The meet and greet was at UFC 306 at the Sphere in Las Vegas nearly a year ago. In the luxury box of TKO Holdings, which owns UFC and WWE, were media luminaries: Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Disney’s Bob Iger and the future leader of Paramount, David Ellison, CEO of Skydance.

Joe Rogan praises UFC’s Paramount+ deal but hopes the promotion keeps ESPN ties, calling the network vital for attracting new MMA fans.

LAS VEGAS – Eric McConico met the media Saturday after his split decision win over Cody Brundage at UFC on ESPN 72. McConico (10-3-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) took a pair of 29-28 scores from Brundage (11-7-1 MMA, 5-6-1 UFC) to open up the card at the UFC Apex. The dissenting scorecard in Brundage's favor was a 30-27.

The UFC has struck a huge deal with Paramount and CBS to broadcast all of its events. Paramount will pay the UFC $7.7 billion to air the UFC for the next seven years and in the process, it has ended the fight organization’s pay-per-view era.

UFC on ESPN 66 (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) took place Saturday, and MMA Junkie provided round-by-round coverage and official results. UFC on ESPN 66 took place at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo..

LAS VEGAS – Gabriella Fernandes met the media Saturday after her unanimous decision win over Julija Stoliarenko at UFC on ESPN 72. Fernandes (11-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC) outworked Stoliarenko (11-9-1 MMA, 2-7 UFC) on the prelims at the UFC Apex. It was the Brazilian's third straight UFC win after an 0-2 start in the promotion in 2023.

The UFC heavyweight division has been eager to regain momentum, especially with Tom Aspinall set to defend his title against Ciryl Gane in October. It’s been some time since Jon Jones left the division in a state of uncertainty before ultimately retiring.