The UFC CEO Dana White has always been blunt about a few things. One such thing is the illegal streaming of the UFC pay-per-view events. Interestingly, in a recent interview session, Saudi Delegate Turki Alalshikh discussed a remedy to combat piracy. However, the UFC CEO doesn’t comply with that, as he mentioned the brutal way of brushing off piracy.
Dana White has been vocal about his opposition to illegal streaming and piracy. He has warned pirated websites multiple times to stop illegally streaming UFC PPVs. On one occasion, he even issued a stern warning to an illegal streamer and threatened to prosecute them. At a press conference, White recently reiterated his strong stance against illegal streaming.
Trust me we know exactly how to combat piracy. I won’t tell you extensively what we do every event, but we go after piracy hard. And you saw a few years ago we started prosecuting people. That’s how you combat piracy. Start fu*king prosecuting people for stealing. There you go.
Dana White via Dana White Contender Series presser
According to Dana White, piracy is causing a decrease in fighter pay. Pirated websites are taking a large portion of the UFC’s estimated pay-per-view earnings. This is one of the reasons why the UFC CEO feels they should be prosecuted. However, Saudi Delegate Turki Alalshikh holds a different view.
Alalshikh has become an influential figure in the boxing community and is keen on promoting exciting boxing matches. While involved in the community, he has noticed the detrimental impact of illegal streaming of PPV events. Nevertheless, Alalshikh has developed a plan to address this issue.
His Excellency Turki Alalshikh has declared that he wants to lower boxing PPV prices to £20 in the UK/$20 worldwide and said the Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol PPV will be £15 UK/$15 worldwide on Oct 12th: “People [watch] illegally because the price is high. This is in the…
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) September 2, 2024
Turki Alalshikh has announced that he wants to lower the boxing PPV prices. He believes that the high prices of watching an event are the core reason people look for alternatives. Not only that, Alalshikh also stated that with this change, he can increase the fanbase for boxing.
Interestingly, this comes after several big boxing events suffered losses due to illegal streaming. One such boxing event was the Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk fight card back in May 2024. It is safe to say the monumental undisputed heavyweight title showdown lost a lot of money.
The fight between Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk in May 2024 was between two of the most dominant heavyweights in boxing. The pre-fight buildup attracted massive attention to the event. However, as reported by Daily Mail, close to 20 million people watched the fight through illegal streams.
Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk (Image via X)Even though Alalshikh was quite happy with the reach and impressions, these pirated websites have somehow hampered the PPV buys. Interestingly, the PPV prices were around £25 for the Usyk vs. Fury fight, and the boxing fans didn’t want to pay that price. To tackle that issue, Alalshikh has confirmed that the PPV for the upcoming Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol will only be £15 UK/ $15 worldwide.
20 MILLION people illegally streamed Oleksandr Usyk’s historic undisputed heavyweight win over Tyson Fury costing rights holders £95m – with 18 per cent from the UK https://t.co/KlhcBxbkmC
— Mail Sport (@MailSport) May 21, 2024
Both Dana White and Turki Alalshikh have chosen different approaches to address the increasing problem of illegal streaming. Alalshikh’s method seems reasonable at the moment, whereas White’s method might be time consuming with legal fees involved. It will be interesting to see which approach delivers early results and effectively solves the issue once and for all.
