On Monday (Sept. 29, 2025) it was announced that UFC parent company TKO would be bringing their new Zuffa Boxing promotion to Paramount CBS for a five year media rights deal.
The amount being paid is unclear at this moment, but the deal is 12 events a year over five years and puts most of Zuffa Boxing’s annual output (not including 2-3 potential super shows a year) on the same network that just bought UFC’s U.S. rights at $7.7 billion for 7 years.
Now we’re getting more information on the ‘wheeling
and dealing’ done by TKO execs to lock in a deal with Paramount CBS, and the other front runner for the deal was none other than former UFC partner ESPN. Combat sports business expert John Nash went over the behind the scenes negotiations that led to this.
“First, it looked like Paramount seemed like a sure thing,” he said on his Hey Not The Face Podcast. “They were supposedly deep in negotiations with Paramount … Then last minute, supposedly, ESPN got back in the deal, and they wanted to get back into business with TKO. They were gonna sign a deal for somewhere around $150 million, $50 million a year for three years, around that ballpark, maybe a little higher. They were getting the works.”
“And when ESPN got involved, apparently, they dropped a few other boxing promoters that they were in negotiations with. There’s been rumors of PBC. I’m not certain about that or Top Rank. One is I’m sure of is Misfits Boxing, which they were deep in negotiations and supposedly had a deal in place. They dropped them because now they wanted TKO, Zuffa Boxing from TKO.”
“TKO basically walked away from a deal Paramount thought they had,” Nash continued. “Lo and behold, as I was told, it’s now gonna be on ESPN. Last minute again, they dropped ESPN. They went back to get a better deal from Paramount. So Mark Shapiro is wheeling and dealing everybody, apparently.”
Not only did TKO manage to get a bigger deal with Paramount after playing them against ESPN, the deal ended up derailing Influencer boxing promotion Misfits.
“Some of the other boxing entities that were hoping to be on ESPN that ESPN stopped talking to then now seem to be still out in the wind,” Nash said. “So Misfits Boxing, that was supposed to have a deal with ESPN, is not gonna be on ESPN.”
Zuffa Boxing is set to kick off in January 2026 after the Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival act goes through sometime later this year, clearing the way for a more UFC-style ranking and belt system for boxing.
