Is UFC on ESPN+? Where UFC Fights Stream Now and What Changed in 2026

No. UFC is not on ESPN+ or ESPN in the United States anymore; every card now streams on Paramount+. ESPN showed its last UFC event on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, and Paramount+ took over on Jan. 1, 2026. Numbered events and Fight Nights are both part of a Paramount+ subscription, with no pay-per-view purchase on top.

If you still open the ESPN app on fight night out of habit, the next card you're looking for is UFC Fight Night: Allen vs. Duncan on Saturday, Oct. 10. Its main card starts at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT on Paramount+.

When did UFC leave ESPN+?

At the end of 2025. UFC's own announcement called UFC Fight Night: Royval vs. Kape, held Dec. 13, 2025, in Las Vegas, its final event of the year, and Sports Illustrated described it as the last UFC card on ESPN. That night's prelims started on ESPN+, and the main card aired on ESPN2, ESPN Deportes and ESPN+.

Paramount+ puts the handover in one line on its pay-per-view explainer: ESPN and ESPN+ presented their final UFC event in the U.S. in 2025, and Paramount+ became the streaming home of UFC on Jan. 1, 2026.

What changed between the last ESPN card and this Saturday's card?

The 2025 column comes from UFC's announcement of the Dec. 13 card. The $79.99 figure is the one Paramount+ gives for the old pay-per-view price, and Fox 29's report on the rights deal used the same number.

Do I still need ESPN+ for any part of a UFC card?

No. Paramount+ says a subscription on either plan covers full fight cards, from the early prelims through the main event, for numbered events and Fight Nights alike. There's no second app for the early fights.

Older fights moved too. Paramount+ says its library holds every fight from every numbered event of the 2020s, going back to UFC 246, plus Fight Night bouts back to 2006. Replays of new cards go up shortly after each fight ends.

What does UFC cost now that pay-per-view is gone?

The price of a Paramount+ plan, and nothing else.

We read those prices on Paramount+'s "How Much Does It Cost To Watch UFC?" page on Thursday, Oct. 8, at about 2:25 a.m. ET; Paramount+ adds that taxes are extra. One old pay-per-view card at $79.99 cost nearly as much as a full year of Essential does now. Our guide to watching UFC on Paramount+ goes through plans, devices and replays in more detail.

Why did UFC move from ESPN to Paramount+?

The U.S. rights were sold. Paramount agreed to a seven-year, $7.7 billion deal in August 2025, Fox 29 reported at the time, and Paramount+ says the agreement runs through 2033. Until it started, UFC kept selling pay-per-views through ESPN+.

Is UFC on regular TV at all?

Occasionally, on CBS. Paramount+ says select numbered events get a CBS simulcast, which you can pick up with an antenna, cable, satellite or a live TV service that carries your CBS station. Fight Nights aren't part of that.

Don't count on it for the next few cards. Paramount+'s UFC schedule showed no CBS listing for any of the four events below when we read it on Thursday, Oct. 8.

Where are the next UFC cards, and when do they start?

Each time in that table appears on both UFC.com's event listing and Paramount+'s schedule. UFC 333 is in Abu Dhabi, which is why it lands in the American afternoon; the UFC 333 start-time page has the card, and UFC 334 follows at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 14. The weekly UFC start-time page moves to the next event after each Saturday, and how we check start times explains the two-source rule behind these tables.

FAQ

Is UFC on ESPN on Saturday, Oct. 10? No. UFC Fight Night: Allen vs. Duncan streams on Paramount+, with the main card at 8 p.m. ET.

Can I still buy a UFC pay-per-view on ESPN+? No. Paramount+ says UFC events in the U.S. stopped being pay-per-view in 2026, and numbered events are included with a subscription.

Are UFC prelims still on ESPN+? No. Prelims and early prelims stream on Paramount+ along with the main card.

Sources

• Paramount+, "Is UFC Still Pay-Per-View?" (paramountplus.com/sneak-peak/is-ufc-still-pay-per-view-2026/): ESPN's final event in 2025, the Jan. 1, 2026 start and the old $79.99 price, read Oct. 8, 2026.
• Paramount+, "How Much Does It Cost To Watch UFC?" and "UFC On Paramount+: Everything You Need To Know" (paramountplus.com/sneak-peak/): plan prices, full-card coverage, library, CBS simulcasts and the deal's length, read Oct. 8, 2026.
• UFC.com, Royval and Kape headline final UFC event of 2025: date, city and the ESPN channels for the Dec. 13, 2025 card.
• Sports Illustrated, Final UFC fight of the year revealed as ESPN era comes to a close, Sept. 1, 2025.
• Fox 29, UFC-Paramount deal: No more pay-per-view, Aug. 11, 2025.
• UFC.com events listing and Paramount+, "UFC Schedule 2026" (paramountplus.com/sneak-peak/ufc-schedule-2026/): start times, read Oct. 8, 2026.

By the Race and Fight On Air desk · Updated Oct. 8, 4:39 a.m. ET