Subscription streaming sports service FITE Plus has added independent pro wrestling outfit Game Changer Wrestling to its lineup.

The $4.99 per month SVOD service will feature more than 75 GCW events a year as part of the exclusive deal. In addition, the FITE Plus will offer more than 240 past GCW events as part of its video on demand library, according to the sports service.  

“The spectacular rise of GCW, and the energy of its shows, is like nothing else in the business,” FITE chief operating officer Michael Weber said. “We’re always looking to bring more value to our subscription package — so we’re confident our customers are going to love this deal.”

Also: The Five Spot: Michael Weber, Chief Executive Officer, FITE

The GCW joins other combat sports franchises such as Top Rank Boxing, NWA wrestling, SlapFight Championship and Star Boxing on the streaming service. ■ 

The UFC will celebrate its 25 anniversary with a 25-part documentary series that will stream on its UFC Fight Pass subscription video on demand service, the company said Thursday.

The UFC 25 Years in Short series, debuting Sept. 17, will feature 25 UFC stories that will examine the company’s evolution, characters and influence, said the organization. 

New episodes of the series will be rolled out on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays in just over an eight-week span, culminating with the final film on Nov. 12, UFC’s official 25 anniversary.

The UFC will offer a preview of one of the series' episodes -- Country boy Can Survive: The Story of Matt Hughes’ Fight for Survival – Sept. 14 on its YouTube channel.

“This project is a fun way to tell the history of UFC,” said UFC President Dana White in a statement. “Each one of these films is linked to a pivotal moment in the UFC timeline, and together they represent our complete story. We’re working with some amazingly talented directors and producers on this project, and I think UFC fans will really enjoy these films.”

Pay-per-view boxing legend Manny Pacquiao will once again step in the ring Saturday night for a fight that boxing fans will have to dish out a fee to watch.  

Yet instead of paying upwards of $50 on PPV to watch Pacquiao go for his 60th career win against hard-hitting Lucas Matthysse, fight fans will only have to pay digital streaming sports service ESPN+'s $4.99 monthly fee to catch the fisticuffs.

Pacquiao is the second most lucrative fighter in PPV boxing history, and his 2015 fight with all-time PPV boxing champion Floyd Mayweather remains the most-purchased PPV event of all time with 4.6 million buys. Even at 39 years old and well past his prime, Pacquiao's fight with Matthysse could have done decent PPV business, especially since the category hasn’t had a major fight through the first seven months of the year.

Yet the Malaysian-based fight—part of a full day of live boxing content that will air on ESPN and the ESPN app prior to the main event – will instead mark the highest-profile boxing match to stream live on the upstart digital service, which launched in March to much fanfare. 

ESPN’s multi-year, multi-media deal with boxing promotion company Top Rank Inc. reached last year will provide the subscription service with several marquee boxing matches to offer in the near future, including last month's Terence Crawford-Horn welterweight title fight. 

Pacquiao's last fight -- a 12-round loss to Jeff Horn in 2017 -- aired on ESPN and drew more than 3 million viewers, according to published reports.

“Saturday’s boxing lineup gives us the ability to own the night with boxing fans, and the Manny Pacquiao-Lucas Matthysse match is a perfect example of the world-class caliber of events we envisioned for ESPN+,” said Burke Magnus, executive vice president of programming and scheduling. “The match also provides us with an incredible opportunity to generate compelling storytelling across all our platforms.”

With new digital sports services like ESPN+, Turner’s Bleacher Report Live and combat sports-themed service DAZN seeking to secure rights to live boxing content along with traditional premium cable services Showtime and HBO, it’s not that far-fetched to question whether the PPV fight business is on the ropes.

The scheduled Sept. 15 Canelo Alvarez-Gennady Golovkin rematch will be the first major PPV event to be offered to fight fans in 2018 (the bout was initially scheduled for May 5 but was cancelled after Alvarez tested positive for performance enhancing drugs).

The last major PPV boxing match was Alvarez-Golovkin I last November, which drew approximately 1.3 million PPV buys, according to industry sources. That fight, combined with the 4.3 million buys generated by the August 2017 Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor PPV fight, made 2017 one of the more successful years in PPV history.

While the PPV boxing category is closely watching the increasing competition from digital sports services, executives say the category remains very viable. PPV boxing historically has been cyclical, and executives say the category is in a downturn right now.

“The PPV industry is only as good as the fighters it can draw, and right now there’s no doubt that there’s a lull with respect to fighters that can carry a PPV event,” said In Demand senior vice president of programming and business development Mark Boccardi. He also said the industry has been spoiled in recent years by the likes of Mayweather, Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto and Juan Manuel Marquez, who often fought multiple times a year on PPV.

“Even though there are some great fighters in the sport, right now there are fewer PPV draws than we’ve had over the past few years,” Boccardi added. “We’re confident that the  big PPV's will remain tentpoles for the industry in boxing and in MMA.”

Meanwhile, HBO is still bullish on boxing and PPV. The network is confident that fight fans will ante up $74.99 in September for Alvarez-Golovkin despite the lack of marquee PPV boxing events this year.

“I actually think boxing is in great shape when you look at the people who all of the sudden want to be involved in boxing in a big way,” HBO pay-per-view vice president Tony Walker said.