The UFC-ESPN relationship is becoming even more strained.
After UFC 313 was marred by technical issues preventing individuals from purchasing the pay-per-view event on ESPN+, executives from the fighting promotion are not happy with the Worldwide Leader.
Executives from TKO Group, the combined entity that controls UFC and WWE, were apparently “absolutely furious” with ESPN’s technical issues on Saturday night, according to a report by Erich Richter of the New York Post. The pay-per-view difficulties resulted in ESPN taking the unprecedented step of offering a replay of the fights free of charge to ESPN+ subscribers on Sunday morning. However, neither the fighting promotion nor the network are offering rebates of any kind as a result of the snafu.
Of course, this is all happening in the context of UFC’s upcoming media rights negotiations. Currently, UFC and ESPN are locked into an exclusive negotiating period, but the promotion hasn’t been shy about its desire to court other potential media partners. The exclusive period ends on April 15, at which point UFC can begin official negotiations with other suitors such as Netflix or Amazon.
ESPN has been the exclusive broadcast partner for UFC pay-per-view events since 2019, paying around $300 million annually for the right to do so.
The promotion’s frustrations with ESPN are reportedly longstanding as Saturday’s issues were not an isolated incident. Per the Post report, UFC brass views ESPN’s technical issues as “embarrassing.”
Given this recent rhetoric, and the likelihood the two sides will exit the exclusive negotiation period without a deal, ESPN’s time as a UFC partner could be coming to an end rather soon.
