If you have been reading any news being an MMA fan over the last few days, you would have seen that Dana White is furious with ESPN.
The reason why White is furious is because of the issues ESPN+ had with streaming UFC 313. White addressed the problems in the post-fight press conference, saying it had made it back to him. The UFC signed a deal with ESPN back in 2019, and with the deal ending this year, Netflix has popped up as the name of the place where the UFC may end up.
It’s not just a one-way street, though, with ESPN having problems with the UFC; they feel they’re not getting the most out of their deal with pay-per-view numbers declining.
T-K-O, which owns the UFC, already has a deal with Netflix and WWE. While in the US, only RAW is televised on Netflix, in Australia and the rest of the world, all WWE shows, and Premium Live Events are streamed on the platform.
Before the Netflix deal, the WWE started with their own service, the WWE Network. In the US, they would later move to Peacock, while in Australia, they got a deal with Foxtel for a dedicated channel and their entire library to be made available on Foxtel subscription TV and their streaming service Binge.
When the WWE Network closed down and moved to Binge, I was worried that the company’s vast library would not move over. Luckily for myself and other Australian wrestling fans, it moved over. With the Netflix deal, wrestling fans have not been so lucky. There are a lot of past pay-per-views and select episodes of Raw, Smackdown and NXT. There is no WCW, and the only ECW content on Netflix is One Night Stand and December to Dismember.
Recently, WWE started up a dedicated YouTube channel for WCW. There may be a plan for other channels to upload videos from their library, but overall, it’s a mess.
The UFC has its own streaming platform, UFC Fight Pass, which shows UFC fight nights and related content. Previously, Australian fans could purchase pay-per-views, but that stopped once the UFC agreed to a deal with Foxtel to show its events exclusively on its channel, Main Event. Like the WWE Network, Fight Pass has a vast fight library that includes Pride, Elite XC, and Strikeforce.
Not only that, grassroots promotions such as Cage Warriors, Legacy Fighting Alliance and Eternal MMA, giving up and coming fighters a platform.
My biggest fear is that if the UFC signs a deal with Netflix, the library will not transfer over, and those grassroots promotions will lose their platform. There could be a chance that a streaming platform like DAZN could have those promotions, but it is another bill to pay. With the cost of living rising, we can’t afford all of the streamers, no matter what they carry.
What do you think? Should the UFC sign with Netflix or sort out their problems with ESPN? Let me know in the comments.
Below is the full UFC 313 press conference: