Where the UFC lands when its television deal with FOX ends later this year will be one of the biggest stories of 2018. And things are already starting to heat up.
Two reports surfaced over the last few weeks with divergent potential scenarios. Earlier this month, the gossip blog Terez Owens reported that ESPN and NBC would be splitting the UFC’s broadcast deal with more TV fights and less pay-per-views as part of the arrangement. Last week, Variety had an exclusive story that stated that ESPN and FOX had worked in tandem to make a bid, with ESPN’s new streaming service ESPN+ getting more than a dozen fight cards per year.