According to Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White, the UFC is considered one of the big four sports in America. For this reason, he joined Ari Emanuel to take the big step of expanding the contract between UFC and ESPN back in 2019. The deal began at UFC 236, and now it’s about to reach its end in 2025. So what’s next for the Dana White-led promotion? Well, it seems like the UFC can find a home in four major companies, as hinted by the boss himself.

In a recent interview with Sports Business Journal, Dana White talked about the UFC-ESPN contract deadline and his plans in mind for the extension. What grabbed his attention was the rise of streaming services compared to the times when all sports were covered by network television. So now that he’s seeing massive growth in the UFC in terms of popularity and record-breaking gates, he wants his promotion to reach eight billion people.

As a result, he hints that the UFC might join hands with a streaming platform to reach the masses. He said, “And now you know, Lorenzo and I, when we first got into this, we used to dream about a day where everybody could watch the same fight on the same channel at the same time, and that’s happening over the next several years. I don’t know who the players are going to end up being, but you know, is it going to be Amazon, is it going to be YouTube, is it going to be Disney?”

He further added in the interview that he has a really good relationship with ESPN and would like to see how this situation plays out. It is worth noting that the UFC head honcho is setting his sights on a groundbreaking media deal, one that could rival the NFL’s colossal $111 billion contract. As per Dana White, UFC is becoming one of the biggest sports in the world, so he wants broadcasters to give him a deal that would be similar to the contract of the NFL.

January will mark the beginning of an exclusive three-month bargaining period with ESPN. Since their original partnership in 2019, the broadcasting business has contributed significantly to the promotion’s growth. So they would want the UFC to re-sign with them for another five to six years, seeing their massive potential. However, there is another important player in the game who can take their clientele away in a single swoop.

Netflix drops its name in the hat

In a recent interview with CNBC Sport, TKO Group COO Mark Shapiro hinted that the streaming giants may be interested in a future collaboration. As per the TKO COO, “I think absolutely they’d be at the table on UFC. I mean, they get the UFC, they’re fans of the UFC, they’ve been to the UFC, their kids watch the UFC, and they’re looking for those leagues, those brands, those kinda power sport content factories that can go global.”

With the recent Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul fight being broadcasted on their platform, Netflix has proved its intentions of earning rights to major sporting shows and events. With WWE also moving their red brand, RAW, on the streaming platform, it wouldn’t be surprising to see if TKO decides to give Netflix to broadcast another one of their major players.

However, it is also upon Dana White to decide what he thinks is best for his promotion. With ESPN being the one major player that showed their trust in them, the head honcho might opt to go for the ones with whom he has had a good relationship. What do you think? Will the UFC move out of ESPN? Let us know in the comments.