Dana White is excited about the full UFC move to ESPN next year.
UFC president Dana White is never short on a quote, and today is no different. In the aftermath of one of the most lucrative days in the promotion’s history, he’s in a good mood. But he will also have to answer a lot of questions about how the UFC’s new wide-reaching broadcast deal with ESPN, which will pay the promotion 300 million dollars a year, is going to play out.
One of the biggest questions was whether the deal involved ESPN taking over production of UFC events. But like the Fox deal, it appears the UFC will be maintaining it themselves. That comes straight from White himself, in a brief conversation with ESPN’s Brett Okamoto:
Per Dana White, UFC will maintain control of its production of live events on ESPN. “The fans are happy with the way our show is presented, and the networks are too, which is why we get these deals done. Our production is incredible, we do an amazing job and we’ll continue to.”
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) May 23, 2018
In other words, Face The Pain isn’t going anywhere in 2019 most likely. But that also means that you’re unlikely to see Stephen A. Smith on a UFC broadcast anytime soon (thankfully).
Another big question was pretty straightforward – how will this benefit the fighters? With all that money on the table, will there be a trickle-down effect? White believes that the platform change will involve more promotion for the fighters, which will be better for them in the long run:
Dana White, when asked how this ESPN deal will benefit UFC fighters: “ESPN has shown its commitment to not only UFC, but MMA. The amount of promotion our athletes are going to get now, and what ESPN is doing with this new platform, it’s going to be very big for the fighters.”
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) May 23, 2018
Many would hope it might lead to an uptick in fighter salaries – an actual direct consequence – instead of the same “more exposure means the fighters will do better” argument that was thrown out when the Fox deal was signed. And it still might. But White gave no indication of that in this initial statement.
The new deal will begin in early 2019.