The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has entered into a broadcast deal with international pay-TV operator, Setanta Sports, which will stretch across 11 Eurasian countries.
The collaboration sees the platform provide UFC coverage for all live events as well as shoulder programming to fans in Georgia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Kyrgyzstan.
Although marking an extension of UFC rights for Setanta in Ukraine, the multi-year agreement is a new deal in all the other territories, with Russia’s Media Telecom holding rights across the other 10 countries between 2019-21.
Setana, headquartered in Ireland but with a Eurasia-specific division, has stated that it will also produce “locally-focused UFC content featuring the many up and coming fighters from countries in the Setanta Sports broadcast footprint.”
Content will be available on the Setanta Sports Eurasia linear channels, as well as on the setantasports.com OTT platform, whilst the broadcaster will also offer coverage in several languages including Russian, Georgian, Ukrainian, and Kazakh.
The deal follows a distribution partnership agreed upon between UFC and Saran Media Group across those same CIS countries earlier this month.
Juba Grigola, Setanta’s director of sports, commented: “We are excited to bring UFC fans an innovative and high-quality approach to UFC broadcasts. This long term partnership means customers will be able to watch local athletes and the world’s best fighters at an affordable price on multiple devices.”
Last month, the group formed a long-term agreement with US media firm Discovery across the Netherlands and Spain, and under this six-year deal, UFC events will now be streamed exclusively in the Netherlands on the Discovery+ subscription streaming service and in Spain via Eurosport.
The UFC’s newest collaboration adds to Setanta Sports’ portfolio which currently includes top-flight football clubs in England, Italy, Spain, Germany, and France, as well as basketball, ice hockey, tennis, golf, and motorsport.
