This Saturday, the UFC holds its first event over ESPN's metaphorical airwaves. All the ingredients are present for a splashy debut. UFC Fight Night 143—or UFC Fight Night on ESPN+ 1, if you prefer the event's charismatic official moniker—will go down on the Worldwide Leader's new subscription service known as ESPN+.
It's a fascinating deal, with an ESPN statement placing the value at $1.5 billion over five years. That's not as high as the $400 per year UFC owners originally hoped for, according to MMA Fighting insider Dave Meltzer, but it's still pretty solid.