Pettis has defend his UFC title already / Watching UFC in UK has never been worse

I hate how they seem to have employed a team of uneducated people to run the BT Sport service in the UK.

This new deal with BT Sport was supposed to be a breath of fresh air for broadcasting in the UK but nothing has changed, not even this "exclusive UFC demand" functions properly - it takes them 4-5 days to upload a replay of Ultimate Fighter onto the Online player.
They don't re-upload any Prelims from any PPV or fight night shows, which often has great fights.
Programming is terrible, recently they've done a broadcast dedicated to Anthony Pettis and according to the shows writers:

"A profile of American fighter Anthony 'Showtime' Pettis, who has defended his title of UFC Lightweight Champion on a number of occasions since it merged with the WEC crown in 2011"

Mate e e e, people say the BT Sport was going to help with mainstream and attract new fans, Viacom recently signed Channel Five in the UK and Cage Warriors will be on Channel Four, yet to watch the UFC today nothing has actually changed since the ESPN deal as you "have to own the BT Sport package" and you will still need to record the live shows (at 3am in morning usually) to be able to watch shows in the UK, so nothing whatsoever has been improved since the ESPN days as I had to record all shows back then.

..and for those suggesting I get Fight Pass, for UK people that includes literally just Fight Pass events and Ultimate Fighter shows, Ultimate Fighter which is aired on Free TV in America right? and Fight Pass events that have just a 4-fight main card, that worth paying for each month?

In the UK we don't get any Fox Sports, Fox or PPV shows on Fight Pass for Broadcast restriction reasons, can't even pay for the PPV replays until a month or so after it's happened because of:

"Due to broadcast restrictions, this video is not available in your region. Please check your local listings for viewing information.

This event is currently blacked out in UK"

Sorry for the epic rant but for the last 5 months I've hated having to watch replays of events I know the results of, can't the UFC just offer fans worldwide a Online Player that allows everyone to watch event/show/fight I couldn't care about the money.
At the end of the day it makes no difference cause I'm paying

 

I thought once you beat a champion you automatically take all his title defenses?

 

Aww, poor baby, did reading that ruin MMA for you?

 

Most recent event I can watch replay of by using Fight Pass is:

Fight Night Nelson vs Nog in Abu Dhabi from April 11

And I have to pay

 

what's MMA got to do with this?

 

There's always this

 

you are crazy if you dont think BTSport is better than ESPN was, they at least have their own UFC programming. we are also getting more European shows that are specifically for our market. so chill out

 

I have Bt Sport just for the events, so I don't really have any problems really. Anything else on top is just a bonus.

Fight pass is a waste of money if you plan on using it to see events live/on delay, because Bt Sport show nearly every single one.

 

It's odd because BT Sport has a couple of people who really understand MMA (Gareth A Davies, like him or not, has been on this game for a long time, and Simon Head on the online side) but really try to make it work with journalists with...less of an MMA background, let's just say.

 

This is very serious! You should stop posting immediately, get a degree in broadcasting, get a job with BT, work your way up the corporate ladder for several years and fix this atrocity!

 

Kid we'd all like to pay

 

I am happy with BT sports, it's free with my net, so it's all gravy baby

 

Don't compare the two, or if you can't fathom how those companies work on different models, consider WWE stock tanking due to this move.

 

UFC isn't a publicly traded company so a stock comparison isn't fair to make.

The new TV deal tanked the stock, but the deal wasn't bad. The WWE Network not hitting 1 Million subscribers added to it, but they still hit 700,000.

But if you want to make a comparison on "models":

Both are promotions that generate revenue through the following:

• PPV events centered around two draws.
• Live gate from events.
• AD revenue from weekly television events.
• Merchandising.
• A subscription based an on-demand video service.

I have both, the pro wrestling network gives me every PPV included in my subscription.
The Fight Pass gives me sporatic global events.

I am getting more satisfaction out of the pro wrestling service, and I haven't even watched that sort of thing in decades, but they really offer a superior service to the UFC's Fight Pass, and they are comparable in price.

 

Got a degree 7 years ago
Work for John Lewis
It is an atrocity! Thank god someone agrees
I'm 27, weigh 174lbs and own a house (well paying it off for the rest of my existence :icon_lol, why do people keep calling me kid?

oh wait I'm posting on internetz must decrease age by 10 years

 

Like I said....we'd all love to pay 6 months in advance to see the same 10 or so guys on every PPV while letting the UFC have creative control over who wins and loses.

But it's clearly apples to oranges

 

This guy hit the spot the reply I was looking for.

I can't even watch the albuquerque prelims on Fight Pass, Fight Pass does nothing for people in the UK, it's either recording the shows on BT Sports or nothing.

BT Sport is only free for BT customers until next August, then it will be

 

I think it is less clear than you think, which is why the comparison between Pro Boxing/Pro Wrestling/Pro MMA PPV buys is a reoccurring feature in some of the longest running journalism of this sport and you see cross-over between boxing, wrestling, and MMA every year.

Both promotions really rely on four big PPV purchases a year, the rest is filler.

In MMA the same 10 or so guys actually sell the PPVs; we're kidding ourselves if we claim anyone other than GSP and Chael Sonnen pulled consistent PPV numbers for the UFC between 2011 and 2013... although consistent champions such as Jon Jones are starting to gainmore traction... but GSP and Anderson Silva are not going to be reliable PPV draws over the next few years.

I'm not talking out of my rear; I've been a credentialed MMA journalist (the ill-fated Iron Life Magazine and Kakutougi Info Japanese-publication) with a background in media production for over a decade... so it is sort of my job to know this business.

Now that TUF: Brazil III is over, I am cancelling my Fight Pass subscription.
They sold me on a fight between Wanderlei and Chael and kept me watching, but now that it is over there is no reason to keep it.

Since the Pro Wrestling is a pyro-filled soap opera padded with historical and documentary themed production, they have managed to keep me paying.