UFC, DirecTV Strike One Fight Deal to Air UFC 234, Long Term Deal Still Being Negotiated
UFC, DirecTV Strike One Fight Deal to Air UFC 234, Long Term Deal Still Being Negotiated
UFC 234: Whittaker vs. Gastelum will air on DirecTV pay-per-view after all.
On Thursday, the UFC announced that their distribution deal with DirecTV had come to an end and the two sides were unable to reach an agreement on a new long term deal.
Because of the impasse in negotiations, UFC 234 was not expected to air on DirecTV, which is one of the largest pay-per-view distributors in the United States, especially in bars and restaurants.
Just hours later, UFC president Dana White reversed course and said that the promotion and the pay-per-view distributor had reached a short term agreement so UFC 234 could still air via DirecTV.
We have a 1 fight deal for this weekend with @directv for Whittaker vs Gastelum and Adesanya vs Silva. So it will be on DirecTV and in bars and on every other platform. I will have this shit all worked out in the next couple weeks. Thank u pic.twitter.com/BkcDINaMdo
— Dana White (@danawhite) February 8, 2019
White added that he plans on working out a long term deal with DirecTV in the coming weeks so these issues won’t arise again ahead of UFC 235, which is expected to be one of the bigger cards during the first half of 2019.
UFC 234: Whittaker vs. Gastelum takes place on Saturday night with the pay-per-view broadcast starting at 9 p.m. ET/ 6 p.m. PT.
