Pay-Per-View pirates of UFC events may have something new to worry about in 2021.
After UFC president Dana White addressed a pirate who commented on one of his Instagram posts earlier this year, White was recently asked by The Mac Life about what he meant by that comment where he basically warned pirates that he ‘has a surprise’ for them this year.
“We have been one of the leagues that has 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, and they cry and they beg not to be prosecuted. So we just overcame a huge hurdle in the piracy world, and we’re gonna catch some of these guys in 2021.”
White had another story of a heckler in his Instagram comments that’s running a pirating scam.
“There’s a guy right now, if you go through my instagram and look on all the comments, theres a guy saying ‘direct message me if you want to get the fight this weekend.’ He’s stealing peoples information,” White said. “He’s taking money from your bank and charging your credit card. These guys are f*cking scumbag criminals. Don’t listen to them.”
In 2011 it was estimated that piracy cost the UFC somewhere in the ball park of around $30 million per year. With piracy being one of those industries that can never really go away fully, White just wants to do his part in deterring the act of pirating his PPV events as much as possible. The UFC increased their cost of a PPV from $64.99 in 2020 to $69.99 in 2021.
“They’re never all gonna go away,” White said. “I mean they’re never all gonna go away. They’re gonna be out there. I mean 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. I just want to catch a few. You can’t shut the whole thing down – that piracy industry is gonna go on forever. Let me catch a few, and watch what happens. Oh it’s comin’ they think they’re slick and they think they’re whatever. Same thing was going on in homes and in bars, and we caught a lot of people.”
