ESPN, the heavyweight sports broadcaster owned by media giant Disney, will continue to air international mixed martial arts promotion Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in Australia and New Zealand after striking a multi-year rights renewal.
Through the extension, ESPN Australia and New Zealand have retained the rights to deliver all 30 UFC Fight Night events, along with all 12 UFC pay-per-view (PPV) Prelims each year.
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ESPN will also continue to air additional content including original programming, such as UFC Countdown, The Ultimate Fights, and Dana White’s Contender Series.
Peter Kloczko, UFC vice president of Australia and New Zealand, said: “ESPN has been a great partner to us, and we’re thrilled they will continue to broadcast our events in Australia and New Zealand.
“Our roster of talent from Australia and New Zealand has never been stronger, and we’re excited to continue to work with ESPN to keep promoting these athletes, building local stars, and broadcasting the best combat sports events in the world to our incredible fans here.”
The renewal adds to ESPN’s combat sports portfolio in Australia and New Zealand, which includes rights to the US professional wrestling series All Elite Wrestling. Other rights in the region include the men’s National Basketball League in Australia, as well as North America’s NBA, WNBA, NCAA Basketball, and FIBA international competitions.
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By GlobalDataKylie Watson-Wheeler, senior vice president and managing director of Disney and responsible for ESPN across Asia Pacific, said: “Our ESPN programming packs a punch with live events every week across the year and there’s so much local talent – such as UFC Featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, Israel Adesanya, Robert Whittaker, and Tai Tuivasa – in the UFC Octagon for Australians and New Zealanders to get behind.”
The renewal is the latest rights deal UFC has struck this year after international entertainment and sports giant Endeavor completed its deal with World Wrestling Entertainment to merge the organization with UFC under the TKO Group name last year.
Last month, the promotion renewed its exclusive rights deal with Indian broadcasting group Sony Pictures Network through 2028 covering 42 UFC events across India and the Indian subcontinent.
It also unveiled two new multi-year broadcast deals in Belgium, with Play Media and Orange Belgium, with both platforms showing over 40 UFC events per year, and extended its exclusive rights tie-up with European sports media heavyweight Viaplay in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland.
Meanwhile, UFC has also struck a live event marketing partnership with Black Rifle Coffee Company (BRCC), the premium coffee brand that supports US veterans, active-duty military, and first responders.
Under the multi-year partnership, BRC becomes the exclusive official coffee of the UFC in the US and will gain on-site presence at all live UFC events in the US, as well as broadcast integration.
UFC and BRCC will also work together on original content that will be distributed across UFC’s digital and social channels, which reach more than 295 million users worldwide.
The partnership also includes an annual brand ambassador fund that will see the partnership activated through appearances, content, and creative campaigns with UFC athletes.
The partnership will activate at UFC 298: Volkanovsi vs. Topuria on February 17 in Anaheim, California’s Honda Center.
Mat Best, co-founder of BRCC, said: “UFC has revolutionized the landscape of competitive sports, and our collaboration aims to invigorate fans, fostering the creation of unforgettable experiences and lasting memories.
“Together, we fight forward with a shared vision of greatness for making a difference in the lives of those who served.”
The new partnership comes after TKO Group combined the commercial teams of UFC and WWE last month to provide "brands with access to one of the most formidable sports marketing portfolios in the world.”
Since then, UFC has unveiled a multi-year partnership with US pharmaceutical business Rizz Pharma, which joins a long list of partnerships secured by the promotion, including international e-commerce brand Fanatics to cover the trading card realm, and Kudo Snacks.
Other major sponsors include Anheuser-Busch, Crypto.com, DraftKings, Jose Cuervo, Monster Energy, PRIME Hydration, Timex, and VeChain.
