Tag: ESPN

Report: ESPN+, UFC Broadcast Partner, To Get 43% Price Hike

ESPN+ streaming service, which is utilized by UFC fans to purchase pay-per-views, is about to get a substantial price tag jump. Bloomberg reports that the monthly price for the streaming service will increase from $6.99 to $9.99, totaling out to an ann…

ESPN+ streaming service, which is utilized by UFC fans to purchase pay-per-views, is about to get a substantial price tag jump. Bloomberg reports that the monthly price for the streaming service will increase from $6.99 to $9.99, totaling out to an annual subscription amount of $99.99. Earlier this year, The Walt Disney Company increased the…

Continue Reading Report: ESPN+, UFC Broadcast Partner, To Get 43% Price Hike at MMA News.

UFC 276 Prelims To Be On ABC, First Primetime UFC Event On Network

UFC 276 is one of the most highly anticipated cards of the year and it just got put on a primetime stage for viewers. ABC Network announced on Friday that the July 2nd UFC pay-per-view will have the preliminary card aired on ABC. The UFC 276 prelims will be simulcast on ABC and ESPN, marking…

Continue Reading UFC 276 Prelims To Be On ABC, First Primetime UFC Event On Network at MMA News.

UFC 276 is one of the most highly anticipated cards of the year and it just got put on a primetime stage for viewers.

ABC Network announced on Friday that the July 2nd UFC pay-per-view will have the preliminary card aired on ABC. The UFC 276 prelims will be simulcast on ABC and ESPN, marking the first time that ABC will cover a primetime UFC event.

ABC last featured a UFC event with the Max Holloway/Calvin Kattar-headlined card back in January 2021. This was a UFC Fight Night event and took place during the day.

UFC 276 will cap off the UFC’s International Fight Week festivities in Las Vegas, NV. The card will be headlined by a middleweight title fight between Israel Adesanya and Jared Cannonier.

In the co-main event, featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski will face Holloway in a title trilogy. Volkanovski earned a unanimous decision win over Holloway at UFC 245 before winning the rematch in a close matchup at UFC 251.

The card also features the return of bantamweight star Sean O’Malley against Pedro Munhoz, as well as Miesha Tate’s flyweight debut against Lauren Murphy.

The prelims will begin at 8 p.m. EST/5 p.m. PST on ABC and the ESPN family of networks.

What fights are you most excited to watch at UFC 276?

Continue Reading UFC 276 Prelims To Be On ABC, First Primetime UFC Event On Network at MMA News.

Vicente Luque Wants To Take On The Challenge Of Finishing Nate Diaz

Vicente Luque has opened up about a potential meeting with Nate Diaz following his impressive win at UFC 265. After extending his winning streak to four after a submission victory over Michael Chiesa last weekend, Vicente Luque took to the mic to call …

Vicente Luque has opened up about a potential meeting with Nate Diaz following his impressive win at UFC 265. After extending his winning streak to four after a submission victory over Michael Chiesa last weekend, Vicente Luque took to the mic to call out former training partner and current welterweight champion, Kamaru Usman—ultimately earning himself […]

Continue Reading Vicente Luque Wants To Take On The Challenge Of Finishing Nate Diaz at MMA News.

Ariel Helwani Opens Up On ESPN Exit & Toxic Relationship With Dana White

Former ESPN MMA reporter Ariel Helwani has been opening up about his exit from the company and other drama recently. Since leaving them about a month ago and going independent, Helwani has been doing multiple interviews talking about his experience. On Monday, Helwani really let it fly with his appearance on “The Dan Le Batard […]

Former ESPN MMA reporter Ariel Helwani has been opening up about his exit from the company and other drama recently.

Since leaving them about a month ago and going independent, Helwani has been doing multiple interviews talking about his experience. On Monday, Helwani really let it fly with his appearance on “The Dan Le Batard Show”. He talked about his very rocky relationship with Dana White and how it has effected his career.

Helwani references an incident in 2016 when he got briefly banned from UFC events for breaking the news of Brock Lesnar’s return to early. He also shares how White tried to run him out when he signed with ESPN in 2018. (H/T sportingnews.com)

“From the moment it was made public that I was joining ESPN — unbeknownst to me on my life, on my kid’s life — I didn’t know when I was hired by ESPN, I didn’t know that they were in talks with the UFC. I had no idea. At the time, they really had, like, one MMA guy on the staff. And then if you recall — and you can go back and look — initially they signed them to a 10-card deal, ESPN+ only.

“And then I was like, ‘All right, they’re not the sole, exclusive broadcast partner. I can live with that.’ And then it became the whole freaking thing, and then I started to get nervous. So from the moment it was made public in mid-May that I was going to ESPN and, at that time, it had already been out that they had signed this deal with ESPN, the UFC did, Dana White tried to get me not even to make it to my first day.

“I mean, he raised hell to try to stop me — my first day was June 15 — tried to stop me [from getting to] the first day. Now, to the credit of a lot of the executives there, they all said no. They all had my back. They gave me opportunities. But, for the next three years, it was one roadblock after the next. It was one issue after the next. It was all kinds of stuff.”

Helwani did say that he had no hard feelings towards ESPN. However, he did admit that he was disappointed in his last contract offer from the company.

“For the record, they did give me an offer, and it was an offer that I think a lot of people covering MMA would be thrilled with,” Helwani said. “At the end of the day, there was an offer that I had to turn down. They could have easily said, ‘Thanks for your time. Let’s just go our separate ways.’ But they did give me an offer. It was not an offer that I felt was fair or that was what I was looking for or even reflective of the work that I had done for the past three years. I was 100 percent disappointed by the offer. It was not what I was expecting.”

You can watch the full interview with Helwani below.

What do you think of Ariel Helwani and his recent admissions about his time at ESPN?