MIAMI – Dana White addressed the UFC’s ESPN deal coming to a close.
The UFC’s exclusive negotiating window with ESPN ends Tuesday, where the promotion can now talk to other networks and potentially land a new home starting 2026.
In 2018, the UFC and ESPN signed a five-year, $1.5 billion deal for domestic broadcast rights beginning in 2019. In early 2019, they extended the deal two years and added pay-per-view streaming rights.
“When the window opens, we’ll obviously start talking to lots of different people and we’ll see what the options are out there,” White told MMA Junkie and other reporters at the UFC 314 post-fight press conference. “We’ve said this every time: There could be a time when we end up on several different networks like all other sports do.
“I like ESPN. I’ve said it many times: We had a bit of a rocky start, which is normal in any relationship, but we’re in a great place with ESPN. Whether we re-sign with them or do not, I have nothing but great things to say about my time at ESPN.”
White was then asked if he’d like to stick to the same event format, which saw 42 events in 2024.
“I don’t know,” White said. “It depends on what ESPN or wherever else we go is looking for. Most of the times when you do these deals, you’re catering to what the network needs. Plus, they’ll have other programming, other sports that they’re already committed to at certain times and seasons and whatever it may be. It always changes. It doesn’t matter to me.”
In January, Bloomberg reported that the UFC is seeking more than $1 billion a year for its new broadcast rights deal, which White addressed by saying, “Sounds good to me” with a smile. With the UFC potentially following in the WWE’s footsteps by moving to Netflix, could it see its pay-per-view model go away?
“We do what works for the network – what do they want to do?” White said. “Do they want to just put it on their air? Do they want to do pay-per-view? Do they want to put it behind a paywall? I don’t know any of those things. Tuesday, the window opens and we start talking to other networks and we’ll get more into that.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 314.
