This month Paramount+August brings the heat with a new set of content. With three Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Fight Night matches, it’s more sports than any other month. Dana White’s Contender Series, and MTV Difficulty: Cutand more basketball, golf, football and bull riding than you can stand. More information about those competitions can be found here Paramount’s complete August lineup. If you’re not a sports fan, don’t worry—we’ve got you covered.
In addition to the new original documentaries, the broadcaster also sees a new season of the crime thriller lead by acclaimed Deon Cole, which has moved permanently from BET to its new home at Paramount+. Our top pick from the platform’s August 2026 series is the third season of Taylor Sheridan.
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UFC Fight Night: Medic vs. Rodriguez
Light heavyweight fight
It starts with August UFC Fight Night: Medic vs. RodriguezBroadcast live from the Belgrade Arena in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia.
American veteran Daniel “D-Rod” Rodriguez made his return to the Octagon in July 2025 after being fired following a unanimous decision victory over Kevin Holland in a slippery fight. He returns to the cage with a three-fight winning streak.
Fighting from Serbia, Uroš Medić, also known as Doctor. Medić is riding a three-fight winning streak via first-round knockout, including a devastating victory over Geoff Neal at UFC Houston, which earned him a spot in the UFC featherweight division.
UFC Fight Night: Medic vs. Rodriguez The premieres will take place on August 1. Prelims begin at 12:00 PM ET and the main card begins at 3:00 PM ET.
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Special Operations: True
Strong Paramount+ Original documentaries
Special Operations: True A serious documentary about high-profile military operations, featuring high-risk missions such as the hunt for Osama bin Laden, the Battle of Mogadishu, and tactical operations in Panama.
The serious documentaries feature raw interviews and firsthand stories told directly by actual Navy SEALs, Delta Force, Army Rangers and Green Berets on the ground. Never-before-seen footage unlocks exclusive, never-before-seen visual archives and tactical records from within global conflicts.
Special Operations: True premiere will be on August 4.
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Challenge: Cutthroat 42 seasons
Severe physical and mental hardships for $500,000 prize money
After a heartbreaking, long stint at MTV, Difficulty: Cut Coming to its new home at Paramount+. There is a mix of season 42 filmed in Thailand Challenge veterans and franchise rookies battle it out to win a big chunk of change.
Twenty-four fierce titans will have to push past their breaking point in a brutal battle for a share of the $500,000 grand prize. In this season, competitors are divided into three teams, and the only way to get a share of the prize money is to cross the finish line together. To win, captains must balance their hunger for dominance with the need for loyalty or risk losing their power. Meanwhile, solo players must prove they can be a team player or lose their chance to take home the money.
Difficulty: Cut Season 42 will premiere on August 5.
- Operating system
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tvOS
- Resolution
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4K
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UFC Fight Night: Gamrot vs. Salkilld
The lightweights fight for the title in the octagon
Also known as UFC Vegas 120, UFC Fight Night: Gamrot vs. Salkilld will be a five-round featherweight main event with top contender Mateusz Gamrot and rising star Quillan Salkilld.
Thirty-five-year-old Polish contender Mateusz Gamrot has a 9-4 UFC record and is fresh off a second-round submission win over Esteban Ribovics in April 2026. Twenty-six-year-old Australian Quillan Salkilld is undefeated in the UFC and won his first fight in Benno. Dariush in May 2026.
UFC Fight Night: Gamrot vs. Salkilld The premieres will take place on August 8. The preliminaries begin at 5:00 PM ET and the main card begins at 8:00 PM ET.
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UFC Fight Night: Nurmagomedov vs. Song
A potential heavyweight title-eliminator bout for the championship
Here comes the heavyweight main event live from the Oriental Sports Center in Shanghai, China. UFC Fight Night: Nurmagomedov vs. Song.
Umar Nurmagomedov, ranked third in the heavyweight division with a 20-1 record, enters the cage on a 2-fight winning streak after victories over Mario Bautista and Deiveson Figueiredo. Leading the way in his native China, Song Yadong is ranked fifth in the heavyweight division with a record of 23-9-1 (1 NC). He enters the octagon after a second round victory over Deiveson Figueiredo.
UFC Fight Night: Nurmagomedov vs. Song The premiere will be on August 29 Local listings on Paramount+ for times of war.
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Average joe season 2
Dark comedy-drama series with Deon Cole
Inspired by the life of creator Robb Cullen, Average Joe is an intense, dark comedy series about blue-collar plumber Joe Washington (Black work Deon Cole) discovers that his late father stole millions of dollars from the Russian mafia. When pressed for missing money, Joe and his friends are forced into a high-stakes race to survive.
In season 2, Joe tries to move on from the events in Pittsburgh when a mysterious threat targets his family, sending Joe and his crew to Cape Town, South Africa. What begins as a search for answers quickly turns into a dangerous adventure with international criminals, powerful enemies, and long-hidden secrets. As they are hunted across the city, they must evade assassins, outrun bounty hunters, and survive a series of increasingly impossible situations.
Average Joe Season 2 premieres with 2 episodes on August 19. New episodes will drop every Wednesday until September 23rd.
Average Joe
- Release date
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June 25, 2023
- Network
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BET+
- Directors
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David Katzenberg, Eric Dean Seaton, Joy Lane, Christoph Schrieu, Marshall Tyler
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Lion 3 seasons
A new, women-led mission awaits
The hit female-led espionage thriller lion returns for a third season and continues on a global scale as chaos ensues and the Lioness team is placed on their most personal assignment yet.
Season three The Taylor Sheridan Show will see clandestine networks clash, foreign operations and personal betrayals. as Joe (Your avatar Zoe Saldana) walks the fine line between duty and home as unseen forces circle her world. Patterns appear where they shouldn’t, names disappear, and paths rearrange unexpectedly. Hosted by Kaitlyn (Hours Nicole Kidman) and Westfield (From Michael Kelly Jack Ryan: Ghost War), Joe encounters enemies operating in the shadows, forcing him to come to terms with a war that has now reached every part of his life.
lion Season 3 premieres on August 2. New episodes will drop every Sunday until September 20.
More than Paramount+
Don’t forget you can also catch new episodes of currently airing Paramount originals Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Diarra from Detroit.
- Subscription with ads
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Yes, $8 a month
- Synchronous streams
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