The UFC continues to break records as they signed their latest blockbuster deal to earn huge money with Paramount.
As Dana White announced on August 11, the UFC has signed the biggest broadcast deal in fighting history to show its fights on Paramount.
The company will rake in $7.7 billion over seven years as it kills the PPV model that made it a household name since launching the company in 1993.
This megabucks deal is a stark increase from a deal that seemed impossibly big back in 2012, but now looks like pennies compared to the Paramount contract.
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UFC’s first big media deal netted them around $100 million per year
The UFC launched in 1993 strictly on a pay-per-view model, following a format that had made billions in boxing over the decades.
However, television was clearly the future of sports, and Dana White led the company to fork out $10 million in production costs to launch The Ultimate Fighter in 2005.
This helped grow the company’s popularity enormously and encouraged FOX Sports to agree a deal to show the UFC on network television for the very first time.
While specific details about this deal were kept secret, it was reported that the UFC was paid around $100 million per year in the six-year deal for their first major network television deal to show special “UFC on Fox” events live on TV.
The contract also saw The Ultimate Fighter move over to FX, but once the deal ended in 2018, ESPN flew in to triple the UFC’s money with a $300 million a year deal for their content.
This 200% increase in revenue was a huge boost for the UFC, but it was nothing compared to their multi-billion dollar deal just seven years later.
The Paramount deal increased UFC fees to 1000% of what they were 14 years ago
2025 will see the UFC end its pay-per-view model after 32 years, after signing a record-breaking deal with Paramount.
The UFC-Paramount deal was announced by Dana White, who confirmed the $7.7 billion, seven-year deal to show UFC events on Paramount until 2032.
| Company | Value (reported) | Date |
| FOX Sports | $100 million per year | 2012-2018 |
| ESPN | $300 million per year | 2019-2025 |
| Paramount | $1.1 billion per year | 2026-2032 |
The deal kicks off at the start of 2026, leaving the rest of 2025 as the final time fans can pay to watch the fights on PPV.
This new deal will net the UFC a cool $1.1 billion per year for their upcoming events as well as their back catalogue, boosting their income from media deals by 1000% from their 2012 move to FOX.
The deal should see UFC fighters’ pay increase, according to White.
This massive increase is despite dropping PPV numbers over the years for the UFC, as they break records with the biggest deal for any fight promotion in the history of sports.
Matchroom Boxing’s billion-dollar deal with DAZN stands as one of the biggest of all time in boxing, but even that pales in comparison to the mega UFC-Paramount partnership.