A version of this article first appeared in the CNBC Sport newsletter with Alex Sherman, which brings you the biggest news and exclusive interviews from the worlds of sports business and media. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox. The big sports business news this week was Paramount's surprising $1.1 billion-per-year acquisition of UFC rights, starting in 2026 and running for seven years. Deal talks formally began with Paramount on June 3, but really heated up in a 48-hour period between Thursday and Sunday after Skydance closed its deal to acquire control of Paramount Global, according to Mark Shapiro , the president and chief operating officer of UFC parent TKO Group. "Their deal closed, and things changed," said Shapiro. Initially, TKO considered breaking up the U

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