In an interview with the Vancover Sun, the UFC has vowed to take legal action against both the companies broadcasting the pay-per-view events illegally across the web as well as the individuals who knowingly are watching these broadcast to avoid paying fees associated with the event.
UFC Preparing Piracy Crackdown
Zuffa head and casino magnet Lorenzo Fertitta recently testified in front of the US House Judiciary Committee during a referendum on internet piracy of sporting events. Fertitta shared on the record that his company monitored internet activity and uncovered 271 illegal streams of UFC 106, which aired on November 21, 2009. The streams had generated over 140,000 viewers.
Sites such as these have proliferated the web. One of the more visible players in this space is Justin.TV. Most of website are hosted in foreign companies, making it difficult for broadcast to bring legal suit in countries where copyright infringement is given a pass. These companies utilize blog boards to post comments and links to their websites that will air the fight illegally.
(At BenchwarmersUnited.com, it is our policy to delete comments promoting these illegal practices and we can share that we deleted more that 150 comment post over the last 2 weeks leading up to UFC 108 promoting internet piracy)
UFC President Dana White told the Vancouver Sun, “It’s going to be a battle, man, 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 them. When people start going to jail, people will stop doing it.”
The timing of UFC announcement that they plan to crackdown on internet piracy is interesting to say the least. The organization is struggling to generate the quality fight cards it once did, its top stars are aging and the UFC has been hit heavily by the injury bug.
While UFC boasts PPV sales in the six-digit neighborhood, most industry observers believe the numbers fall quite short of these figures given that UFC refuses to allow a third-party audit their books. Following a head-to-head competition in September between the Mayweather/Marquez boxing match and UFC 103, Golden Boy Promotions President Rich Schaefer challenged UFC to an audit of PPV sales after Dana White said the UFC would outsell them that night. The UFC declined the invitation as rumors circled that sales were less than 20% of the boxing card. That night’s headliner was a “contender” fight between soon-to-be-retired Rich Franklin and previously-UFC-banished Vitor Belfort,
More concerning are the inroads being made by other organizations in obtaining television deals that offer fans MMA fights for free or at less substantial costs. Strikeforce has struck a deal with Showtime and CBS to air its events. Bellator scored a major deal with FoxSports Network, Univision and NBC. And Dream and Sengoku have deals with HDNet to air their events. Free mixed martial arts is proliferating the television cable box.
The once mighty UFC is facing strong competition like never before and it has found itself in the middle of a struggling economy where consumers will choose free MMA rather than paying $50 per event, especially when the pay-per-view cards don’t carry a title fight. The announcement of fighting piracy comes about shortly after what most industry observers deemed a lackluster event at UFC 108.
Is the timing a coincidence. We shall know more as 2010 plays out and UFC is stuck with a second-tier TV broadcasting arrangement with Spike TV.
The big matchup between the lightweight champions of DREAM and Sengoku took place New Year’s Eve with Shinya Aoki recording a devastating technical submission via hammerlock against Mizuto Hirota. The fight was halted by the referee upon Hirota’s violent screaming after his arm was snapped broken. A video replay of the Dynamite – Power of Courage 2009 fight can be viewed below.
Generally considered the #2 and #3 lightweight fighters in the world, the fight was one of the most anticipated in Japan in years. Words between the fighters camps had heated up leading into the fight, with both fighters wanting to make a statement in the fight. Aoki would be the one that placed his stamp.
Right from the bell, Aoki attacked with a single leg that he switched off to an ankle pick for a takedown. He then worked up the body for a lock and was able to pin Hirota’s arm behind his back. Aoki then teed off with a barrage of punches in a full mount position. Hirota’s only defense was to move to his base to avoid the shots.
Aoki then ratched up the hammerlock to break Hirota’s base. Aoki was able to slip in a scissor body lock with the hammerlock and snap Hirota’s arm with the contrasting pressures. The arena was filled with Hirota’s shriek of pain as the referee jumped in. Aoki then stood over top of the fallen fighter, delivering the middle finger to the disabled Hirota. The crowd reigned down boos on Aoki and he then turned his middle finger to the arena.
The actions of Aoki were clearly intentional and aimed at injuring Hirota. His dominant display was diminished by his display of poor sportsmanship after the serious injury. Aoki is clearly amped up by the negative catcalls from the UFC and he intended to send a message to Dana White and B.J. Penn.
Message heard and received.
Is the UFC ready to co-promote this one or will it continue to shield the UFC fighters from true tests? We’ll find out in 2010.
UFC 107 has come and gone, finalizing a less than exciting year for the leading mixed martial arts promotion. Racked with injuries, fighter defections, controversial results and upstart promotional competition from Strikeforce and Bellator, the year couldn’t have ended sooner for Zuffa and its President Dana White. UFC enters 2010 in a very weird position and last night’s awful mismatch between BJ Penn and Diego Sanchez personifies the problem.
The UFC, outside of its Light Heavyweight division really doesn’t have one marketable championship fight any time in the near future. Its champions BJ Penn, George St. Pierre, Anderson Silva and Brock Lesnar really don’t have any competitive fights on the horizon. These are the headline fighters of the organization and the UFC basically has nobody of quality for them to fight.
BJ Penn’s destruction of Diego Sanchez last night was the prime example. Dana White gave us the Vince McMahon sale that Diego Sanchez was the unquestioned second best lightweight fighter in the world and that Penn was going to get his first real test. Sanchez told us he was going to storm across the cage, attack Penn like nobody has before and take him down to the mat for a beating.
None of this transpired.
Instead, Penn manhandled Sanchez like a rag doll and displayed just how weak the talent level is in the UFC at lightweight. Sanchez, the former TUF 1 Champion, displayed no real martial arts skills. His fighting approach that got his the championhsip fight invite was to bullrush, takedown and pound. Last night, the talented Penn nullified these basic skills, fended off every weak takedown attempt and handed out one of the most brutal beatings ever seen in the cage. So if Sanchez really was #2 as Dana White told us, Penn is out of competitors to fight under the UFC banner.
This leads us to the problem with the UFC…its refusal to cross promote. What killed boxing were promoters that overprotected their fighters, controlled the matchups and didn’t deliver the fights people demanded to see. Multiple title holders from different organizations that were not making the fights to protect and hold their crowns. Dana White is displaying his Napoleanistic complex and is dooming the sport in front of our eyes.
Fans are calling for the UFC to sign new top lightweight fighters. The bloom is off the rose. The fans will only drink so much kool-aid. People have figured out that they are not being served shinola now.
Every forum board last night online had discussion threads discussing what fight matchups would look like for Penn with all the great lightweights that are not fighting at UFC. Even commentator Joe Rogan called for it during the broadcast, something I am sure he will get admonished for by Zuffa. The UFC can make these matchups and they don’t have to sign anybody.
Penn is in the driver seat now to help take MMA mainstream. He can push UFC to start cross-promoting to make the biggest fights for him or threaten to bolt to another promotion that will do so. He has reached the point in his career where he controls his destiny, not the UFC.
The fights that matter for Penn which hold the greatest monetary take for him reside with fighters in other organizations. The fans don’t want to see him maul another second-rate UFC fighter. They want to see him fight Dream’s Shinya Aoki, Tatsuya Kawajiri or Joachim Hansen. They want to see him square off against Bellator’s Eddie Alvarez or Jorge Masvidal. Or perhaps throw him in the cage with Sengoku’s Mizuto Hirota. These are the fights that fans want to see, not matchups against an overrated 10 loss fighter like Joe Stevenson or a wrestler with no martial arts skills like Gray Maynard.
As this year comes to end, UFC needs to make some big decisions on how it runs its business and its impact on the sport as a whole. The WWE coattails that have been ridden thus far need to be cut and the UFC needs to recognize it is a promotion, not a league or “sports entertainment”. The sooner this happens the better.
