Mark Shapiro appeared on John Ourand’s broadcast, The Varsity, to discuss a variety of subjects concerning TKO including why the UFC didn’t sign with Netflix.
Shapiro stated disappointment when the Netflix deal fell through. But, Netflix indicated that it did not want volume. It has been the company’s position that it wanted big events. Netflix has had several boxing events featuring Jake Paul including last year’s big fight with Mike Tyson. This month, it held the first Zuffa Boxing event featuring Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford. Netflix did not want to carry the UFC’s Fight Nights. It also had a weekly live program in TKO’s Raw and it did not want to add on another live event with as much as the UFC.
Shapiro believes that Raw “played against” the UFC deal since Netflix already had a live event with volume. “They wanted to stick with the big spectacles,” said Shapiro of Netflix’s position. He indicated that Netflix was willing to put UFC big events (read PPV) on its platform for subscribers but did not want to add other UFC events.
This is what opened the door for Paramount/CBS. Shapiro noted that David Ellison, CEO of Paramount, is a fan of UFC. Shapiro noted that Ellison wanted all of the UFC’s products.
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