High-speed internet has made it easy and economical for millions of people to “cut the cord” and ditch traditional cable or satellite TV subscriptions in favor of online streaming services. But due to regional broadcasting restrictions, sports fans have had to wait a while to enjoy on-demand content. Movies and TV shows have been readily available on services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime for almost a decade now, and today’s 4K smart TVs even come with built-in internet connectivity and pre-loaded streaming apps — but only recently have services like ESPN+, FuboTV, Sling, and Hulu done the same thing for live-action sports like the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
TV channel: ESPN, ESPN Deportes
Live stream: UFC Fight Pass, ESPN+
This is great news for MMA fans, as UFC’s tight relationship with ESPN now makes it extremely easy to live stream UFC fights. The world’s biggest mixed martial arts fighting league has joined with ESPN to bring you all of your favorite UFC content in 2021, both online and on TV. Fox previously held exclusive broadcasting rights to UFC through 2018, but starting in 2019, the contract went to ESPN. This means that for the foreseeable future, all Ultimate Fighting Championship content — including Pay-Per-View events like UFC 257, featuring the return of Conor McGregor — will air only on this sports network.
Early prelims: 7 p.m. ET
Prelims: 8 p.m. ET
Main card: 10 p.m. ET
The main card at UFC 262 is scheduled to begin at 10 p.m. ET, though Adesanya and Blachowicz will likely not fight until much later; the main card consists of five events, the last of which will be Adesanya-Blachowicz.
Price (for current subscribers): $64.99
Price (with annual subscription bundle): $84.98
If you already have ESPN with your cable subscription, then you can enjoy all the hard-hitting MMA action right on your TV. For the cord-cutters out there, however, ESPN rolled out its own premium streaming service called ESPN+ in the spring of 2018. We’ll keep you up to date with all the latest results, scheduled fights, top fighters, and more from the UFC in 2021.
Click here to learn about the different pricing and bundling options with the ESPN+ platform.
Pricing worldwide varies by region and platform.
Main card
Charles Oliveira vs Michael Chandler UFC Light Heavyweight Championship
Amanda Nunes vs. Megan Anderson UFC Women’s Featherweight Championship
Petr Yan vs. Aljamain Sterling UFC Bantamweight Championship
Preliminary card
Aleksandar Rakic vs. Thiago Santos
Dominick Cruz vs. Casey Kenney
Drew Dober vs. Islam Makhachev
Askar Askarov vs. Joseph Benavidez
Sean Brady vs. Jake Matthews
Randy Costa vs. Trevin Jones
Aalon Cruz vs. Uros Medic
Tim Elliott vs. Jordan Espinosa
Amanda Lemos vs. Livinha Souza
Kyler Phillips vs. Song Yadong
Rogerio Bontorin vs. Kai Kara-France
Kennedy Nzechukwu vs. Carlos Ulberg