The UFC’s media rights deal with ESPN is set to expire at the end of 2025. And while TKO Group Holdings, the parent company of the UFC, appears to have a preference to continue working with Disney, UFC President Dana White expects to have several different suitors, which could include Warner Brothers Discovery.
White recently spoke with Adam Stern of Sports Business Journal about several different topics, including the UFC’s looming media rights talks.
First, White discussed his relationship with ESPN, sharing that while he has had instances of “headbutting” with ESPN, he is quite happy with his current relationship with the company.
“Yeah, everyone is kicking the tires. And over the however many last years that we’ve been together, I’ve had some headbutting with ESPN,” White told Stern. “But I feel like we are in a really good place right now and I’m really happy with my relationship with them and the way that this whole thing is running. We’ll see how it plays out.”
Stern then straight up asked White if he believed WBD could have interest.
“Listen, I think everyone is kicking the tires and is interested in making a bid,” White added.
This possibility is quite interesting. Specifically, because WBD just lost the broadcast rights to the NBA after NBC swooped in and outbid them.
Could the loss of the NBA mean that WBD could have an interest in taking on a broadcast rights deal with the UFC? Potentially, but there are a number of factors that suggest the partnership may not be likely.
WBD recently agreed to a broadcast partnership to air fights from the PFL-owned fight promotion Bellator, which has long been viewed as the biggest competition for the UFC among MMA promotions.
It’s possible that the UFC wouldn’t want to agree to a broadcast rights deal with a network that is already partnered with another MMA promotion. Albeit, that is the exact situation they are currently dealing with, as ESPN also has a partnership of their own with the PFL.
WBD would also have to deal with the blowback from constant public relations nightmares that come along with the UFC. Dana White has said in the past that he will not “censor” fighters during their pre- or post-fight press conferences. And it sure seems like that won’t be changing anytime soon.
Despite this, there will likely be plenty of suitors among networks to obtain UFC broadcast rights, considering how quickly the sport of MMA as a whole is growing. So it seems very possible that WBD could be in that mix.