"We'll see what the options are" - Dana White signals major shake-up as UFC potentially eyes exit from ESPN and PPV mode

Dana White (pictured) addresses potential departure from ESPN. [Image credit: The UFC — Dana White (pictured) addresses potential departure from ESPN. [Image courtesy: UFC's official YouTube channel]

At the UFC post-fight press conference, Dana White addressed the rumors circulating around his company's departure from its long-standing partnership with sports broadcast giant ESPN.

A reporter pointed out that negotiations to renew with ESPN end on Tuesday, which prompted the question of whether or not UFC would choose to stay with the same deal. White was also asked how he's looking to 'level up the product' in light of a new deal. He said:

"When the window opens, we'll obviously start talking to lots of different people and we'll see what the options are out there. We've said this every time, there could be a time when we end up on several different networks, like all other sports do."

Addressing their time with ESPN, the UFC head honcho said:

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"I like ESPN and I've said it many times, we had a bit of a rocky start, which is normal in any relationship. But we're in a great place with ESPN. Whether we resign with them or do not, I have nothing but great things to say about my time at ESPN."

Check out Dana White's comments below (via MMA Junkie):

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Dana White answers questions on when TKO Boxing will launch

Recently, Dana White announced his partnership with lucrative fight mogul Turki Alalshikh. The two are putting together a new boxing promotion that will shake the sport to its core. Knowing that White has been a boxing fan, his first foray into the sport must be pretty close to him.

At the moment, people are calling the new promotion "TKO Boxing", named after the UFC's parent company, TKO Group Holding LLC. When asked about the launch of TKO Boxing, White said:

"Yeah, but we still got a lot of work to do. I haven't even come up with a name yet. It's not going to be TKO Boxing. That's just like a placeholder. I got to do that this week too. I got a lot of work to do, before I really start talking about that."

Check out Dana White's comments below (10:30):

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Duane is an expert MMA writer at Sportskeeda with over 10 years of experience working for the likes of Philippine Star, Esquire Philippines, Playboy Philippines, etc. A major in English, he has written over 2000 articles for Sportskeeda section, extensively covering UFC and boxing fights.

Duane is a practicing MMA fighter with a 10-7 record. He is also a Brazilian jiu-jitsu purple belt and trains Muay Thai. His connection with MMA dates back to 2005, when he turned into a fan after watching Fedor Emelianenko defeat Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipovic at Pride FC - Final Conflict 2005.

Emelianenko finds himself right at the top of Duane’s Mt. Rushmore of MMA fighters, alongside other big names like Demetrious Johnson, Jon Jones, Georges St-Pierre, and Anderson Silva.

Duane’s love for the sport is reflected in his writings, where he believes in speculating but not insinuating. He uses his intensive knowledge and skills in MMA to provide unique insights to the readers, along with sourcing information only from reliable sources.

Outside of work, Duane enjoys martial arts training, visual arts, film criticism, video games, and creative writing.

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Edited by Tejas Rathi