Amazon signs deal to bring UFC rival One Championship MMA fights to Prime
Amazon.com Inc. is bringing mixed-martial-arts fights to its streaming service as it pushes deeper into live sports. Fight promoter One Championship has signed a five-year distribution deal with Amazon in the U.S. and Canada. As part of the agreement, Amazon will exclusively broadcast at least 12 of the promoter’s events live during prime time each year. The parties declined to disclose financial terms.
Amazon, which now shows a range of live sports including soccer and tennis, has been searching for more sports deals to bring a steadier schedule of events to its programming. Its prize so far is the NFL’s Thursday Night Football, whose games will transfer over from Fox Corp.’s flagship network this coming season as Amazon starts a decade long exclusive rights deal. It has had some experience with MMA bouts before, having previously broadcast Endeavor Group Holdings Inc.-owned Ultimate Fighting Championship pay-per-views.
“We will continue to look to bring more sports to our service, as well as become more of a sports destination,” Marie Donoghue, vice president of global sports video at Amazon, said in an interview. “We’re definitely interested in increasing the volume, but we are quite selective. We really are looking for top-tier sports.” She declined to say if Amazon is in talks with any other sports organizations.
Battles for sports rights have intensified in recent years, as streaming services look to snag deals as they expire. Major League Soccer and Formula One are in negotiations with media companies as each of their U.S. arrangements will be up for grabs at the end of their respective seasons.
One, based in Singapore, is one of the world’s largest fight promoters and puts on events that span martial-arts
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