Topline
Paramount struck a $7.7 billion deal with the Ultimate Fighting Championship just days after merging with Skydance, giving CBS and Paramount+ streaming and broadcasting rights to the mixed martial arts fights President Donald Trump has sometimes been spotted attending.
Paramount struck the UFC deal days after merging with David Ellison’s Skydance. (Photo by Mark Von Holden/Variety via Getty Images)
Variety via Getty Images
Key Facts
The new deal is valued at $1.1 billion per year for a period of seven years, and will begin in 2026, multiple outlets reported.
Under the terms of the deal, CBS and Paramount+ will obtain the rights to stream and broadcast UFC’s 13 marquee events and 30 “Fight Night” events.
The Paramount deal ends UFC streaming deal with ESPN, which paid $550 million per year, and also ends ESPN’s pay-per-view approach to charging for the fights.
Trump, a noted friend of UFC President and CEO Dana White, was spotted at two fights with Ellison earlier this year, once in April and again in June.
Ellison was able to secure the Paramount deal after what appeared to be a number of concessions by the previous owner to placate Trump and his FCC, which had to approve the deal.
Why Is The Ufc Deal Lucrative For Paramount?
Ellison has said on numerous occasions he wants to boost Paramount+’s subscription numbers and increase the amount of time subscribers spend using the streaming service. Paramount said in a quarterly report last month it had 77.7 million subscribers as of June 30, a decrease of 1.3 million from the previous quarter. Its subscriber total lags far behind competitors like Netflix, Disney+ and HBO Max. In a message posted to Paramount’s website on his first day as CEO last week, Ellison said no changes to the company “will be more pivotal to our future than the evolution of our streaming services,” stating he wants to increase “investment in premium, exclusive content,” singling out sports as a possible draw for subscribers. Ellison also said he plans to consolidate Paramount+ with Pluto TV, the company’s ad-supported free streaming service. Paramount recently struck an exclusivity deal with “South Park” worth $1.5 billion, claiming the streaming rights to the series from HBO Max.
What Are Trump’s Links To The Ufc?
Trump has a decades-long relationship with the UFC, dating back to the early 2000s, when he allowed the organization to host matches at his Trump Taj Mahal property in Atlantic City, New Jersey. “Nobody took us seriously. Except Donald Trump,” White said at the 2016 Republican National Convention about Trump’s early help. White has backed Trump’s presidential bids and Trump has been spotted at numerous UFC events throughout his presidencies, which typically draw raucous reactions from the crowds, including both standing ovations and boos. Trump attended a Miami UFC fight in April flanked by an entourage of administration members, including then-Department of Government Efficiency chief Elon Musk, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Key Background
The Paramount-UFC deal comes less than one week after the media company closed its merger with Ellison’s Skydance. Skydance and Paramount agreed to merge in July 2024, but the deal languished over a year of political tumult and apparent concessions to the Trump administration. Trump sued Paramount and CBS last year, accusing the CBS News show “60 Minutes” of deceptively editing an interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, his election opponent. Paramount agreed in July to pay $16 million to settle the lawsuit, which Trump considered a victory. Paramount also stirred controversy for announcing the cancellation of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” which it said was a financial decision, though Colbert, a Trump critic, noted the announcement was made shortly after the Paramount settlement. Skydance also vowed to end diversity, equity and inclusion policies in an apparent move to secure FCC approval, shortly before the deal was finalized.
Further Reading
Skydance Closes $8 Billion Merger With Paramount (Forbes)
What We Know About David Ellison—Soon-To-Be Paramount Chief And Major Hollywood Honcho (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2025/08/11/paramount-secures-ufc-streaming-rights-in-77-billion-deal/