Dana White and Co. have sparked all kinds of discussions after the UFC inked a new $7.7 billion seven-year deal with Paramount. With the promotion shifting its home from ESPN to Paramount+ in 2026, people are expecting certain changes to the whole product since it will mark a new beginning for the Las Vegas-based promotion. However, there are concerns that some changes may leave fans disappointed.

Well, the new UFC broadcast deal will provide massive relief for those who did not like to pay $79.99 for each and every numbered event. That’s because the old PPV model is gone, but what does it mean for the broadcast team? The current commentary team, which includes Joe Rogan, Jon Anik, and the former champion duo of Daniel Cormier and Michael Bisping, has been prominent faces on ESPN. Fortunately, veteran journalist Ariel Helwani claims that the broadcast team is likely going nowhere despite the promotion moving places.

“Don’t worry about your favorite UFC analyst. Don’t worry about Daniel Cormier, or Joe Rogan, or Jon Anik, or Paul Felder, or Michael Bisping, or any of those guys. They all move with the product. Like, the UFC is going to take care of them,” Ariel Helwani explained on his YouTube channel. Thereafter, the 43-year-old turned his attention to certain shows on ESPN that are centered around the UFC product.

Pointing out how Daniel Cormier, along with UFC legend Chael Sonnen, have their show, which is quite popular among UFC fans, Helwani expressed a bit of interest in seeing if Paramount does the same, where maybe Joe Rogan has his show. So, he’s more than confident that, just like when the UFC moved from FOX to ESPN, the same thing will happen with the current broadcast team following them to Paramount.

“The UFC produces all the content. Now, could Paramount do some ancillary stuff like ESPN did? ESPN did minimal… It was DC and Chael show, my show back in the day… that was all the ancillary stuff, but the main broadcast, including the pre and post, was all UFC,” Ariel Helwani posited. “I’m sure the bells and whistles will change. I’m sure they’ll have a new package, they’ll have new music, all that stuff. But like the faces will all generally be the same because they all kind of go with the UFC, just like they all went with the UFC to ESPN when they left FOX.”

Meanwhile, Joe Rogan doesn’t seem to care about his status in the new TV deal. Instead, he believes that Dana White and Co. have taken an “incredible” step with a move to Paramount, which is going to benefit mixed martial arts in the coming years.

Joe Rogan reacts to UFC’s $7.7 billion TV deal

Of course, what everybody is talking about is the reduced fee to access UFC content with the new deal, and Joe Rogan seems to be happy about it. He claimed that the audience for the promotion is going to grow massively, and fans who also tend to watch movies and TV shows won’t have to pay for another service just to watch UFC fights. But guess what? Rogan still wants Dana White and the UFC brass to keep working with ESPN in a certain capacity.

“The sport is going to go f—ing hypernova… It’s going to be nuts, and it’s such a smart move for Paramount because you have a built-in audience that’s immediately going to jump over there because you have to renew your ESPN subscription anyway,” Joe Rogan stated on his podcast. “So just buy a Paramount subscription too. I’m kind of bummed out, and I hope they don’t lose the relationship with ESPN with all their MMA shows. I hope they don’t go ‘f— them, they went to Paramount. I hope it’s a mutually beneficial thing where UFC still does some content on ESPN.”

But coming back to the broadcast team members, Joe Rogan and the aforementioned commentators are well known and are respected by fans, although they’ve had certain slip-ups in the past. Hence, there is a chance they’ll stick around, but let us know what you think in the comments section below.