Troubles for Dana White are on the rise, as the PPV sales keep on plummeting. And the dying broadcasting relationship between the UFC and ESPN isn’t helping at all. Instead, Erich Richter, a reporter from the New York Post, highlighted a fact that put White on the worry train. He revealed, “The UFC gets [paid] 300,000 pay-per-view buys as a ‘buy-in’ from ESPN. There’s no way that ESPN is getting 300,000 pay-per-view buys out of every pay-per-view, from what I was told. So, this has been a bad marriage in the last couple years for both parties.” Needless to say, both UFC and ESPN are frustrated regarding the losses. But as talks of UFC on Netflix begin to rise, Joe Rogan has come forth with another revelation.

Talking to the famed actor and author, Joey Diaz, on episode #2309 of the JRE, the UFC color commentator weighed in on the PPV numbers going down for the UFC. He said, “Well, I think in general, the pay-per-view numbers are down, as well, because the casuals aren’t buying it as much…” He went on to compare the PPVs for UFC with those of boxing. Rogan pointed out that, unlike the squared rings, the Octagon hosts PPV events every month. On top of that, Fight Nights happen almost every single weekend. Which means people have to spend about $70 to watch the main card. But there’s a deeper reason as to why there’s a decline in PPV sales. 

The JRE host claimed, “And also, some of the great fights are on the undercard. And you already, before the pay-per-view starts, you already have, you know, three and a half hours of great fights you could watch for free. And some of them, they’re trying to lure you into buying the pay-per-view. So, some of the best fights are really on the undercard.” Take UFC 310 for example. The fighting community didn’t like the idea of putting Bryce Mitchel vs. Kron Gracie in the main card. Instead, the hype turned to the prelims, where Dominick Reyes battled Anthony Smith, and Aljamain Sterling fought Movsar Evloev. No wonder the fans watched the prelims with more excitement. 

But as the $1.5B deal between ESPN and UFC comes to an end, White must look for an alternative broadcasting partner. And Netflix became one of the favorable choices for the UFC head honcho. But that was until Ted Sarandos weighed in on the partnership possibilities. 

Netflix shuts the door on Dana White’s broadcasting aspirations

After Netflix shook hands with WWE, the UFC head honcho believed that he could make a similar deal and put the MMA promotion on Netflix. However, the CEO of Netflix had a difference of opinion. Sarandos weighed in on potential deals with the UFC and MLB at Netflix’s investors’ call, and said, “I’m not going to comment on any of those specific opportunities at this time. But I will steer you back to the letter to show you that our live event strategy is unchanged. We remain really focused on the big, breakthrough events. Our audiences love them. So anything we chase in the event space or the sports space is a deal that would have to make economic sense as well.” 

According to the Netflix CEO, live events are a relatively small aspect of their viewership experience. They had already faced quite a bit of issues back when Jake Paul fought Mike Tyson. Nevertheless, he did shed some light on the positives and claimed that the team was excited to keep building on audience retention with the live streams.

As per the reports, White and Co. were planning to sign a deal with Netflix right after the exclusive negotiation window with ESPN closed. But with Ted Sarandos taking a step back from acquiring the entirety of the UFC package, things might get a bit busier for the UFC CEO.

Nevertheless, the question in the end remains the same. Would White get to resolve his broadcasting issues? Can the UFC bounce back and earn even bigger cash through PPV buyouts? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.