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Israel Adesanya will face Paulo Costa at UFC 253 on Saturday.
All UFC pay-per-views, including the upcoming UFC 253: Adesanya vs Costa, can only be ordered through ESPN+. You can no longer buy or watch UFC PPV’s through your cable provider or UFC.tv.
Pricing and ordering options vary depending on whether or not you’re already an ESPN+ subscriber, so here’s a further rundown of everything you need to know to watch UFC 253 and any future PPV events:
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How to Order UFC 253 If You Don’t Have ESPN+
You can get a special bundle deal that includes a one-year subscription to ESPN+ ($49.99 value) and UFC 253 ($64.99 value) for $84.98, which works out to about 26 percent savings:
Buy ESPN+ & UFC 253 Bundle
Or, if you want to purchase them separately, you can first subscribe to a month of ESPN+ right here ($5.99 for ESPN+, or $12.99 for a bundle of ESPN+, Hulu and Disney+), and then follow the below directions for existing ESPN+ subscribers.
However, with the amount of UFC (and other sports) content on ESPN+, most MMA fans are probably going to keep ESPN+ long-term, meaning the value of the bundle is the better way to go if you don’t already have ESPN+.
How to Order UFC 253 If You Already Have ESPN+
Current ESPN+ subscribers can purchase the UFC 253 PPV by itself for $64.99:
Buy UFC 253 PPV
Or, if you only have a monthly subscription (and you don’t have the Disney+ bundle), you can still get the special package deal that includes a year of ESPN+ and the UFC 253 PPV. The only difference is that instead of starting a new ESPN+ subscription, you’ll just extend your current subscription by a year and get the UFC 253 PPV for a total of $84.98:
Extend ESPN+ & Buy UFC 253
Where to Watch UFC 253
Once you’re signed up for ESPN+ and you’ve purchased the PPV, there are a number of different ways you can watch Adesanya vs Costa and the complete UFC 253 main card.
You can watch the fights on your computer via ESPN.com, or you can watch on your phone (Android and iPhone compatible), tablet, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, or other compatible streaming device via the ESPN app.
For all of those options, you’ll need to sign in with your ESPN+ account to watch both the prelims (ESPN+) and the main card (ESPN+ PPV).
UFC ESPN+ Schedule
Not only will every UFC PPV be available for purchase exclusively through ESPN+, but the early prelims for the “numbered” events and most of the complete “Fight Night” cards will all be broadcast live on ESPN+.
Here’s a complete look at the list of upcoming UFC events, and where you can watch them:
| Date | Event | Early Prelims | Prelims | Main Card |
| Sat, Sep. 26 | UFC 253: Adesanya vs Costa | ESPN2/ESPN+ | ESPN+ PPV | |
| Sat, Oct. 3 | UFC Fight Night: Holm vs Aldana | ESPN+ | ESPN/ESPN+ | |
| Sat, Oct. 10 | UFC Fight Night: Moraes vs Sandhagen | ESPN+ | ESPN+ | |
| Sat, Oct. 17 | UFC Fight Night: Ortega vs. The Korean Zombie | ESPN+ | ESPN+ | |
| Sat, Oct. 24 | UFC 254: Khabib vs Gaethje | ESPN+ | ESPN2/+ | ESPN+ PPV |
| Sat, Sep 19 | UFC 253: Adesanya vs Costa | ESPN/ESPN+ | ESPN/ESPN+ | ESPN+ PPV |
ESPN+ UFC On-Demand Library
In addition to the aforementioned live events, ESPN+ also comes with an extensive library of on-demand UFC content.
If you’re looking for individual fighters, there are dedicated sections for Conor McGregor (fights vs Eddie Alvarez, Chad Mendes and Khabib Nurmagomedov), Anderson Silva (fights vs Chael Sonnen, Rich Franklin, Chris Leben, Nick Diaz, Michael Bisping and Stephan Bonnar), Max Holloway (fights vs Jose Aldo and Ricardo Lamas), Michael Bisping (fights vs Luke Rockhold, Silva, Dan Henderson, Georges St-Pierre and Kelvin Gastelum), Brock Lesnar (fights vs Shane Carwin, Alistair Overeem, Cain Velasquez and Frank Mir) and others.
If you just want to binge a random assortment of memorable UFC moments, there are also sections broken up by different themes, such as UFC Reloaded (full event replays of recent PPV’s and Fight Nights), UFC Unleashed (top fights organized into different 45-minute videos), UFC Main Event (provides backstories to certain fights), UFC Top 10 (best submission artists, knockout artists, upsets, title fights, etc.) and UFC 25 Greatest Fights (over 12 hours of content breaking down the top fights in history).
Throw in episodes of Ariel & The Bad Guy, a talk show featuring MMA insider Ariel Helwani and MMA legend Chael Sonnen, and you’d be hard-pressed to get through all the UFC content that ESPN+ offers.
What Other Content is on ESPN+?
Live Sports
In addition to UFC, ESPN+ features a wide array of other live sports. In almost every case, sports or events that are on ESPN+ won’t be on any other channels in the United States.
- International Soccer: ESPN+ has exclusive rights to all Serie A, FA Cup, Carabao Cup and Copa del Rey matches in the US. Also includes EFL, Coppa Italia, Copa America, A-League, Dutch Eredivisie, Indian Super League, W-League and more
- Boxing: Dozens of Top Rank fights, which includes Vasyl Lomachenko and Tyson Fury
- College Sports: Hundreds of football and men’s and women’s basketball games (including many Big 12 games), as well as lacrosse, hockey, wrestling, volleyball, softball, baseball, swimming, gymnastics and more
- Tennis: Grand Slam events, including exclusive coverage of every Wimbledon and US Open match not televised on the ESPN or ESPN2
- International cricket: Matches featuring New Zealand, India and others
- International Rugby: Including Guinness PRO14 and Super Rugby matches
- MLB: One daily out-of-market game
- NHL: One daily out-of-market game
- MLS: All out-of-market matches
Documentaries & Films
Every documentary in the entire 30 for 30 library, including classics such Chuck & Tito, Nature Boy and I Hate Christian Laettner, is included in the vast ESPN+ on-demand movie library.
Additionally, a lot of ESPN documentaries and films that aren’t included in the actual 30 for 30 series are also available on ESPN+, such as D. Wade: Life Unexpected, Venus vs, The ’99ers and others.
Original Series
The list of ESPN+ originals continues to grow. It includes Ariel & The Bad Guy, Peyton’s Places, The Boardroom with Kevin Durant, NBA Rooks, The Fantasy Show and Alex Morgan: The Equalizer.