Sports | March 1, 2018 4:36 pm

Amazon Dips Its Toe into Pay-Per-View Sports

The company will offer UFC 222 for live streaming this weekend.

Conor McGregor lands a left to the head of Diego Brandao in their featherweight bout during the UFC Fight Night event at The O2 Dublin on July 19, 2014 in Dublin, Ireland. (Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

By Jake Greenberg

Amazon will offer its first live sports pay-per-view package this Saturday for UFC 222, marking the beginning of its relationship with the MMA giant. According to a story in Recode, Amazon will sell UFC 222 for $64.99, circumventing the traditional cable outlets and allowing customers to stream the fights with or without a Prime account. Amazon’s UFC 222 package will be available on any device that normally streams Amazon videos. UFC signing up with Amazon could be the first domino in Amazon’s takeover of live sports, as the company is in talks to continue streaming Thursday Night Football and is expected to bid for further NFL contracts in the coming years.