPN+.
The new Paramount deal will eliminate the pay-per-view model used by ESPN in its current deal to stream UFC fights, making all events available on Paramount+ at no additional cost.
In a statement, Paramount said the distribution shift "will unlock greater accessibility and discoverability for sports fans and provide an important catalyst for driving engagement and further subscriber growth for Paramount+."

Zoom out: The deal marks the first big move for Paramount under its new leadership team, which took effect last week with the deal close.

Paramount's new CEO is Skydance CEO David Ellison. Executives from RedBird Capital Partners, which helped finance Skydance's bid for Paramount, occupy other top leadership spots.

The big picture: The deal marks the latest in a mega-shuffling of U.S. fighting rights over the past few years.

Netflix last year struck a more than $5 billion, 10-year deal with the WWE to air "Monday Night Raw," one of TV's longest-running weekly episodic programs.
Last week, ESPN announced a new $1.6 billion deal with WWE to distribute its flagship event, Wrestlemania, and other marquee events over the next five years.

What to watch: Paramount said it intends to explore UFC rights outside the U.S. as they become available in the future.

Add Axios on Google

Paramount strikes 7-year, $7.7 billion deal to stream UFC

What to read next