I’m a big MMA fan and have been since UFC 1 back in 1993. I’ve seen most of the Pay Per Views since then and have witnessed the evolution of the broadcast quality over the years. Back then there was no Internet so Pay Per View was the only way to watch these live MMA tournaments. Or, you could rent a VHS tape from the local movie rental store and enjoy the fights that way.
For those of you newcomers, in those days, each UFC was conducted like a tournament where the participants would fight multiple times in one night! There were only a few of these each year. As the sport gained popularity the state athletic commissions started overseeing the competitions similar to how boxing works. The UFC is now one of the biggest sport companies in the world and there is an event held almost every Saturday. ESPN is the current broadcast partner of the UFC which is the topic for discussion in this article.
That’s right, this is meant for discussion so please leave your comments below.
UFC Pay Per View events are broadcast through the ESPN+ application. Not only do you need to pay for the UFC Pay Per View that you want to watch but you must also subscribe to ESPN+. An ESPN+ subscription costs $10.99 per month or $109.99 per year if you pay up front for the entire twelve months. Each UFC Pay Per View then costs $79.99. There are approximately 12 UFC PPV events per year and a “Fight Night” on the other Saturdays that’s broadcast through the ESPN+ app and/or the channel itself.
The UFC stands out as one of the biggest advocates of combating online sport piracy and has appeared in front of congress lobbying for changes in copyright laws. All UFC events are commonly found on free sports streaming sites and unverified IPTV service subscriptions.
TROYPOINT has always recommended purchasing through the legal option as it supports the fighters and is 100% legal. Plus, the quality should be better through the official app, but is it? Not so fast!
One of my favorite MMA journalists is Luke Thomas who recently went on a tirade regarding how terrible the ESPN+ service is. It simply doesn’t work and I’ve had the same experience as him on multiple occasions which I will share below his video.
LUKE THOMAS: ESPN+ Is THE WORST Streaming Service in SPORTS
Luke does a great job explaining in detail the pain that ESPN+ customers go through to watch UFC events legally. In his video he references being on the phone for one hour with an ESPN+ rep. That one hour is a reason enough to look elsewhere for a better option.
This begs the question, “Are pirate streams and IPTV services more reliable than ESPN+?” In my experience, yes they are.
The biggest problem that I’ve faced with the ESPN+ app is nonstop buffering or the screen freezes completely, both of which are unwatchable. When this happens, I turn on my unverified IPTV service and it works perfectly with no interruptions whatsoever. Should it be legal to access a pirate stream if you’ve already paid for the legal one? Same thing happened to me with the Conor McGregor VS Floyd Mayweather fight but that was on UFC Fight Pass. Nothing but buffering through the legal option, yet my IPTV service was perfectly fine.
Do technical problems with ESPN+ push people to the free or low-cost solutions? Wouldn’t the UFC be better off providing their events free of charge to a much bigger audience and reap the rewards from advertising instead of Pay Per View buys? Or, does the UFC know exactly how much their events are being consumed on the free sites and they don’t care because their broadcasts are chock-full of ads? I remember when we would pay for a PPV event and there wasn’t one single ad to be seen. Not the case anymore!
It’s only a matter of time until PPV and cable/satellite are a thing of the past as the younger generation would never consider paying for something like this. They can find a free stream on the Internet faster than it takes to register for an ESPN+ account.
Curious to hear your thoughts on this topic, please provide your comments below.