UFC ending American PPVs, but what does that mean for fans in Canada?
Of all the sports that fans can choose to watch in Canada, it’s hard to find many that are more expensive to keep up with than UFC.
For all the biggest events in the sport, they’ve traditionally been under a pay-per-view model, with fans shelling out big bucks to watch the action.
But as per a US$7.7 billion deal that starts in 2026, UFC is moving to CBS and Paramount+, scrapping their pay-per-view model, at least in the United States.
“This deal puts UFC amongst the biggest sports in the world,” UFC CEO Dana White posted on X. “The exposure provided by the Paramount and CBS networks under this new structure is a huge win for our athletes and anyone who watches and loves this sport.”
Under the new deal, many of the biggest events in UFC will be shown over the air on CBS, which is included in plenty of Canadian cable packages. Other events will be shown on Paramount+.
But this might complicate matters for the current state of affairs.
Sportsnet currently owns rights to Canadian UFC broadcasts, taking over from TSN in 2024. It is not clear how long the agreement between the broadcaster and UFC is, just as we don’t know at this time whether Canadians will have access to the Paramount+ or CBS broadcasts of UFC fights.
A Sportsnet spokesperson told Offside that there is “no changes to how fans can watch in Canada,” as it appears they will still have PPVs for the biggest fights in the sport.
Offside has reached out to UFC or comment and will update the article with new information as it becomes available.
In Canada, there are three tiers to Paramount+: basic (with ads) for $6.99/month or $61.99/year, standard for $10.99/month or $97.99/year, and premium for $13.99/month or $124.99/year.
A single UFC PPV in Canada purchased through Sportsnet is listed at $69.99, meaning you’d be spending just under $1000 to watch all 14 of them in 2024. Meanwhile, Sportsnet carries less-important events — known as “Fight Nights” — on its linear television network, which costs $29.99 per month as of September for standalone streaming access.
This isn’t the first time that a major sporting property has opted to go the streaming route. In 2024, Sportsnet lost WWE rights to Netflix in Canada and worldwide, which kicked in earlier this year. Notably, both WWE and UFC are owned by the parent company TKO.
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