Fan Frenzy: ESPN Employees Attend, Reflect On UFC Fight Night On ESPN+

To celebrate Saturday’s very first UFC Fight Night on ESPN+, nearly 100 ESPN & DTCI (Disney Direct-To-Consumer and International) employees and a guest had the opportunity to attend the event live at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.

It marks the start of a five-year relationship between UFC, DTCI and ESPN.

Here are a few of the experiences of those who attended:

Chelsea Cybulski, resource coordinator, Production Operations: “The UFC event at the Barclays Center had great energy from the crowd starting with the prelims and continued throughout the main card. My husband, Erik Michael (lead studio operator, Production Operations Studio) and I are big Donald Cerrone fans so watching him KO Alexander Hernandez was a treat. All in all, very entertaining and well put together event, ESPN+ branding looked great. It was pretty cool to experience the first UFC Fight Night on ESPN+. Thank you for the experience.

John Bartmon, post producer: “The night as a whole featured so many great matches and emotions – the shock of seeing Henry Cejudo TKO TJ Dillashaw just 32 seconds in left our jaws open and we can’t wait for the rematch. Live on ESPN+, maybe?

I can’t say enough how grateful we were to get to experience this special night. I was really happy and proud to see the words “UFC on ESPN” over and over throughout the evening. To hear fighters mention how cool it was to be on ESPN. To feel how big this felt . . . as a superfan of the sport, it made me swell with pride that it’s now on our network. We cover sports like no other network, and to have it be in our family now, there is no better feeling.”

Mike Michaud, associate director, Application Development: “What an awesome night full of great fights. It was my first live UFC event and it did not disappoint. ESPN+ branding was abound and it really felt like this was the start of something big. UFC on ESPN+ is sure to be a great partnership.”