UFC and Paramount did not intend to simulcast White House event on CBS, report indicates

UFC CEO Dana White had hinted there was a chance that the UFC Freedom 250 event, held last Sunday at the White House, might be simulcast on CBS. However, a recent report from Sports Business Journal reveals that the event was always planned to be exclusively streamed on Paramount+.

Last year, Paramount and UFC signed a big media rights deal worth $7.7 billion, which included streaming all of the MMA promotion’s content on Paramount+. Even though CBS had simulcast preliminary fights for a few UFC events earlier in the deal, the White House event remained a Paramount+ exclusive.

While there were hopes of CBS airing parts of the event based on White’s and the White House officials’ comments, the stream stayed on Paramount+. It’s not entirely clear why the decision was made to keep it a streaming exclusive, but many UFC events since the Paramount deal began have followed the same pattern.

However, there’s still hope for those looking to catch UFC bouts on CBS, as reports suggest that the network might simulcast some fights in the near future. CBS has had success with previous simulcasts, with over 2.5 million viewers tuning in for a set of preliminary fights during the most recent event.

Overall, Paramount’s partnership with UFC seems to be off to a strong start, with the company gaining a million new subscribers in a single day for their first UFC card in January. The future looks bright for both Paramount and UFC as they continue to collaborate on bringing exciting fights to fans worldwide.