UFC signs multi-year Philippines deal with ESPN on Disney+, starting with UFC 333

The UFC has signed a multi-year exclusive deal making ESPN on Disney+ its home in the Philippines. The UFC, Disney+ and ESPN announced it on Monday, October 19. The UFC says it starts with UFC 333 in Abu Dhabi this Saturday. Neither the fee nor the exact length was disclosed.

ESPN on Disney+ will show every live UFC event in the country. The deal also covers UFC Countdown, UFC Connected, The Ultimate Fighter and Road to UFC. Fans can watch on the Disney+ app and website, or through distribution partners including Globe and Cignal.

How to watch

ESPN on Disney+ is a sports hub inside the Disney+ app. It costs existing subscribers nothing extra, One More Game reported on Monday. Besides the UFC, it carries the NBA, Formula E, college sports and Australia's NBL. All-Star Magazine reports it also has a library of classic UFC fights.

For UFC 333, the prelims start at 10pm Philippine time on Saturday, October 24. The main card starts at 2am on Sunday, October 25, which is why some local outlets list the event on the 25th.

In the announcement, Kevin Chang, the UFC's head of Asia, called the country's fanbase "one of the most passionate and engaged combat sports fanbases in the world." Kylie Watson-Wheeler, ESPN's head for Asia Pacific, called the Philippines "an incredibly important sports market in Asia Pacific."

The release doesn't say who showed the UFC in the Philippines before. In 2021, TAP Go and Premier Sports became the UFC's exclusive home in the country, Philstar reported. We couldn't confirm when that deal ended.

Why it matters

The deal runs against Disney's recent record with the UFC. In the US, ESPN lost the rights after 2025 to Paramount, which signed a seven-year, $7.7 billion deal. That moved every event to Paramount+ and ended pay-per-view, CBS News reported in August 2025. Paramount also said it would look at UFC rights outside the US "as they become available in the future."

Latin America went the same way, switching from ESPN and Disney+ to Paramount+ in January 2026, according to En Cancha. We read the Philippines deal as Disney picking up a UFC market after losing the US and Latin America to Paramount.

The announcement comes three days after RMC Sport extended its exclusive UFC deal in France. On Friday, October 16, RMC also added Zuffa Boxing and UFC BJJ, Sportcal reported. It has shown the UFC in France for 12 years.

UFC 333

UFC 333 has two title fights. Featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski (28-4) defends against unbeaten Movsar Evloev (20-0). Bantamweight champion Petr Yan (20-5) meets former champion Merab Dvalishvili (21-5) in a trilogy tied 1-1, as Cageside Press reported when the card was announced in August.

The main event is a near coin flip in our odds, with both men around −110 and the line barely moved since it opened. Evloev is 10-0 in the UFC with every win on the scorecards. He closed as the favourite in all eight of his UFC fights with odds.

Volkanovski is 6-3 in the UFC since 2021. His losses were two to Islam Makhachev, both up at lightweight, and a knockout by Ilia Topuria that cost him the featherweight title. He has won his last two, both over Diego Lopes. In the co-main, the market gives Yan a 61% chance to beat Dvalishvili.