Last Saturday night, UFC 313 was marred by technical problems as fans and fighters expressed their frustration with purchasing the pay-per-view through ESPN+.
Social media was flooded with complaints from viewers who couldn’t watch the main event, where Magomed Ankalaev defeated Alex Pereira by unanimous decision.
Sources within MMA Fighting reported that UFC executives were very upset about the situation, especially since pay-per-view is a major source of revenue for the company, although UFC declined to officially comment.
UFC CEO Dana White briefly mentioned the problems at the UFC 313 post-fight press conference, admitting he didn’t know the cause of the technical issues at that time.
White acknowledged the situation, stating that people were having trouble buying the event on ESPN+ and he was unsure what happened with their platform that night, noting many people were angry.
ESPN released a statement to MMA Fighting addressing the UFC 313 pay-per-view issues and the customer anger resulting from problems purchasing and watching the event on their streaming service.
ESPN stated they experienced a technical issue affecting UFC PPV purchases on ESPN+ shortly after 10pm ET. They claimed their teams identified and fixed the problem, restoring full service before the main event. ESPN apologized for the inconvenience and said they are taking steps to improve future experiences.
The New York Times reported on Sunday that ESPN planned to offer the UFC 313 event to ESPN+ subscribers for free as a replay, but this doesn’t resolve the issue for those who missed the live event.
This is the second consecutive week of streaming problems for Disney-owned services, following complaints about viewing the 2025 Academy Awards on Hulu. Now, ESPN+ has faced similar issues with UFC 313, at a particularly inopportune moment.
UFC is currently in an exclusive negotiation period with ESPN regarding broadcast rights, which end in 2025. After April 15, UFC can consider offers from other potential broadcasters. Their current deal with ESPN, signed in 2018, includes PPV broadcasts exclusively on ESPN+.
Users have frequently complained about technical issues on ESPN+ during UFC events. This could be negative for ESPN as they try to retain UFC, a key attraction for ESPN+ since its launch.
Many broadcasters are interested in UFC rights, especially as the promotion’s popularity grows in ticket sales, sponsorships, and merchandise. Before the 2018 ESPN deal, UFC was close to signing with Amazon Prime Video, and Netflix could also bid after April 15.
While TKO Group Holdings executive Mark Shapiro has previously praised the ESPN partnership, the technical problems that significantly impacted UFC 313 could have serious consequences for their relationship.
