Image: John Brannigan/Sherdog.com illustration
The Ultimate Fighting Championship is set to close out 2025 and its current broadcast partnership, if not exactly with a bang, then at least with a card that sums up the “ESPN era” nicely.
The deal with ESPN became the new normal so quickly that it’s jarring to realize that it lasted less than seven years. Even the headlining bout of the inaugural “UFC on ESPN” event, Cain Velasquez vs. Francis Ngannou, sounds like a chapter title from a history textbook.
The UFC’s yearly schedule since 2021 or so has consisted of roughly a dozen numbered pay-per-views, a similar number of arena road shows broadcast on ESPN or ESPN+, and 15 or 20 cards at the Apex in Las Vegas.