The UFC has struck a huge deal with Paramount and CBS to broadcast all of its events. Paramount will pay the UFC $7.7 billion to air the UFC for the next seven years and in the process, it has ended the fight organization’s pay-per-view era.

UFC has employed a pay-per-view model for its biggest fights since the very first event in 1993. For the last few years, those cards have been available through ESPN+, with subscribers paying an extra PPV price for each event.

Dana White announced the move on X:

“Without a Pay-Per-View model” might be the most surprising collection of words ever attributed to Dana White. The UFC’s first event on November 12, 1993, was a pay-per-view. Through July 2025 there have been 318 traditional numbered UFC events and almost all of those were on pay-per-view.

It goes without saying that this is a monumental win for UFC fans who now get every event for what they used to pay for two pay-per-views. In an interview, president and chief operating officer of TKO Group Mark Shapiro, which owns the UFC, called the PPV model "a thing of the past,” via CNBC:

“What’s on pay-per-view anymore? Boxing? Movies on DirecTV? It’s an outdated, antiquated model. So, it was paramount to us—forgive the pun—where it’s one-stop shopping, especially for our younger fans in flyover states. When they find out, ’Wait, if I just sign up for Paramount+ for $12.99 a month, I’m going to automatically get UFC’s numbered fights and the rest of the portfolio?’ That’s a message we want to amplify.”

As for Paramount, this further bolsters its sports portfolio, which already includes the NFL, college football, soccer, golf and anything else that airs on CBS.

More on Sports Illustrated


This article was originally published on www.si.com as UFC Leaves ESPN for New Streaming Partner and Ends Pay-Per-View Era.

Test hyperlink for boilerplate