Former UFC Champ Daniel Cormier Touts ‘Historic’ Paramount Deal

Former UFC champion Daniel Cormier is thrilled that the MMA promotion’s deal with Paramount+ will lead to greater exposure.

Cormier spoke to Front Office Sports editor-in-chief Dan Roberts at Radio Row during Super Bowl week in San Francisco. 

“The Paramount deal is historic,” Cormier said. “To have an ability to get the product in front of more people at less cost is the best thing the UFC could have done. I always say, you don’t pay for the NFL, you don’t pay for basketball. Now we’re in line with the rest of the sports. I think it’s gonna really help the UFC.”

UFC’s deal with Paramount is worth $7.7 billion over seven years. In UFC’s previous deal with ESPN, viewers needed an ESPN+ account for about $10 per month, and big pay-per-view events were an additional $79.99. Now, all of UFC’s events are included in the Paramount+ streaming service for $8.99 per month (there are also expected to be select events broadcast on CBS). 

Cormier was a light heavyweight and heavyweight champion in UFC and he is a color commentator on the broadcast. He talked about casting a wide net and attracting new fans who discover it for the first time on the streaming platform. 

“I think what happens is you come across stuff. A lot of shows that I watch, I’m generally just kind of flipping through channels and I’m like ‘Oh this looks interesting, I’ll check it out.’ Does it always keep me? No, but sometimes it does,” Cormier said. 

“When you talk about Paramount+, the UFC, and everything else, how many more opportunities are people going to have to come across the UFC? Then, if we get 10 of them, say we keep three, that’s three more people that might not have watched it before—and I believe we’ll get tens of thousands and thousands and thousands, and eventually you start becoming new fans. Because if you watch it, it’s hard not to become a fan of the sport. It’s awesome.” 

In the first UFC event on Paramount+ a number of viewers were taken aback by the amount of ads. “It’s $8.99,” UFC boss Dana White said. “These guys have got to make some money, too.” On the two events since, there have been some tweaks, such as showing ads between rounds but having split-screen cameras on the fighter corners. 

In his Radio Row interview, Cormier discussed White’s new bonus structure, which doubles the fight of the night and performance of the night bonuses from $50,000 to $100,000, and adds new $25,000 bonuses for knockouts and submissions, which incentivizes fighters to strive for “finishes” instead of fights going the distance and getting decided by judges.

“If you finish a fight … you get $25,000 extra,” Cormier said. “So you get double your pay on that night and I think that is gonna lead to more exciting fights and also lead to those fighters making more money.” 

Editor’s Note: RedBird Capital is an investor in both Paramount and in Front Office Sports through its joint venture RedBird IMI.