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Dana White will remain with the UFC for the foreseeable future.
On Saturday night, the UFC held its final pay-per-view in the ESPN era before its transition to Paramount+.
White opened his press conference after UFC 323 by thanking everyone at ESPN for the last 7 years.
“I want to thank Bob Iger, Kevin Mayer, Jimmy Pitaro, Burke Magnus, Matt Kenny, and Glenn Jacobs, and everyone else at ESPN for all their hard work and you know, helping build the sport and the brand over the last seven years, the relationship with ESPN has been incredible, it’s been a really good experience, and we appreciate everything they did for us.”
White would later speak about what the upcoming Paramount deal will mean for the growth of MMA.
“The amount of marketing that these guys are going to do for the UFC on their platform, it’s impossible for the sport not to get even bigger, it was $1,200 or $1,300 bucks a year to be a fan this year, it’s going to be a $120 next year for the entire year.”
@jzosports “it’s impossible for the sport not to get even bigger” Dana White says goodbye to ESPN, talks no more PPVs on Paramount”
At the end of the presser, White revealed that he had recently signed a contract extension that would keep him with the UFC for the next five years.
“I have been extended. Five years, another five year extension, literally this year.”
@jzosports Dana White signs 5-year extension with the UFC #danawhite #ufc