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Eleven Sports and UFC have announced a new broadcast partnership for the UK and Ireland starting in January 2019.
The deal further expands the global sports provider’s sporting portfolio, with it securing the rights to all 42 live UFC events in 2019, as well as over 150 hours of UFC original and archive programming in a multi-year agreement.
As part of the deal UFC Fight Nights will also be shown live on Eleven Sports, whilst the broadcaster will have the option to make some events available in partnership with other broadcast platforms. Fight Nights that are shown live on Eleven Sports will also be available on demand in full after the event.
Danny Menken, Group Managing Director, Eleven Sports commented: “UFC has become a massive brand which has built a hugely dedicated and engaged following over 25 years, making it a perfect fit for our fan centric strategy. We are a big supporter of combat sports across our global markets and the fresh and innovative approach that we have taken with our properties has been very successful. We are looking forward to creating the same added value for the legions of MMA fans in the UK and Ireland.”
David Shaw, UFC Senior Vice President, International and Content added: “We have worked very successfully with Eleven Sports in Belgium and Luxembourg and we are looking forward to extending our partnership here in the UK and Ireland. The UK and Ireland are amongst UFC’s strongest markets globally and with Eleven Sports making a significant impact here, it made perfect sense to partner with them to showcase our thrilling product to our loyal and passionate fans.”
The partnership with Eleven Sports provides UFC with a new broadcast home in the UK and Ireland, where it will receive centre stage treatment and provide the passionate and dedicated fans incredible access to all the action from around the world.
UFC is the latest major sports rights property acquired by Eleven Sports, following the addition of top flight football leagues, LaLiga (Spain), Serie A (Italy), Eredivisie (Netherlands), Chinese Super League (from 2019) and Allsvenskan (Sweden) – all exclusively live in the UK and Ireland for the next three seasons.
