UFC president Dana White once again took aim at those who decide to illegally watch pay-per-view events.
Earlier this year, White told Logan Paul on the “IMPAULSIVE” podcast that the promotion had caught and prosecuted multiple stream pirates, spending “millions of dollars” in the process.
When the UFC president was featured in a GQ Sports YouTube video a few days back, he was asked by a fight fan: “Why is Dana so concerned about pirated streams? Who cares.”
The question set off an impassioned answer from the UFC president.
“I care, dummy,” White responded, raising his hand. “That’s how everybody makes their money. You’re b****** about fighters not making enough money, they get a piece of the pay-per-view. People who steal it are stealing from us and them, and what happens to people who steal? You get f****** smashed and you go to jail. That’s what happens to you.
“And I make sure that we get you. Everybody was f****** laughing at me when I was talking about this. We caught a lot of people. People weren’t laughing when they got caught. You got a lot of people begging me not to prosecute them. Stealing is stealing.”
White Said He Received a Death Threat After Catching
While speaking with Paul, White said that he had caught certain bars streaming his events illegally.
“We caught a lot of people and prosecuted people for it. It’s a whole ‘nother f****** ballgame,” White said via Bloody Elbow. “(One) guy’s calling me up, crying, begging me not to do it. And these were guys that were doing it in bars. Their bars were stealing.”
And according to the UFC president, a bar owner he “put out of business” for piracy threatened his life.
“This is a true story,” he continued. “(We were in) Memphis, Tennessee, and we were doing Lookin’ For a Fight,” White recounted. “We were doing this wrestling thing and apparently, a guy on that street, I put his bar out of business. And they were threatening that if I walked out, they were gonna shoot me.
“If I walked out and did this f****** skit we’re gonna do for Lookin’ For a Fight, they were gonna shoot me.”
White also said that with technology-inclined fight fans, the UFC must “stay persistent” to combat illegal streaming.
“The kids are way ahead of it,” he said. “You have to be persistent, and you really have to go after people. You can put that thing on the f****** TV that says ‘If you get caught pirating this event…’ it’s a different story when you f****** get caught.”
Next UFC Pay-Per-View Goes Down on August 20
The promotion’s next pay-per-view event is UFC 278, and it’ll air on August 20 at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah. The card is headlined by the welterweight title clash featuring reigning king Kamaru Usman and top-ranked contender Leon Edwards.
In the night’s co-main event, former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold will look to reinsert himself at the top of 185 pounds when he takes on Paulo Costa.
And a high-stakes bantamweight bout will go down on the main card between former 145-pound champion Jose Aldo and rising star Merab Dvalishvili.
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Fans Will Get ‘F****** Smashed’ if They ‘Steal’ From UFC, Dana White Says