Overview
- UFC’s seven-year, $7.7 billion partnership with Paramount/CBS ends traditional pay-per-view and puts numbered events on Paramount+, beginning with UFC 324 on January 24, 2026.
- Daniel Cormier says multiple fighters have already reworked deals to swap PPV points for guaranteed pay and are taking home more than under the old model.
- UFC COO Lawrence Epstein has said fighter compensation will rise under the new structure, with increases aligned to the company’s longstanding margin targets.
- Cormier points to widespread illegal streaming and softer PPV sales—where 500,000 to 600,000 buys now qualifies as ‘big’—as key reasons the upside-based system faded.
- Broadcast changes include an earlier main card start time (9 p.m. ET) and largely unchanged production teams, while Cormier’s ESPN show with Chael Sonnen has ended.