Dana White believes fans have been "f***ing smashed" for pirating UFC streams of the promotion's pay-per-view events.
White has led a crusade on behalf of his promotion as president of the UFC in a bid to crack down on the illegal streaming of UFC events that are held on pay-per-view. Fans are legally able to watch the events on BT Sport in the UK as part of a standard subscription or on ESPN+ in the US where fans are also required to pay for any pay-per-view beyond the traditional fight night.
Fans in the UK are often only made to pay extra for significant fights which include any of UFC superstar Conor McGregor who is yet to fight since his pay-per-view outing against Dustin Poirier last July. White has confirmed he is continuing to be concerned by fans who "steal" from the fighters by streaming the events.
"I care about [the pay-per-views] dummy," White replied when questioned by a fan about illegal streaming in an interview with GQ. "That's how everybody makes their money. You're b****ing about fighters not making enough money - they get a piece of the pay-per-view revenue. People who steal it are stealing it from us and them.
"And what happens to people who steal? You get f***ing smashed and you go to jail that is what happens to you, and I make sure that we get you. Everybody was f***ing laughing when I was talking about this but we caught a lot of people. People weren't laughing when they got caught, and I had a lot of people begging me not to prosecute them but stealing is stealing."
White has consistently addressed the rise of illegal streaming during his continued time running as president of the UFC, and wants to make an example of those who steal from him. This included one fan who had publicly stated his plan to stream the fight in a social media jibe at White, in which the kingpin decided he would go after this one offender.
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“We got one. We got him,” White said when confronted by a fan on social media. “We’re watching this guy right now. All you have to do is turn it on Saturday, and we got you, f*****. I can’t wait. Turn it on Saturday, streamers, and see what happens.”
The UFC's hard-nosed stance is understood to be having a significant impact on wiping out illegal streams, with White confirming several offenders have been caught. White has claimed that the promotion have spent lots of money on the crackdown.
“We’ve been working on piracy since day one. It’s one of the things we focused on," he said. “It’s an important thing to stop in this business, so we’ve spent tonnes of money on this stuff. We just got some real important legislature done on piracy this year, these guys are bad guys."
