How to Watch UFC in the UK: TNT Sports, HBO Max, Box Office and Start Times

Image: Mark Richardson, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

Every UFC card is shown live in the UK on TNT Sports, and since 26 March 2026 the streaming home of TNT Sports has been HBO Max, not discovery+. TNT Sports describes its offer plainly: live coverage of every UFC card from the United States and beyond, with all events available to re-watch on HBO Max afterwards.

That covers the numbered pay-per-view style events, the Fight Nights from the Meta APEX in Las Vegas and the international cards. The one exception is a small number of headline events that TNT Sports moves to TNT Sports Box Office, its pay-per-view service, which costs extra on top of any subscription.

If you were already paying for TNT Sports through discovery+, nothing needs cancelling. Warner Bros. Discovery's announcement told existing customers to sign in at HBOMax.com with the same email address and password they used before, and all TNT Sports live and on-demand content carries across.

The TNT Sports plan itself includes TNT Sports 1, 2, 3 and 4, TNT Sports Ultimate, extra live event feeds and the channel's own documentaries. UFC prelims and main cards normally sit on TNT Sports 1.

Bought directly from HBO Max, the standalone TNT Sports plan costs £30.99 a month on a rolling basis, or £25.99 a month on a 12-month saver plan, a saving of £60 over the year. The standalone plan carries adverts.

If you also want HBO Max's films and series, the bundles priced at launch were:

• Standard with Ads and TNT Sports: £27.99 a month on a 12-month term
• Standard and TNT Sports: £30.99 a month on a 12-month term
• Premium and TNT Sports: £34.99 a month on a 12-month term, the tier that adds 4K and up to four devices

A worked example helps. A fan who only wants fights and watches all year pays £311.88 on the 12-month TNT Sports saver (12 x £25.99) against £371.88 on the monthly plan. A fan who only follows the UFC from October to December pays £92.97 on three rolling months, and can stop when the season quietens. Football, rugby, tennis and cycling come in the same plan, which is why many households already have it.

Prices change, and the figures above are the ones Warner Bros. Discovery published for the HBO Max launch. Check the plan page before you subscribe.

You do not have to sign up through HBO Max itself. TNT Sports says it is still distributed through its existing UK and Ireland partners, and HBO Max launched with Sky and Prime Video as partners, so the same UFC coverage reaches most big TV platforms.

• Sky: TNT Sports channels on the box, plus the HBO Max app on Sky devices
• EE TV (formerly BT TV): TNT Sports channels and the HBO Max app
• Virgin Media: TNT Sports channels and the HBO Max app on Virgin TV
• Prime Video: a UK launch partner for HBO Max, so TNT Sports can be added inside your Amazon account

On anything else, the HBO Max app runs on Android and iOS phones and tablets, Fire TV, Roku, LG and Samsung smart TVs, PlayStation and Xbox. That makes it the simplest route if you do not want a set-top box contract, and it is the route where a monthly plan is easiest to stop and restart.

Most UFC events cost nothing beyond your TNT Sports subscription, but TNT Sports keeps the right to put selected cards on TNT Sports Box Office. That is the reverse of the position in the United States, where the UFC's deal with Paramount+ dropped pay-per-view charges completely from UFC 324 in January 2026.

The clearest 2026 example is UFC 329: Conor McGregor v Max Holloway 2 in Las Vegas on 12 July. TNT Sports put the main card exclusively on Box Office at £19.99 in the UK and €29.99 through Sky in the Republic of Ireland, while the prelims stayed on TNT Sports 1 and HBO Max for subscribers.

How to buy a Box Office event depends on your platform:

• Sky: through the Sky box (press Box Office on the remote, channels 490 and 494) or Sky's website
• EE TV: channel 494 on the set-top box, or the EE TV Player
• Virgin Media: the On Demand or Pay Per View sections
• Prime Video: the live and upcoming events row, or search for the event
• HBO Max: on hbomax.com, which needs an HBO Max subscription first

TNT Sports Box Office began life as BT Sport Box Office in September 2018 and took its current name in 2023. It sells only in the UK and Ireland, and each event's price is published when the event is confirmed for Box Office, so never assume a big card is included until TNT Sports lists it.

UFC main cards from the United States start in the early hours of Sunday morning in Britain, and the hour depends on the type of event. Under the Paramount deal, the UFC set the main card of its first numbered event in America for 9pm Eastern, which is 2am UK time, and called it an all-new start time for its biggest shows. That was an hour earlier than the 3am start British fans had lived with for more than a decade.

The first card under the new schedule, UFC 324 in Las Vegas on 24 January 2026, worked like this in the UK:

• Early prelims: 10pm GMT, Saturday
• Prelims: midnight GMT
• Main card: 2am GMT, Sunday

The same 2am slot held in summer. UFC 329 on 12 July ran its prelims at midnight and its main card at 2am BST, because both the UK and the US had moved their clocks forward.

Fight Nights at the Meta APEX usually start an hour earlier. The Raul Rosas Jr v Raoni Barcelos Fight Night on 26 September was listed with an 8pm Eastern main card, which is 1am BST. Remember that the listed time is when the main card begins, not the main event: the headliner walks out only after every other main card fight, so quick finishes bring it forward and long decisions push it back.

Cards outside the Americas move the clock, often in Britain's favour. When the UFC goes to the Middle East or Europe, the main card can land in the evening UK time rather than overnight, so check the event page rather than assuming the usual overnight start. Our UFC events page lists every upcoming card.

For one week each autumn the usual conversions are wrong. UK clocks go back at 2am on Sunday 25 October 2026, but US clocks do not go back until 2am on Sunday 1 November 2026. For those seven days, New York is only four hours behind London instead of five.

That week contains UFC Fight Night: Moicano v Nolan at the Meta APEX on Saturday 31 October. If the card keeps the usual 8pm Eastern main card slot, it starts at midnight GMT in the UK, not 1am. Fans who set an alarm for the normal time could miss the opening fight of the main card.

The same thing happens in reverse in March. In 2027 the US moves its clocks forward on 14 March and the UK on 28 March, so for two weeks a 9pm Eastern main card begins at 1am GMT rather than 2am, an hour earlier than British fans expect. When in doubt, use the start time TNT Sports publishes for UK viewers on the week of the event.

UFC Fight Pass is the UFC's own subscription service, and in the UK it is a companion to TNT Sports rather than a replacement. According to the UFC's own help pages, UK and Ireland subscribers get the Fight Pass prelims live and exclusive, while main cards reach the service on demand after the event rather than live.

Where Fight Pass earns its keep is the library. It holds every fight in UFC history plus archive material from promotions such as PRIDE and Strikeforce, and it streams live events from other organisations, including Invicta FC. The UFC tells customers to check the Fight Pass website for the price in their territory, as it differs by country.

In practice, a UK fan who wants every live UFC fight needs TNT Sports for the prelims and main card, and Fight Pass only for the opening bouts on cards that use Fight Pass early prelims. The UFC's help pages also note that content varies by country because of broadcast rights, so the live line-up you see in Britain can differ from what an American or Australian subscriber gets.

The autumn run is busy, with six cards in six weeks on the UFC's schedule, and TNT Sports covers every UFC card in the UK:

• 10 October: UFC Fight Night: Brendan Allen v Christian Leroy Duncan, Meta APEX, Las Vegas
• 17 October: UFC Fight Night: Joaquin Buckley v Mike Malott, Rogers Place, Edmonton
• 24 October: UFC 333: Alexander Volkanovski v Movsar Evloev, Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi
• 31 October: UFC Fight Night: Renato Moicano v Tom Nolan, Meta APEX, Las Vegas
• 7 November: UFC Fight Night: Gabriel Bonfim v Sean Brady, Meta APEX, Las Vegas
• 14 November: UFC 334: Ciryl Gane v Josh Hokit, Madison Square Garden, New York

Dates are the local date of the event. For the Las Vegas and New York cards the main card falls in the early hours of the following Sunday in the UK, while Edmonton runs on Mountain Time, two hours behind New York, and Abu Dhabi is ahead of London, so check those two individually. UFC 333 is a double title night: Volkanovski defends the featherweight title against Evloev, and Petr Yan and Merab Dvalishvili meet for a third time for the bantamweight title.

Whether any of these cards goes to Box Office is TNT Sports' decision, made event by event, so check its listing in fight week. For how numbered events differ from Fight Nights, read our guide to the UFC event calendar.

Paramount's seven-year UFC deal, worth an average of $1.1bn a year, covers the United States, where Paramount+ now carries all 13 numbered events and every Fight Night in 2026 with no pay-per-view charge. When the deal was announced in August 2025, The Independent reported that it was not expected to affect UK viewers, and so it has proved.

Some fans assumed the switch to Paramount+ would bring the same app and the same free numbered events to Britain. It has not. British coverage is a separate rights deal: the UFC still airs here on TNT Sports, the streaming moved from discovery+ to HBO Max rather than to Paramount+, and Box Office remains an option for TNT Sports on the biggest nights.

The practical difference for Britons is that the American no-PPV promise does not apply here, as UFC 329 proved. If you are new to the sport and want to know what you are watching once you have found the channel, start with how UFC fights are scored and how MMA fights end. For promotions beyond the UFC, see our guide to where to watch MMA online.

• TNT Sports: UFC dates and schedule, which fights are being shown on TNT Sports and HBO Max
• Warner Bros. Discovery Sports: TNT Sports set to stream on HBO Max in the UK from 26 March
• TNT Sports: How to watch UFC 329, McGregor v Holloway 2
• TNT Sports: TNT Sports Box Office
• Wikipedia: TNT Sports Box Office
• UFC: Paramount and UFC announce debut event, UFC 324
• The Independent via AOL: UFC hints at change to start time for biggest events under new Paramount deal
• Ultimate Fighting Calendar: UFC Fight Night 289 card, start times, how to watch Rosas vs Barcelos
• UFC: Upcoming events
• Dubai Eye 103.8: UFC returns to Abu Dhabi with blockbuster title bouts
• UFC: UFC Fight Pass FAQ
• GOV.UK: When do the clocks change?
• NIST: Daylight Saving Time
• The Independent via AOL: UFC announces new broadcast partner and it will impact how you watch the biggest fights

What channel is UFC on in the UK?

UFC is on TNT Sports in the UK, usually TNT Sports 1, and streams on HBO Max, which replaced discovery+ as TNT Sports' streaming home on 26 March 2026. TNT Sports shows every UFC card live, from Las Vegas Fight Nights to numbered events, and you can reach it through HBO Max directly or via Sky, EE TV, Virgin Media and Prime Video.

How much does it cost to watch UFC in the UK?

The standalone TNT Sports plan on HBO Max costs £30.99 a month on a rolling basis or £25.99 a month on a 12-month saver plan. Bundles with HBO Max's entertainment tiers started at £27.99 a month on a 12-month term at launch. Selected headline events cost extra on TNT Sports Box Office, such as UFC 329, which was £19.99.

Is UFC pay-per-view in the UK?

Mostly not. Nearly every UFC card, numbered events included, comes with a TNT Sports subscription. TNT Sports does move a select few to TNT Sports Box Office: the main card of UFC 329, McGregor v Holloway 2, cost £19.99 in the UK while its prelims stayed on TNT Sports 1. The US dropped pay-per-view under Paramount+, but that deal does not cover Britain.

What time does the UFC main card start in the UK?

Numbered UFC events in the US start their main cards at 9pm Eastern, which is 2am UK time, with prelims at midnight and early prelims at 10pm. Fight Nights at the Meta APEX, such as Rosas Jr v Barcelos in September, have started their main cards at 8pm Eastern, which is 1am UK time. The main event comes last, well after the listed start. Take care in the week after 25 October, when only the UK has changed its clocks.

Can you watch UFC on UFC Fight Pass in the UK?

Partly. UFC Fight Pass in the UK carries the early Fight Pass prelims live, the full UFC fight library and live events from other promotions, but main cards arrive only on demand after the event because TNT Sports holds the live UK rights. To watch every live UFC main card in Britain you need TNT Sports.

Can I still watch TNT Sports on discovery+?

No. TNT Sports moved from discovery+ to HBO Max in the UK on 26 March 2026. Existing discovery+ customers keep their access by signing in at HBOMax.com with the same email address and password, so there is no need to buy a new subscription to keep watching the UFC.