Before Dana White, the UFC had a leader by the name of Art Davie. However, in 2001, the UFC co-founder sold the organization for $2 million to Zuffa LLC. Davie was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018 and has even tried to recreate the same success as the UFC. However, he has yet to attain the same success but is still a highly respected individual in the MMA circuit.

He appeared on the ‘Weighing In’ podcast and spoke at length with Josh Thomson and Big John McCarthy. While speaking to Thomson, Davie gave an insight into the probable future agreements of the UFC.

Will UFC sign a new contract with Netflix next?

Davie is one of those rare individuals who has a good understanding of sports and business. Both Thomson and McCarthy tried to get his verdict on the functioning of the UFC. The former co-owner was quick to respond and said, “Jos I remember at one point Sean Wheelock said the UFC when Lorenzo and Frank came in and bought it in 2001. Had an opportunity to probably do what football had done you know. Football if wanted to do the Super Bowl on pay-per-view what could they charge for it?”

He was then quick to point out what the future plan of the UFC could be. The UFC’s contract with ESPN is coming to an end, but what can the promotion do next?  Davie said, “There’s a lot of rumors floating around about the fact that somewhere around July of this year. The UFC has to make an internal decision of whether or not they’re going to renew with ESPN. I suspect that we haven’t seen the the end of this story yet. In my personal opinion Netflix is with 260 million subscribers is the big dog on the Block.”

Netflix has already entered the field of boxing and will be live-streaming the Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul fight. However, it will be interesting to see whether the UFC also ties up with the streaming giants or not.

The UFC is currently exploring a new broadcast rights agreement as its current deal with ESPN ends in 2024. However, the promotion is keeping all its options open for the moment and not only focused on Netflix.

UFC and Dana White are scanning all options for their new contract

ESPN and the UFC entered into a contract in 2018 with a seven-year deal worth $1.5 billion. Now, with their contract coming to an end, multiple negotiations are scheduled for later this year. TKO Group Holdings President Mark Shapiro shared the details of their next step. As reported by MMA Fighting, speaking on their financial call, Shapiro shared the details of their negotiations. He said, “As far as multiple partners, one partner, we’ll see what happens when we get there. We’re not looking to get away from them.”

Shapiro also made it clear that they are only focused on the betterment of the UFC and are in no rush. He said, “We’re not looking to reduce our commitments, but at the same time, we have a window; we’ll listen, we’ll talk, and we’ll do what’s in the best interests of the UFC going forward.”

He further added, “We feel good about the potential package we’ll end up with, and we see the demand for live sports is outstripping the supply of premium sports content.” Clearly, the MMA promotion has a big decision to make soon. The biggest reason is that their biggest revenue is earned from broadcasting deals.

Do you think that the UFC will also join hands with Netflix in the future? Let us know in the comments below.