UPDATED UFC 234 Will Air on DirecTV

This article was updated on February 8th at 10:30 a.m. ET to reflect the newly-announced deal between the UFC and DirecTV.

We have a 1 fight deal for this weekend with @directv for Whittaker vs Gastelum and Adesanya vs Silva. So it will be on DirecTV and in bars and on every other platform. I will have this shit all worked out in the next couple weeks. Thank u pic.twitter.com/BkcDINaMdo

— Dana White (@danawhite) February 8, 2019

Late Thursday night, UFC President Dana White posted a video on his social media explaining the temporary arrangement made between the promotion and DirecTV. He exclaimed, "We've come to a one-fight deal with DirecTV. So, the big fight will be on this weekend on DirecTV, and it will be in bars -- it's in all the other platforms too! This fight is awesome, do not miss it, order it today...on DirecTV and every other platform on Earth! See you this weekend!"

This arrangement, as White has stated, is only for one event between the organization and the pay-per-view distributor, and further negotiations will need to ensue to allow for future events to be held on DirecTV. The promotion will need to act relatively quickly, as the next event on pay-per-view is on March 2nd for UFC 235.

The pay-per-view landscape for the Ultimate Fighting Championship is still uncertain, as the organization has announced that due to failed negotiations, fight fans will not be able to order UFC events through DirecTV for the foreseeable future.

One of the largest pay-per-view providers in North and Central America, the company owned by AT&T Communications, DirecTV appears to be at an impasse with the UFC regarding their distribution deal. According to a brief statement on UFC's official website on Thursday, the UFC 234 pay-per-view event held in Australia will not be available for purchase on DirecTV for international consumers. In the statement, the promotion wrote, “Unfortunately, we have been unable to reach an agreement with one of our primary distributors, DirecTV. Though we continue to work to reach a resolution, UFC 234, live from Melbourne on Saturday, Feb. 9, will not be available on DirecTV.”

At the end of 2018, the distribution deal with the UFC and DirecTV expired, and the two sides have not yet come to an agreement. Previous reports claimed that the UFC was seeking upwards of a 70-30 split on pay-per-view revenues, which could potentially be a sticking point in the negotiations.

As the two sides have not come to terms, no UFC pay-per-view events will be available for purchase on DirecTV until the negotiations conclude. If fans have already pre-ordered the event through DirecTV, they have been instructed to "Please contact your DirecTV representative with regards to refunds/billing transactions."

The Las Vegas-based promotion did provide a plethora of other options for fans to view the event beyond DirecTV, stating, "To ensure that fans don’t miss a minute of action, DirecTV subscribers should consider other viewing options, including UFC.TV, ESPN.com, Amazon Prime, Sony PlayStation, Xbox, local cable providers, and Dish Network."