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Prime Video drops trailer for Muhammad Ali biographical series ‘The Greatest’
Prime Video has released the official trailer for “The Greatest,” an upcoming biographical drama chronicling the life and legacy of boxing legend Muhammad Ali. The series follows Ali from his early years as Cassius Clay in Louisville,
First iPhone Duo unboxing videos surface ahead of official reviews
A series of iPhone Duo unboxing videos are now on YouTube, showing how the device ships in its open configuration, and how the display crease is practically invisible.
EA Sports Announces Return of 'Fight Night' Boxing Video Game, 'The Fight Is Never Over'
Retro gaming fans were given a treat on Tuesday.
Sports quiz of the week: love, songs, speedy skating and celebrations
Have you followed the big stories in football, rugby, tennis, boxing, basketball, skateboarding, F1 and the NFL?
Will Ermal Hadribeaj Be Albania’s First Boxing Champion?
Ermal Hadribeaj believes he's found the key to defeating Sebastian Fundora on Saturday.
Michael Page Reacts to Signing With Misfits Boxing
Former UFC middleweight fighter Michael Page shared his reaction to signing with Misfits Boxing, his next home in combat sports.The long-time MMA fighter, who was released by the UFC last month after a decision win over Nursulton Ruziboev that was panned by MMA fans as a boring fight, had been fielding offers from several combat […] The post Michael Page Reacts to Signing With Misfits Boxing appeared first on HEAVY.
Will Hrgovic be Facing Verhoeven in his First Defence of the IBF Heavyweight Title?
Kickboxer Rico Verhoeven could bounce back from his defeat to Usyk with an immediate crack at another heavyweight title, on the Fury vs AJ undercard
UFC, Bellator vet Michael 'Venom' Page signs with Misfits Boxing
Michael "Venom" Page has begun his post-UFC journey by signing with Misfits Boxing.
Heavyweight boxing champ Mike Tyson drops by White House
Boxing great Mike Tyson stopped by the White House briefing room and took some impromptu questions from reporters.
Karl-Anthony Towns sees Knicks lessons in boxing's sweet science
Knicks star Karl-Anthony Towns explains how boxing translates to basketball and why he expects a hungry Canelo Alvarez against Christian M'billi.
UFC AND CLEVELAND CLINIC RENEW LONGSTANDING PARTNERSHIP
UFC To Provide $1 Million Contribution To Fund Professional Athletes Brain Health Study Through 2030 WWE Joins Study; Zuffa Boxing Athletes Now Eligible To Participate
How boxing inspired a play about men's mental health
The play explores losing a sense of purpose, the difficulty some men have talking about their mental health and the support they can find in each other.
How boxing inspired a play about men's mental health
The play explores losing a sense of purpose, the difficulty some men have talking about their mental health and the support they can find in each other.
Lansing’s crown boxing athletes train hard to learn the sweet science
The popular facility hosts a wide range of boxers, from young beginners to adults looking to improve. All find a space to learn and grow.
Veteran Pasadena firefighter discusses boxing for mental health awareness and national program, Next
Old Boxers Never Die on Robert Street
The London Memorabilia Fair plays an important role in keeping boxing's glorious history alive
In the Shadows Producers to Self-Release British Boxing Biopic
With True Brit having gone into administration, the producers of In the Shadows — about trailblazing boxer Ramla Ali - are self-releasing the film
India report card for Asian Games 2026: Archery, Boxing A+, B for Shooting while Tennis gets an F
Here's the complete list of 499 athletes who will represent India at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya.
Denzel Bentley signs with Zuffa Boxing and will fight Shane Mosley Jr at Copper Box Arena on November 7 live on Sky Sports
Denzel Bentley will fight Shane Mosley Jr on November 7, live on Sky Sports; Bentley has signed a multi-fight promotional deal with Zuffa Boxing and his clash with Mosley Jr will take place on Zuffa Boxing 12, headlined by Chris Billam-Smith vs Cheavon Clarke
Sports quiz of the week: winners, losers, prodigies, heroes, villains and rivals
Have you been watching football, chess, cricket, rugby, motor racing, hockey, boxing, table tennis and horse racing?
Why boxing is still a box office smash hit even as the sport’s popularity wanes
Fighters have always provided rich material for stories on stage and screen and the appeal to audiences has not wavered
The city of Cleveland expects an major economic boost after USA Boxing event
The USA Boxing National Open is back in the city of Cleveland after four years. Brining in over 500 fighters and their families to downtown. The city is expecting to see over 3 million dollars in revenue after this week's event.
Dana White Kills Stevenson-Pacquiao Talk
Dana White shut down Shakur Stevenson vs. Manny Pacquiao at a Zuffa Boxing press conference. An offer is out to Gary Antuanne Russell to unify at 140.
Tony Ferguson emotional over Misfits Boxing win after mother's death
Tony Ferguson admits it was strange fighting for the first time without his mother.
LIVE! Till vs. Romero Streaming Updates TODAY!
Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) standouts Darren Till vs. Yoel Romero will take their talents to the bareknuckle boxing ring later TODAY (Sat., Sept. 26, 2026), headlining BKFC 94 from inside Manchester Arena, Manchester, England, streaming live on DAZN. Neither man is a stranger to the bare knuckle boxing scene, as Romero is fresh off […]
Furious Fury Blames Eddie Hearn’s Ego For Joshua Collapse
Boxing fans can’t have nice things. Less than two days after Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua was finally announced for Dec. 11 in Cardiff, Wales, the bout is already in jeopardy. This potential cancellation, of course, comes after many years of fans hoping and wishing Fury vs. Joshua would fight. Sadly, the snake-bitten matchup is […]
Sports quiz of the week: Fury v Joshua, Zinedine Zidane and England’s run
Have you been following the big stories in boxing, football, NFL, golf, college sports, darts and rugby union?
Boxing foundation aims to help England sports clubs
The Brightstar Boxing Foundation, based in Shifnal, wants to reach clubs across the country.
Brightstar Boxing Foundation aims help sports clubs across England
The Brightstar Boxing Foundation, based in Shifnal, wants to reach clubs across the country.
Eddie Hearn Gets His Way Over Fury vs AJ
After weeks of wrangling, it looks like the biggest fight in British boxing history will take place in Britain after all
iPhone 18 Pro Unboxing: New Colors, Better Photos, and Smaller Dynamic Island
The iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are launching tomorrow, but we were able to get one early to share some initial impressions. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Both the 18 Pro and Pro Max are heavier than the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max models they replace, and it's most noticeable when you pick up the Pro Max. It was a heavy phone to begin with, and now there's more weight (249 grams vs. 233 grams).
Usyk tells Fabio Wardley to Remember to Jab!
Wardley promises to heed Usyk's advice to use his jab in the rematch with Daniel Dubois next month
76ers' Jaylen Brown Picks Up Controversial Hobby This Offseason
Jaylen Brown competed in an unsanctioned boxing match. An activity that could have cost him an NBA contract.
Sanctuary Boxing Club to move after New Kensington zoning board denies business use at current location
Sanctuary Boxing Club in New Kensington has less than three months to find a new location after the city’s zoning hearing board denied its special exception request for business use. City Engineer Tony Males said the Strawn Avenue location is zoned residential and, when the gym opened in 2020 in
Logan Paul believes Conor McGregor boxing match finally makes business sense
Logan Paul is interested in a boxing match against Conor McGregor.
Gorilla Heavy Hitters hosts Night of Champions in Midland
ODESSA, Texas (KMID/KPEJ) – This weekend, local boxing promotion Gorilla Heavy Hitters will be hosting its “Night of Champions” event. Multiple local boxers will be featured, showcasing West Texas talent, as Big Belt Champion and featherweight contender Conrad Martinez headlines the main event, facing off against the undefeated (15-0 13 KO) Victor “Jalapeno” Hernandez. Night […]
Ryan Garcia vs Conor Benn: The Narrative is Shifting
With just two days to go before this much anticipated clash for the WBC Welterweight title, new questions are being asked about the fighters' preparation
HSBC Premier checking gets an overhaul: Up to $3,000 bonus and enhanced travel, health, and wealth benefits
The HSBC Premier checking has been under the knife, receiving some major updates to its catalog of benefits—making it more compelling than ever.
Katie Taylor bows out as three-time undisputed champion
Katie Taylor brought her remarkable boxing career to a close in front of 80,000 jubilant fans at Croke Park, bowing out as a three-time undisputed world champion.The Bray native produced a dominant pe...
Taylor v Pili - Irish icon's farewell fight predictions
Figures from the boxing world give their predictions for Katie Taylor's farewell fight against Flora Pili in Dublin on Saturday. .
15 discouraging hours with Onimusha: Way of the Sword, and 10 brilliant ones with He Who Watches
In the last few weeks, while playing some video games that I might review, I emailed two cries for help. I sent the first to a rep for Capcom, confessing that the company’s samurai game Onimusha Way of the Sword (out today for PC and console) was crushing me. “Feels like I’m playing ‘hard’ mode, not ‘normal,’” I wrote. “And I don’t want to have to knock it down to “story”. I’m exploring, trying to level my gear, but these two-phase boss fights with no mid-fight checkpoints are brutal.” I wagered I was only about halfway through the game, if that. I wasn’t sure I could keep up with the steepening difficulty curve. Was I missing something? Then, on Monday, I took some photos of some puzzles that were baffling me in the mind-bending He Who Watches (out now on PC), wrote out lengthy descriptions of how I’d been trying to solve them and asked Bobby Vanden, the game’s solo developer, for a nudge in the right direction. I told Vanden I’d spent hours on these puzzles. “I’m stuck in triplicate,” I told him. Could he tell me if the solutions I was attempting were even on the right track? I didn’t mention that the puzzles—coupled with major time pressures from other work—were stressing me out so much that playing the game was giving me headaches. This double dose of panic was unusual. I’m used to managing a workload full of reporting and reviewing, used to a crowded schedule and the need to stay calm amid the bustle. But I was stressed about these games. No one was forcing me to review them, nor even play them. I’d simply found them interesting enough to start, hoped they’d be interesting enough to write about and I’d sunk hours into them assuming I’d made the right call. Suddenly, however, I felt trapped. I was emailing for a way out. Above: This guy took me about an hour to beat. The feedback I got from Capcom confirmed my fears. They didn’t say it, but I will: Onimusha Way of the Sword is not for me. It’s a brutally hard game in need of a normal difficulty level. It’s a game that spikes so severely during its abundant boss fights—yet offers such flawed ways to improve when outside of them—that it feels like a bait-and-switch. In the new Onimusha, you play as famed samurai Musashi Miyamoto, aided by a magical soul-absorbing gauntlet that is possessed by a lady who offers advice. (Way of the Sword is a continuation of Capcom’s long-dormant Onimusha series, but that set-up had me wondering if the company was cribbing from their ill-fated Bionic Commando reboot; read about “wife-arm” when you get a chance). Way of the Sword is partially set in 17th century Kyoto, an explorable city where Miyamoto can fight demons, help civilians and eventually rescue ghostly dogs. The city evolves over time, with new mini adventures and obtainable loot on offer, all feeding into systems that promise to upgrade your gear and sword-fighting skills. Upgrades, however, are so incremental as to be imperceptible, causing the exploration of Kyoto to feel like inconsequential busywork. From that hub, players can go on linear missions into forests and old temples, where they will encounter many of the game’s tough bosses. Combat in Way of the Sword is akin to many modern melee games. Players are asked to mix attacks with dodges and parries. They’re encouraged to deplete an enemy’s stamina bar in order to do greater damage to its health bar. The old Onimusha games’ signature move was the issen, a counter-attack so sudden it’s all but pre-emptive. You strike just as they begin to strike toward you, beating them to the cut. By definition, the issen is a high risk move, leaving you wide open to pain. It feels risky in the game, especially against bosses, who can maul you in just a few blows. A game might train you to perform an issen well by offering a variety of lesser enemies who are not as tough as the boss but get close. Or it might offer a toehold against bosses by saving or checkpointing the player’s progress when a boss’ first health bar has been destroyed and before the second health bar appears. It might offer the less skilled player a chance to over-level their character, should the player simply commit to playing through its optional sidequests. Way of the Sword does none of this. Fighting its trivially easy grunt enemies and then its ferociously adept bosses is like playing a game of chess where I’ve got a rook, while the opposing side is all pawns and five queens. Bosses simply don’t checkpoint. You may be able to clear a boss’ first phase without taking much damage. Good for you. Do it again, every time you fail the second phase. As for the the central Kyoto hub, I kept pace with all of its added side activities and never felt like I was overpowered. Bosses could still easily buckle me. The new Onimusha, I concluded, is just too discouraging to keep playing. The advice I got from Capcom had been well-intentioned. They reminded me of the game’s various systems. They alerted me to an optional assist that flashes recommended button inputs (basically: counter this move; dodge that move). It was a little helpful. So was dropping down to “story mode,” which I tried last night. Story mode turns on those button prompts by default. It makes countering and dodging way too easy, nearly automatic. I don’t consider myself a master of action games like these, but I’ve cleared the likes of God of War, Stellar Blade, Star Wars Jedi and others of sub-Sekiro difficulty and had a fun time doing so. Not here. Not yet. Unless they patch Onimusha: Way of the Sword and add a middle difficulty or just checkpoint the damn bosses when they’re between health bars, my streak of loving Capcom games released in 2026 will likely end at two. It’s a shame, because I was having a good time finding those ghostly dogs. And then there’s He Who Watches, a phenomenal first person puzzle game with Portal vibes, except instead of a portal gun you’ve got a magical bow that shoots one arrow that can activate switches or be used to drag blocks. The twist is an actual twist: you can also walk on walls and the ceiling, reorienting gravity as you do, thereby placing blocks onto those other surfaces. Walking on walls and ceilings to solve problems is really the best thing. Would that I could in reality. He Who Watches consists of locked-room challenges, each brief enough to only require about a minute to actually solving, though it will take five, 10, eventually 30 minutes to figure out said solutions. They are not obvious! It’s a game of layered mechanics and shocking solutions. For example, see if you can follow this: You can drag a block to a wall. Then you can walk on the wall, which now feels like the floor, and drag that block across the wall. Later, back on the floor, you might realize you can look up. The block is still on the wall, stuck to it. You can shoot your magic arrow to its underside. Doing so creates a tether, so that you can yank the block off the wall and carry it, as if it were a balloon, into the spot where you need it to be to solve the puzzle. Here, watch Vanden explain some of the game’s basics in this launch trailer: As with any great puzzle game, the solutions to He Who Watches’ puzzles elicit relief and amazement. Oh my god, that worked! I didn’t even think that could be possible! Learning to solve the game’s puzzles feels like learning magic. But, oh, does the game get hard. Its Steam reviews, mostly glowing, are full of players remarking how quickly He Who Watches made them sweat. Wrote one: “loving this one already although my brain is hurting!” Wrote another: “As you get further in the game it feels like you need an IQ level of at least 120+.” Vanden has shown some mercy. Each locked room puzzle includes an optional junior version of the puzzle, meant to teach you. Difficulty nevertheless ramps severely. By the time I was emailing Vanden for help, I was struggling to even clear one of the hint puzzles. When I messaged him, my stress was exacerbated by strange things I’d found in the game’s various hubs: suspicious passageways, odd blocks and some intriguing locked doors. These were hints of secrets, I realized, yet I sensed I needed to play further into the game to understand them. I was stuck, but I wanted to see the rest. Vanden offered to give me the exact solutions, to solve those three puzzles for me, but first he gave four nudges. Three were for the specific puzzles, but his best hint was for all and ultimately proved to be a terrific life lesson: go back a bit, he suggested. Do the puzzles right before those. They were teaching you something. Focus on what their lesson was. Don’t rush, in other words. Recognize what you’ve accomplished. Build off of that. I did so. I absorbed the lessons. I saw those three tough puzzles in a new light. I solved one the night after he wrote back, another the morning after. I left a third for another time. I didn’t need it and I wanted to plunge deeper into the game, closer to the moment when I was sure I could start unlocking those secret doors. My head stopped hurting, too. He Who Watches feels special. It’s got more challenges, and I’m undeterred. It’s also nice that its puzzles don’t have a surprise second health bar. Game File is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe Item 2: In brief… 🎮 Ilari Kuittinen, co-founder of Helsinki-based Housemarque (Super Stardust HD, Resogun, Returnal) has stepped down from his studio, after a 31-year run, saying he’s “ taking a rare and well-deserved breather.” Sony purchased Housemarque in 2021, and the studio released its newest game, Saros, earlier this year. Trend-watch: Sony-owned Insomniac saw its founder Ted Price retire in early 2025, after a 30-year run. Sony-owned Sucker Punch saw its co-founder Brian Fleming step down in late 2025, after a 28-year run. 👀 Savvy Games Group chief Brian Ward is stepping down from the Saudi-government-backed games conglomerate, Bloomberg reports. No word on a long-term successor yet, nor if this augurs any closer integration between Savvy and Electronic Arts. EA was purchased by a consortium led by Saudi’s sovereign wealth fund, in early August. 💿 Square Enix has denied a Japanese media report that the company was planning to go private. In very different Square Enix news, the company revealed that the physical version of Final Fantasy VII: Revelation, the April 2027 finale of its radical remakes of FFVII, will include just one disc in its case, requiring a download for the rest. The first two FFVII remakes in the trilogy shipped on two discs apiece. While Square hasn’t commented on the reason why, a feature here in Game File last month broke down the processes and costs for physical games. The expense of a second disc comes out of the game publisher’s cut of each copy. Square could be saving in excess of a dollar a copy with this move. 🟥 Grand Theft Auto IV’s 26-minute ’‘extended look” gameplay showcase that premiered on Netflix last week—and was exclusive to the platform for six hours—drew 31.1 million views in its first four days, the streamer announced. (Netflix calculates views as total viewed hours divided by runtime; excludes replays). Compared to YouTube: The version that later premiered on Rockstar Games’ YouTube channel is sitting at 22.6 million views after seven days (YouTube’s more liberal counting system tallies anyone who viewed even just the first few second.) Compared to other Netflix mega-events: Last year, Stranger Things season 5’s first four episodes, which debuted together, drew a record 59.6 million views in their first few days on Netflix. For more of a live event type of comparison, in 2024, the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson boxing match drew 65 million concurrent streams as it happened; Netflix didn’t release live numbers for the GTA premiere. ☁️ Microsoft is changing the way it charges for cloud gaming, from an all-you-can-play offer for Xbox Game Pass subscribers, to caps for the subscription’s tiers (15 hours per month at the Ultimate tier), with the option to buy more hours in bulk beyond that. The company also said it will sell batches of cloud gaming time to non-Game Pass subscribers, details TBA. Microsoft does not release figures for cloud game usage, but said its changes would impact 4% of Game Pass subscribers. That implies a small portion of its subscribers exceed the 15-hour monthly mark. Cloud gaming offers the promise of playing games without the need for console or PC hardware, as the graphics, sound and controls are all transmitted via a streaming connection. Microsoft notes that its cloud gaming service can be used for a range of things, including Xbox One players using it to play newer-gen Xbox Series games via streaming; and people playing games via streaming, sans any console, “in markets where consoles are less available or affordable.” (That latter use case could even be relevant in Xbox’s home market soon, as console prices keep rising.) Take Two Interactive chairman Strauss Zelnick recently told investors he expects game-streaming tech, which has been only lightly adopted by gamers for over a decade, to be widely used within three years. 🇺🇸 The Trump administration has published multiple agenda-driven web video games to the White House’s website. One called Build The Wall partially clones Tetris as it asks players to build a wall to stop a “zombie border siege.” While actual Tetris involves clearing lines and basically not building a wall, the Trump-backed game omits the line-clearing aspect (and omits the fun as well). On Instagram, Tetris’ official license holders reacted by stating: “At Tetris we believe in the power of connection and bringing people together, not dividing them. To our fans everywhere: we love you, we see you, and we’re grateful to have you in our community. P.S. The Tetris Company was not involved in the creation of ‘Build the Wall.’ P.P.S.: We take copyright infringement very seriously.” Item 3: The week ahead: Tuesday, September 8 Game releases: Mewgenics (consoles; already out on PC) is an engrossing tactical combat game (with cats). It is getting its console port right after the release of a Star Wars tactics game and ahead of the late September launch of a Fire Emblem–a bumper crop for the genre. Wanderburg (PC) is an auto-shooting game like Vampire Survivors, but you’re a castle on wheels Event: Nintendo airs a 30-minute Nintendo Direct (10am ET) focused on The Legend of Zelda’s 40th Anniversary. A full unveiling of the upcoming remake of The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time is expected. Will they also show footage from next year’s live action movie? Tease the next big 3D Zelda? Add Link to Mario Kart World? Shadow-drop a new Tingle game? Wednesday, September 9 Event: Nintendo again! On this day, they’re planning to air a 45-minute Nintendo Direct (10am ET) focused on games heading to Switch 2 this winter. Followed by about an hour of gameplay demoed by the company’s Treehouse team. The September Nintendo Directs are always some of the year’s biggest. The 2025 edition included announcements of several major 2026 Switch/Switch 2 games: Pokémon Pokopia, Mario Tennis Fever, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, Fire Emblem Fortune’s Weave. Plus the return of the Virtual Boy. Friday, September 11 Game release: EA Sports NHL 27 (PlayStation, Xbox) is a hockey game. There are so few that an indie studio that had been making wacky sci-fi first-person shooters just announced that, hey, we’re going to fill a void and make a hockey game for PC.
Sports quiz of the week: transfer deadline day, the US Open and rugby drama
Have you been following the big stories in football, cricket, tennis, boxing, Formula One and cycling?
Hayden Panettiere's ex Wladimir Klitschko marks her birthday with emotional tribute
Wladimir Klitschko is remembering Hayden Panettiere on what would have been her 37th birthday.The former heavyweight boxing champion shared an emotional tribute to his former fiancée on Aug. 21, five
Greensburg’s Ian Kintigh claims 2 International Sport Kickboxing Association world titles
Ian Kintigh has gone from feeling pain from the slightest touch to kicking through boards. After finishing second in the world two consecutive years, Kintigh broke through in 2026, taking home two International Sport Kickboxing Association world championship titles in July at Disney’s Coronado Springs in Orlando. More than 9,000
Israel Adesanya Predicts Jan Blachowicz vs. Navajo Stirling
UFC legend Israel Adesanya shared his prediction for the UFC Belgrade co-main event between Jan Blachowicz and Navajo Stirling.Adesanya fought Blachowicz for the UFC light heavyweight title at UFC 259 in March 2021, losing by unanimous decision. He was also a former longtime training partner of Stirling at City Kickboxing, the gym he trained at […] The post Israel Adesanya Predicts Jan Blachowicz vs. Navajo Stirling appeared first on HEAVY.
Sports quiz of the week: new faces, old friends, fights, fallouts and a curse
Have you been following the big stories in football, boxing, athletics, horse racing, Gaelic games, golf and cycling?
Zuffa Boxing’s Business Model Is Already Shifting
Shakur Stevenson is the promotion’s latest star seeking to box non-Zuffa fighters.
TNT Sports & DAZN to Present Championship Boxing as "The Fight" Returns Saturday, Aug. 1 Featuring Lamont Roach Jr. vs. William Zepeda Title Bout
The Fight returns to TNT Sports and DAZN on Saturday, Aug. 1, with an action-packed championship fight card live from Las Vegas.Headlining the evening,
Boxing’s top 10 pound-for-pound men’s fighters, ranked by the sport’s insiders
A panel of experts from across the sport deliver their verdicts on the best fighters on the planet
Dana White decries UFC broadcast production again: ‘Brutal’
UFC CEO Dana White continues to publicly criticize the production quality of his promotion’s broadcasts. Earlier this month, following UFC 329, White took aim at his producers after another high-profile incident of misidentifying a celebrity attending the event. While showing an image of Shakur Stevenson, a boxer who was recently signed to the boxing promotion…
Sports quiz of the week: Rodri, Kevin Keegan, Women’s Afcon and Tyson Fury
Have you been following the big news in football, cricket, rugby union, golf, boxing and athletics?
UFC Freedom 250 Fails to Knock Out The Ratings
(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) If UFC fans wanted one image to say, “Hey, Paramount+ is crushing it with their UFC rights deal,” I could provide that image. Here it is: (Reminder: this is my creation of the Nielsen Top 30, since Nielsen doesn’t combine the lists or include sports. I take all three lists and combine them. Some streaming TV shows probably have higher ratings than many of the films on this list.) Look at that! UFC Freedom 250 is number one! It topped the Nielsen “Top 30” list for shows and films that made the top ten the week of 15-June. So if you’re a UFC fan or supporter of Paramount+, that’s the good news for you this week. This program topped the ratings charts for one week. Everything else is bad news, or at least a huge caveat to that story, which I’ll explain today in the first part of this week’s Streaming Ratings Report—for the weeks of 8-June and 15-June—which is a double issue since I’ve been writing on a bunch of topics recently. UFC Freedom 250 is one of the biggest streaming events of the year, and super relevant to Paramount+’s strategy, so it merited its own article. Let’s dive in! (Reminder: The streaming ratings report focuses on the U.S. market and compiles data from Nielsen’s weekly top ten viewership ranks, Luminate’s Top Ten Data, JustWatch and Reelgood interest data, Samba TV household viewership, company datecdotes, Netflix hours viewed data, Google Trends, and IMDb to determine the most popular content. While most data points are current, Nielsen’s data covers the weeks of June 8th to June 21st 2026. You can find a link to my terminology here.) Subscribe Check Out My Interview on UFC 250 at MMA Draw After you read this article, if you want even more thoughts on UFC and Paramount-Skydance/Paramount+, I did a written interview with MMA Draw. They asked me to answer some questions about UFC Freedom 250, and I was happy to chat with them. Find it here: [ The MMA Draw Newsletter Did Paramount really overpay for the UFC? What the data tells us so far If you know the history of American television, you also know that combat sports is often a leading indicator of the future… Read more a day ago · 10 likes · 1 comment · Nate Wilcox and Zach Arnold ](https://www.themmadraw.com/p/did-paramount-really-overpay-for?utm_source=substack&utm_campaign=post_embed&utm_medium=web) I never thought I’d need a combat sports newsletter in my life, but the good folks at MMA Draw publish an excellent one on UFC, MMA, pro wrestling, boxing and more, analyzing both the sports themselves and the politics, economics and antitrust issues that impact them. Check the article and their newsletter out! Paramount+ Has Its Best Sporting Event of All Time…But Was It Worth It? Before we look at the UFC Freedom 250 data in particular, let’s talk about what we can’t say. Namely, let’s start with the lack of comparisons. First off, I’d love to put a chart out comparing this fight to past UFC fights on Paramount+…but we don’t have the data. This is the first time we’ve gotten Nielsen data about a Paramount+ UFC fight. As far as I can tell, Paramount provided data for the first fight, but it was a proprietary datecdote (saying it had “an average minute audience” of 5 million “views”) and then, for two fights, we got the linear viewership numbers when they aired on CBS, but no streaming data. Everything else was crickets. We also can’t compare this fight to other fights/combat sports on streaming, in particular the MMA and boxing, because Netflix also didn’t use Nielsen to track those events, opting for TVision and VideoAmp, respectively. (This isn’t Paramount’s fault, but does still suck.) We also can’t compare to UFC’s fights that used to be on ESPN+, since we don’t have any data for that, plus Disney+ didn’t have marquee fights. The comparisons would not be apples-to-apples. Can we compare to past Pay-Per-View fights? Absolutely not. The comparisons would absolutely NOT be apples-to-apples. That didn’t stop Paramount+, though, who bragged that their UFC events have reached drastically more people than past PPV fights. Duh. Sorry, but I gotta make this point again. A basic tenet of economics is that the cheaper something becomes, the more people consume or buy it. That’s Econ 101. (Sometimes pundits call things “Econ 101” that are actually like Econ 210 or even PhD-level economics, but no, this is really like first or second class basic economics.) Yet I still see one analytics firm consistently say that more people watch films on streaming than PVOD proves streaming which means that the streaming window is more valuable than the PVOD window. No, it’s not! Same thing here. Pay-Per-View events back in the day could be really, really, really expensive! So whole groups of people pitched in to buy them. That increased the perceived value of, say, the Mike Tyson fight. Or a UFC numbered event. So yes, the fact that Paramount+ makes numbered UFC fights essentially “free” if you’re already a Paramount+ member means consumption will go up. Obviously. Same for Netflix and their boxing matches. They’re talking about fights that used to cost consumers, in some cases, $50 in 1996…which is over $100 in today’s dollars. Over 1.6 million people paid that to watch the Tyson-Holyfield fight! Again, streaming is essentially “free”. Or $10 to $20, depending on what streamer we’re talking about and what tier you’re on. No wonder more people are “watching”. (Plus, Nielsen’s out-of-home viewing also helps these numbers.) UFC Freedom 250 Did Well…But I Have A Lot of Worries So what can we compare the fights to? Well, the good news is Nielsen put out that the fight averaged 7.0 million viewers for UFC Freedom 250, which is a solid number for a fight. We also know the length, at roughly 4 and a half hours. (I saw different run times, but this seems to be the consensus considering it started at 8 pm, had a delay and then finished after midnight on the East Coast. If you assume a shorter run time, then yes, the total hours viewed would go down.) That means I have the two numbers needed to add this to my Nielsen database. And then…I can compare this viewership to the NFL: And, uh, not great. But also within striking distance, mainly because the runtime for this event was so long. I’d also add that this event had viewership equal to a regular season NFL game on streaming, but if anything, it was more comparable to an NFL playoff or Super Bowl-esque event. And you can compare viewership to the top football games on broadcast, cable and streaming, and it’s not impressive at all: We can also compare it to other sports that week, including the NBA Finals and start of the World Cup: Again, not great. The NBA generated roughly four times as many average viewers each game for its NBA Finals. The World Cup has similarly big numbers. Also, that’s just a tiny fraction of the 25 most watched sporting events each week. The NBA, NHL and FIFA World Cup had many, many more games racking up hours. We could also compare this to other streaming programs to get an idea of “is this a good investment?” and here is how it ranks compared to other top Paramount+ programs: The worry here? Well, unlike scripted programming, which has rewatchability, older fights/sporting events have very little library value. Very, very few people are rewatching these fights, especially years from now. Paramount has also released datecdotes bragging about their subscriber numbers. Earlier this year, they claimed that the first UFC fight on Paramount+ brought in 1 million subscribers. Then, in their quarterly earnings report, they only ended up with 700K subs. Not great! They claimed they dropped lower-value international subscribers, but that’s why I tend to discount subscriber additions when they’re leaked to the press.1 I expect we may see a bump again for UFC Freedom 250, but I’d caution using subscriber growth so soon after these events to judge the success, since new subs with high churn (see Peacock) aren’t great either. Also, analysts often want to attribute all subscriber growth to their favorite/pet show, and that just doesn’t make sense. The biggest caveat for UFC Freedom 250 and Paramount’s very first UFC marquee event is that these could be high watermarks for the sport. UFC Freedom 250 had an incredible amount of earned media coverage compared to most UFC fights. I mean, it had wall-to-wall national news coverage in the lead up to the event. (The first fight also had a lot of promotion from Paramount since it was first.) Other fights could reach this bar—say the Conor McGregor return to the Octagon—but they’ll be fewer and far between. Was This Deal Worth It? All to ask: is this Paramount deal worth it? In this case, I think the UFC Freedom 250 numbers are more distracting than helpful. This fight did well and compares well to other top sporting events. But we know that the first marquee event was at least a third smaller, if Paramount’s own data is to be believed. And it’s likely the other fights are much, much, much smaller. And then you get to the paycheck that Paramount-Skydance paid. FIFA’s World Cup cost about the same for Fox, but clearly generated multiples more total viewership. (Though it’s only every four years.) The NBA is much more expensive, but until the playoffs, they likely didn’t pay for itself. Even still, Disney, NBCUniversal and Amazon Prime Video likely overpaid. So, in that context, the NBA may be an overpay that makes the UFC look not so bad. But two overpays don’t make an underpay, to paraphrase the old cliché about wrongs and rights. And looking at UFC Freedom 250 as the likely ceiling of MMA on Paramount+, Paramount-Skydance likely paid too much. Share 1 I would love regular reports on subscriber additions by programs, but as is, it’s mostly leaked or rumored in haphazard ways.
8 Indians enter u19, u23 Asian boxing championships finals, 7 bronzes won: Indian Sports LIVE, July 13
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No sports experience can beat the adrenaline rush of witnessing two opponents battle each other on equal footing, armed only with skills, preparation, and sheer willpower. Throughout the ages, boxing, MMA, wrestling, and judo have continued entertaining people all over the globe, uniting fans from many different backgrounds with a common language. Discover how fascinating […] The post Why Combat Sports Continue to Attract Global Audiences appeared first on Native News Online.
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Lakers prepare for Rockets playoff series with emphasis on rebounding
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Sindhu faces tough test in badminton Asia C'ships; medal matches in boxing, Shooting WC, Candidates continue: Indian Sports LIVE, April 9
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Zuffa Boxing adds two more to active fighter roster
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