UFC News: UFC signs new deal with Indian broadcast partner

What’s the story?

The UFC has come to terms on an agreement with Sony Pictures Networks (SPN) in India for the rights to broadcast all future UFC events until 2023.

MMA fans in India will be delighted with the deal, which will allow them to see every UFC Fight Night and Pay-Per-View event live and in HD on the Sony Ten 2 channels as well as additional UFC content on the SPN video-on-demand service.

In case you didn’t know…

India is a key market for the UFC’s worldwide growth, so SPN’s retention of the broadcast rights will be celebrated by all parties.

However, UFC fans in India will surely be happiest with the new agreement, which will see UFC programming aired every night from Monday to Friday as well as regular live events on Sunday mornings.

The heart of the matter

.@SPNSportsIndia retains the exclusive media rights of the world’s largest MMA promotion .@ufc, until 2023 https://t.co/kSWnVUeRhR.@sony .@SonyPictures .@sptv #ufc #mma #mmaindiashow

— MMA India (@MMAIndiaShow) August 6, 2019

Soon after the announcement of the agreement, SPN’s Head of Sports Business Rajesh Kaul had this to say:

“UFC is the gold standard for the sport of MMA across the globe and features the highest level of talent in their roster. Over the past few years, we have seen a steady growth in consumption of the sport and around 100 million viewers watched UFC on Indian television in 2018.

"UFC has garnered a dedicated fan base over the past few years and is one of the most-watched fight sports properties in India. To meet the growing demand for UFC content, we will telecast both live events and non-live content on the Sony Ten 2 channels.”

What’s next?

Fans in India now have at least four more years of world-class mixed martial arts action from the UFC to look forward to.

The MMA community in India will be hoping that this deal could be a huge step in bringing a long-awaited UFC live event to Indian soil in the future.