10 Ways UFC Has Grown In The Last 10 Years

You can be putting on the greatest show on earth every night, yet if no one's watching is there any real point?

UFC understood this logic and in 2005 set about getting eyes on the product by footing the $10 million in production fees if Spike TV would agree to launch The Ultimate Fighter on their station.

This worked a treat and attracted a mainstream audience to MMA, but they definitely raised their profile to new heights when (in 2011) they agreed a seven year deal to broadcast solely on Fox Sports. With 8.8 million viewers, UFC's first fight with Fox (Cain Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos) was easily the most watched MMA event of all time.

After Fox, UFC found themselves going into business with arguably the top sporting network in America, ESPN. By 2018, ESPN were in partnership with Disney and this meant that UFC were now under the same umbrella as Marvel and Star Wars (which is insane when you think about it). The five year deal, which began in January 2019, means that ESPN are paying $300 million a year - double what Fox paid in their last year with UFC - for all digital and linear rights.

With 42 events on the platform per year now scheduled into proceedings, UFC has never been more accessible. In March of 2019 the deal was extended by another two years, which is great news for fight fans.