Report: UFC Pay-Per-View, ESPN+ Subscription Prices to Increase in 2021

Survival mode! #Higher #UFC257 @ufc @DustinPoirier @TheNotoriousMMA pic.twitter.com/RKdQVlGITB

— Marshall Mathers (@Eminem) December 29, 2020

If you want to witness the return of Conor McGregor at UFC 257, it’s going to cost you a little bit more than it did in 2020.

According to a report from Variety, the price of UFC pay-per-view events on ESPN+ will increase from $64.99 to $69.99 as of Jan. 8, 2021. Additionally, the annual subscription fee for the ESPN+ streaming service will go up from $49.99 to $59.99 per year. The ESPN+ monthly rate already recently increased from $4.99 to $5.99.

When the UFC initially signed an agreement to make ESPN+ the sole provider of its pay-per-view content in 2019, it lowered the price point for its premium events from $64.99 to $59.99. That lasted from April 2019 through the end of the year before ESPN+ raised the price of UFC pay-per-views back to $64.99 beginning with UFC 246 in January. Coincidentally, that card also featured Conor McGregor in the main event.

According to Variety, ESPN+ had 11.5 million subscribers as of Dec. 2 — a figure that nearly doubled in the past year. UFC content, which includes pay-per-views, Fight Night events, Dana White’s Contender Series and soon, “The Ultimate Fighter,” account for a significant portion of the streaming platform’s live sports offerings.

UFC 257 takes place on Jan. 23 at the Flash Forum in Abu Dhabi and is headlined by a lightweight rematch between McGregor and Dustin Poirier.