Technical points plagued UFC 313 this previous Saturday evening as followers and fighters voiced their frustrations whereas trying to buy the pay-per-view via ESPN+.
Social media exploded after potential viewers realized they have been unable to look at the occasion headlined by Magomed Ankalaev’s unanimous determination win over Alex Pereira.
Whereas UFC declined to touch upon the state of affairs, sources informed MMA Preventing that executives have been “livid” over the state of affairs, particularly with pay-per-view nonetheless serving as one of many key monetary drivers for the corporate.
UFC CEO Dana White briefly addressed the issues through the UFC 313 post-fight press convention, though on the time he didn’t have any solutions about why the technical points occurred.
“Oh yeah, it made it to me,” White responded. “They have been having issues shopping for it on ESPN+. I don’t know what occurred with their platform tonight. There have been a whole lot of pissed-off individuals.”
ESPN issued an announcement to MMA Preventing relating to the UFC 313 pay-per-view and the indignant prospects lashing out attributable to points with each buying and watching the occasion via the streaming platform.
“Sadly, we skilled a technical difficulty that impacted purchases of the UFC PPV on ESPN+ shortly after 10pm ET,” ESPN stated within the assertion. “Our groups recognized and resolved the difficulty, restoring full performance forward of the primary occasion. We apologize for the inconvenience and are taking steps to make sure a greater expertise sooner or later.”
On Sunday, the New York Instances reported that ESPN deliberate to make the UFC 313 card accessible to ESPN+ subscribers at no further cost, though that doesn’t clear up the issue of customers who have been unable to look at the occasion because it occurred reside.
That is the second week in a row the place streaming points have plagued Disney-owned manufacturers after there have been complaints over viewing the 2025 Academy Awards, which aired on Hulu. Now ESPN+ has been hit with the problems surrounding UFC 313 and the timing couldn’t be worse.
The UFC is presently in an unique negotiating interval with ESPN over the corporate’s broadcast rights deal, which expires on the finish of 2025. The unique negotiating interval runs via April 15 after which UFC can begin fielding presents from different potential suitors. In 2018, the promotion signed with ESPN on a seven-year deal that additionally included PPV broadcasts, which can be found to buy completely via ESPN+.
Sadly, customers have regularly complained about technical points plaguing the streaming service all through the time UFC has been airing occasions on ESPN. That might spell dangerous information for ESPN because the sports-specific community makes an attempt to carry onto the UFC, which was one of many essential sights for ESPN+ when the streaming service first launched.
There are not any scarcity of potential broadcast companions vying for the UFC’s rights, particularly at a time when the promotion is hotter than ever in the case of ticket gross sales, sponsorships and merchandising. Previous to signing a take care of ESPN in 2018, the UFC was very near inking a contract with Amazon Prime Video and different gamers like Netflix might probably get into the bidding to land the precious broadcast rights after the unique negotiating window expires on April 15.
Whereas key executives like TKO Group Holdings president and chief working officer Mark Shapiro have praised the working relationship with ESPN up to now, the technical points that successfully doomed UFC 313 might have far reaching penalties.
