ABU DHABI – Before UFC 257, Dana White sent a clear message to the illegal pay-per-view streamers: The UFC is coming for them.
Days before Saturday’s event, White revealed that the promotion, with the help of police officers, had been zoning on a particular streamer. All that person needed to do was launch the UFC 257 broadcast live and it would have repercussions.
However, at the UFC 257 post-fight press conference, White said that no action was necessary, as the stream was never released. In the main event, Dustin Poirier defeated Conor McGregor with a technical knockout in the second round in a light rematch.
“Let me tell you this story,” White told MMA Junkie. “You asked me at the press conference, right? I basically said, ‘This is what will happen.’ I told you that we found the guy and we were looking at him. He released a statement that night. He said: ‘I will no longer be broadcasting McGregor vs. Poirier, but I will show you how to buy it legally. ‘ He released this huge statement and all of his streaming service was deleted and disappeared. It’s gone. “
Hunting does not stop this lone individual, according to White. From now on, the UFC will be focusing on more illegal streamers in an effort to limit pay-per-view piracy.
“One down and one load (expletive) to go,” said White. “I’m ready. At each event, I go after one of these guys – or more. We’ll see. And who are you, guy who did this? Nice move. We had you, buddy. I don’t know if he knew anything or what , but we had you. All you had to do was open that stream and you would be in trouble. So it did the right thing. “
White said he expects UFC 257 to be among the two best pay-per-view events of all time in the promotion.
UFC 257 took place on Saturday at the Etihad Arena on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. The main card was broadcast on ESPN + pay-per-view after the preliminaries on ESPN / ESPN +.