CBS shoehorned some promotion for parent company Paramount’s new UFC rights deal into Sunday night’s Golden Globes telecast.
The mixed-martial arts bouts are starting to stream later this month on Paramount+, with live airings also planned on CBS roughly once a month.
At the awards ceremony, Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie, the stars of HBO Max hit Heated Rivalry, were about to take the stage to present the trophy for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role on Television. (Erin Doherty would win for Adolescence.) Announcer Marc Malkin then read a line that didn’t exactly recall Bruce Vilanch scripting Billy Crystal at the Oscars. “Our next presenters are so hot they get mobbed everywhere they go,” he said. “So we had to bring in some extra security … from the UFC!”
Spotlights then criss-crossed the stage as hard-rock guitar chords played and actual UFC fighters Mackenzie Dern and Brian Ortega entered. Decked out in branded gear, they nodded at each other and did a quick loop onstage before heading off to the wings.
In all, the moment lasted only about 30 seconds. But it stood out (and drew backlash on social media) because it followed The Secret Agent director Kleber Mendonça Filho getting played off during his acceptance speech for Best Non-English Language Film. It also came during a telecast with multiple commercials for Paramount+ prominently featuring the UFC.
Days after closing its long-gestating merger with Skydance last summer, Paramount made the splashy move of acquiring rights to the UFC, whose events had been on pay-per-view through ESPN. The $7.7 billion, 7-year deal helped deliver a message to the industry that the company, which has made a hostile bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, is bringing vast financial resources to one of Hollywood’s storied companies. Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, one of the richest people in the world, is an investor in the company. His son, David Ellison, is its CEO.
The UFC is owned by TKO Group Holdings. The circuit, which is run by Dana White, has had a connection to the Trump administration. As the Paramount-Skydance deal was hung up by an FCC review and President Trump’s lawsuit against CBS for its editing and promotion of a 60 Minutes segment, Trump attended a UFC match and was seen speaking with Paramount CEO David Ellison. The lawsuit was later settled, even though no legal expert believed it had any merit, and the deal was given final approval.