The ongoing negotiations over UFC’s next television rights deal are heating up—and the outcome could directly impact the future of AEW Collision.
According to John Ourand of the Puck Varsity newsletter, at least four companies are now in serious discussions as the TKO Group and UFC’s exclusive negotiating window with ESPN has officially ended. Among those in the mix is Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD)—AEW’s broadcast partner—which is being described as a “wildcard” in the negotiations.
While ESPN is reportedly the furthest along in talks to renew its rights package, the likely scenario appears to be a split deal, where linear and digital rights are divided between partners. Amazon Prime and Netflix are also in discussions, with Amazon eyeing UFC’s lucrative pay-per-view business—currently exclusive to ESPN in the U.S.
WBD’s potential involvement could have major ripple effects for All Elite Wrestling. If WBD successfully acquires UFC rights, especially for Saturday nights, it’s expected that AEW Collision would be bumped from its current TNT timeslot. While a head-to-head battle between AEW and UFC on WBD channels is deemed “very unlikely,” the most logical outcome—according to Ourand—would be for Collision to permanently move to Thursday nights.
Such a shift could be beneficial for AEW’s overall operations and ratings:
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Cost Efficiency: Taping Dynamite and Collision back-to-back on Wednesdays and Thursdays in the same city would significantly cut travel and production costs.
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Ratings Boost: Moving off Saturday nights would eliminate regular conflicts with WWE Premium Live Events, which often pull large chunks of the pro wrestling audience.
Notably, AEW has already tested Thursday editions of Collision due to playoff conflicts or scheduling clashes with WWE events.
WBD is reportedly in the process of building out its own PPV infrastructure for AEW events, indicating a broader strategy to compete in combat sports and live event content. This coincides with WBD losing the NBA broadcasting rights this week, leaving the company aggressively pursuing new sports deals to bolster its portfolio across TNT, TBS, and Max.
The UFC’s current five-year, $1.5 billion deal with ESPN expires at the end of 2025, and while a final decision is still roughly two months away, the implications of this deal could reshape the TV landscape for both UFC and AEW going forward.
Stay with PWMania.com for all the latest updates on the UFC rights negotiations and how they could affect AEW.
