The UFC nearly landed a blockbuster partnership with Netflix before its historic $7.7 billion broadcast deal with Paramount took shape.
When the promotion began negotiating a new rights package, it seemed like the deal with Netflix would pull through, but the streaming giant signed a 10-year, $5 billion deal with WWE. With both companies under the TKO Group umbrella, a UFC Netflix partnership seemed inevitable. However, Paramount stepped in and doubled the pay, securing every UFC event for the next seven years.
TKO president and COO Mark Shapiro admitted that talks with Netflix were serious but ultimately fell apart because the streamer didn’t want the full slate of UFC events.
“Even though we had a lot of different interested parties, not everybody was writing a big check,” Shapiro said on *The Varsity* podcast. “So we knew it was going to take a lot of time to ultimately get the numbers up there. I would tell you the moment there was one moment of disappointment, and that was when we were getting pretty close with Netflix, frankly.
“They kind of stood by the fact that they didn’t want to have the volume, which we understood from the get go. [Netflix co-CEO] Ted [Sarandos] and [chief content officer] Bella [Bajaria] were very up front with that. We’re looking for big events so the fact that you could give us one pay-per-view, which they were just going to put on the platform for free as long as you’re a subscriber, as long as you just give us that, we’re in and we’ll pay premium for it, but we don’t want to carry the other 30 Fight Nights.”
Netflix has only recently begun moving into live spot airing one-off events like Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson and struck deals with the NFL for special Christmas Day games. While the UFC offered monthly pay-per-view cards that could have fit Netflix’s strategy, Shapiro explained that splitting UFC programming across multiple partners was never the ideal outcome.
“We had everybody interested but not everybody was willing to pay the kind of dollars we were looking for, which was 2X,” Shapiro said. “Of course, you’ll get as much as you possibly can but you’re also balancing. You’re not just taking the biggest check. You need to find the right brand and platform to grow your brand and grow your audience and I’m not just saying that because that sounds good. That was something very important to us. We didn’t want to be split up five ways.
“We were willing to, to get the money and as long as those platforms were some of the more premium platforms. It would have been more out of desperation. You’re not looking to go to five partners if you don’t have to. If you don’t have to if you can get it all in a few different places, putting aside the NFL, they’re in a different category.”
Netflix’s long-term commitment to WWE may have also worked against the UFC. Shapiro suggested that Raw’s year-round programming gave the streamer enough “volume,” which made them hesitant to add another weekly property.
“I think that played against us,” Shapiro said. “I think they felt like we have volume [with WWE] therefore we don’t need it here.
“So they’ll keep playing in the boxing, look what Canelo Alvarez did for them last weekend, 41 million viewers. Insane. Really not near the amount of marketing or promotion that the [Mike] Tyson fight had. I know that was different. That was more of an exhibition than anything else, a curiosity event, all of us hoping for Tyson to come back at that rough old age. At the end of the day, they wanted to stick with the big spectacles, which made a lot of sense.”
With Netflix focused on boxing cards like Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford and the upcoming Jake Paul vs. Gervonta Davis clash, Paramount swooped in and closed the UFC deal. Unlike Netflix, Paramount wanted the full slate of events and was willing to back it with cross-platform promotion.
“When CBS/Paramount came knocking on the door saying we’ll play on all of it,” Shapiro said. “We’ll promote cross platform. We’ll use CBS. We want the volume.
“We’re going to grow and really push Paramount+ as our premium platform, get behind it with better tech and a better ad-tech solution and really produce content with the best of technology driven by what they have and what obviously what [David Ellison’s father] has at Oracle. That kind of combination, there’s all kinds of opportunities. That vision that David Ellison laid out, who’s a fan of the UFC, was too good to pass up.”
The UFC is now less than four months away from launching its first event under the Paramount partnership. Starting in January, every fight card, including pay-per-views, will be available on Paramount+ at no additional cost to subscribers. While a UFC Netflix deal once seemed like a natural fit, it was Paramount that delivered the commitment and financial muscle to secure the future of the world’s biggest MMA promotion.
