Dana White began 2021 with a warning to those who bootleg online broadcasts of UFC fights. Without giving out anything specific, the UFC president simply said he has a “surprise” waiting for those involved in such activities.
White recently spoke to The Mac Life to double down on his fight against online piracy.
“We’ve been one of the leagues that have been so proactive on piracy,” White said. “I love how cool and tough these guys act on social media because let me tell you what, we’ve caught a lot of people. Let me tell you what they do: they cry. They cry and they beg not to be prosecuted and all this other stuff.
“We just overcame a huge hurdle in the piracy world and we’re going to catch some of these guys in 2021 and I look forward to the crying and the begging. We’ll see how tough they are when they get caught.”
Apart from the unauthorized distribution of his product, White’s other big concern is people giving out personal information, only to get scammed and stolen from.
“So if you go through my Instagram and go through all the comments, there’s a guy saying ‘DM me if you want to get the fight this weekend.’ He’s stealing people’s information,” White said. “People that are DMing him, he’s stealing their information.
“He’s taking your money from your bank and he’s charging your credit card. These guys are f—king scumbag criminals.
“They’re never all going to go away. They’re going to be out there, and we’re not trying to get rid of all of them. I just want to catch a few. That’s all I’m looking for. You can’t shut the whole thing down, that piracy industry is going to go on forever. Let me catch a few and watch what happens — and I will, oh it’s coming.”
The UFC could expect more cases of piracy this year, especially after ESPN decided to raise PPV prices to $69.99. These new rates will begin with UFC 257.
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