UFC’s recent media rights negotiations took an unexpected turn when Netflix, long considered a front-runner, failed to secure the rights and the promotion instead struck a $7.7 billion deal with Paramount and CBS. At the center of the fallout was Apex and the UFC’s insistence on packaging every numbered pay-per-view with Fight Night cards conflicted with Netflix’s more limited vision.
Netflix and the UFC
Mark Shapiro, president of UFC’s parent company TKO, explained the crux of the disagreement in an interview on The Varsity. “There was one moment of disappointment. And that was when we were getting pretty close with Netflix, frankly, and they kind of stood by the fact that they didn’t want to have the volume,” Shapiro said.