Back in 2018,, it seemed as though Bellator and DAZN would be the solution to their respective problems.
In the summer of 2015, Bellator signed a distribution agreement with streaming service DAZN for five years. The deal was estimated to be worth nine figures. DAZN was to have exclusive broadcast rights for seven Bellator events each year. Additionally, the streaming service would be able to simulcast additional 15 events in the U.S. via Paramount Network. In return, DAZN provided Bellator a platform through which fans could live stream events that were otherwise being aired via tape delay through traditional television means.
The partnership lasted barely two years. By late 2020, Bellator pivoted to a short-lived broadcast deal with CBS Sports Network before ultimately landing on Showtime in February 2021, the same network it still resides on today.
So what happened between Bellator and DAZN, and why was the five-year deal cut short? Joe Markowski, DAZN’s executive, addressed this question on The MMA Hour ..
“We had a great relationship,” Markowski said of the Bellator partnership. Scott Coker, I believe is the greatest promoter we have ever worked with. He is a wonderful person to me. It was due to COVID, which I won’t go into too much detail about contractual matters that the relationship ended. We were disappointed it did. We both agreed with Bellator, that we would end that .”
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DAZN’s split with Bellator didn’t signal an end to its participation in the combat sports space. The streaming service remains a major player in the boxing world and is set to broadcast the historic boxing match between Amanda Serrano and Katie Taylor, a fight many have called the biggest women’s bout of all time, in over 200 countries on Saturday.
DAZN has also signed working arrangements with Canelo Alvarez, boxing’s superstar, and Eddie Hearn for Matchroom Boxing promotions.
And in the eyes of Markowski, the pivot to a focus solely on boxing was the right move.
“We’re playing a very niche game now in the U.S.,” Markowski said. “Like I mentioned, Japan and Germany and Italy, we’re playing multi-sport broadcast games, we’re buying rights to various sports. Our strategy with good reason in the U.S. is to focus specifically on one significant carved-out niche, which is boxing, and that’s what we’ve chosen to do. Bellator is in good hands, I believe. They’ve obviously got a parent company [Viacom] that can give them a great distribution on broadcasts and give them space to grow in a way that maybe we were not going to give them. So I think for both sides, it was the right deal, and we agreed on that and sort of shook hands and wished each other well.
“That’s where we’re at, and I think we’re very happy in the U.S. for the next sort of medium term, call it three or four years, to focus on boxing.”
MMA programming has been absent from DAZN since the partnership with Bellator came to a premature end. Markowski said that DAZN has no immediate plans to reinvest in MMA, but he isn’t against it.
“The door is open, but I think … the crossover between MMA fans and boxing fans sometimes gets slightly exaggerated. Markowski stated that he believes they are separate audiences.
“Look, we’ve still got work to do to reach out, to make ourselves known to boxing fans in the U.S. We’re only four or five years old — this takes a long time in this country. This is a large country that has a lot to offer. We’ll continue to work on that. And look, the door’s always open for new content opportunities, but we’re going to put the majority of our resources toward boxing in the medium term, because we think there’s a good business opportunity there.”
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