UFC parent company TKO’s Mark Shapiro was recently on Puck’s podcast The Varsity to discuss the negotiations and revealed exactly why Netflix passed on UFC … or rather, why UFC passed on Netflix’s offer. And it comes down to the streaming giant only wanting the big numbered UFC events, not the massive amount of Fight Night shows the promotion holds every year.
“There was one moment of disappointment,” Shapiro said (via Awful Announcing). “And that was when we were getting pretty close with Netflix, frankly, and they kind of stood by the fact that they didn’t want to have the volume.
“Over the course of conversations, they really didn’t come off of that,” he added. “And that’s what opened the door for Paramount and CBS.”
Complaints of cards being watered down is nothing new, but fans have grown especially jaded about the UFC Apex “slop” being delivered, and it certainly seems like that perception hurt UFC’s ability to sell its “Fight Night” slate of events to broadcasters that actually care about the quality of the product they’re receiving.
A lot of networks are looking for high volume content to keep their subscribers from wandering, but Netflix has been vocal about only wanting big marquee events. That seems to have translated into them only wanting to pick up UFC’s monthly numbered shows, which would have no longer been pay-per-view (PPV) with Netflix.
That’s good news for fans in the U.S. who were sick of paying $80 per event on a platform that often choked and buffered when it allowed you to start watching an event at all (Sorry, Canada!). And it’s also good news for UFC visibility, because it hopes to get all those pirates over onto the $13 per-month Paramount+ service along with a bunch of new viewers now that there isn’t such a big cost barrier for entry into the sport.
“You have no idea the piracy that was taking place,” Shapiro told The Varsity. “Our numbers are going to go through the roof.”
