Mixed martial arts events including the UFC are constantly streamed live through various websites. Other websites provide full fight videos immediately after the events, which allows fight fans to watch their favorite bouts. Those that take the opportunity to watch the bouts online either decided not to purchase the pay-per-view event or they were just too busy at the time of the event. UFC President Dana White has decided to put an end to this piracy by taking legal action.
What pissed off Dana White the most was finding out that a pub by the name of “The Draft” allowed someone to connect a laptop to their television sets in order to stream the UFC 104 ‘Machida vs. Shogun’ event. Due to the illegal streaming for their customers, owner Derek Brady may be forced to pay $640,000 USD and other fees if found guilty.
From Dana White:
“The piracy of live sporting events is illegal, it kills jobs, and it threatens the expansion of US based companies. The UFC is potentially losing millions of dollars a year from piracy…When people start going to jail, people will stop doing it. It’s going to be a battle, man. It’s going to be a battle, but I’m ready to (expletive) fight. We’re gonna go after them, we’re gonna go after them hard, and we’re gonna hurt ‘em. (Piracy) hasn’t cost us anything compared to what it’s going to cost us to go after these guys. It’s gonna cost us a lot of money, but guess what—it’s gonna cost them a lot of money. It’s gonna get to the point where it’s like, you know what, (expletive) it, maybe we shouldn’t pirate MMA any more. These websites … you got these websites like Justin.tv, and they pirate all kinds of things. They play all kinds of (expletive) on there. Well, we’re gonna make it where it’s not worth it to put UFC events up on the website.”
