The UFC recently announced a new streaming rights deal with ESPN worth $150 million that will see them broadcast 15 live events on the ESPN+ platform, but the rest of their live broadcast rights are still up for grabs.
Recent speculation suggested that the UFC may be on the verge of cutting back on the number of pay-per-view events it does per year to as little as six in favor of a lucrative broadcasting deal that would see more events than ever air on TV (with the likes of FOX and NBC believed to be interested parties), but a new report suggests that’s not the case.
“The UFC is free to negotiate with other partners for the rest of its live rights. Those include 12 pay-per-view events, 12 pay-per-view prelim events (being offered separately in this round of talks) and about 15 other events per year,” according to Bloomberg magazine.
If so that means the number of UFC PPV events would remain the same as usual, while the total number of shows they would be putting on would come to a round 42, not for far off the 39 shows they delivered in 2017.
It’s likely that nothing is set in stone at this stage however as negotiations with potential broadcast partners continues.
