Last year, during UFC 304 fans tuning in to see hard-hitting octagon action were left bemused. From audio issues to black screens, the broadcast on ESPN+ was a complete shambles. At one point graphic of retired NFL Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger popped up three times, and at the start of the final round of the Gregory Rodrigues vs. Christian Leeroy Duncan fight, ESPN+ went down for 30 seconds. In the post-fight presser, Dana White quipped “How nutty is that?” and said it was an ESPN issue. Well, this time around as UFC’s most anticipated card of the year got underway, ESPN once again let the fans down, with even UFC veterans expressing their frustration with broadcasting issues.

UFC 313 didn’t get off to an auspicious start. With less than three hours from the start, news filtered in that two fights on the card, including a heavyweight clash, have been canceled. Curtis Blaydes was forced off the card due to an illness ahead of his fight vs. Rizvan Kuniev. The featherweight fight between John Castaneda and Chris Gutierrez was also called off after Casteneda also withdrew due to an illness. This delayed the start of the event by almost an hour, leaving fans disgruntled. However, once the pay-per-view got underway, familiar failings awaited Dana White and the fans. 

On a night when Alex Pereira is scheduled to defend his title against Magomed Ankalaev, fans were left frustrated as many were unable to buy the pay-per-view, and the lucky ones who managed to get in ran into other issues, unable to watch the event. Notably, UFC’s current broadcast deal with ESPN runs through 2025. They struck a five-year $1.5 billion deal for domestic broadcast rights starting in 2019. Shortly afterward, the parties agreed to an extension for two years and added pay-per-view broadcasts to the contract.

Last year, it was revealed that many other platforms including Amazon were interested in working with UFC, before their extension with ESPN. But by the looks of it, White and Co. could do well to keep an open mind once contract talks over a new deal begin. It is one thing when fans online are calling you out over broadcasting issues, but when fighters from your own promotion are complaining about poor service, that is not a good look at all.

UFC bantamweight Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera was left agitated and made a bunch of posts on X highlighting his frustration.

He wrote, “Just bought the ppv and can’t see ?????? Wtfffffffff.” Moments later, he tweeted again, writing, “Come the f**k on Espn.” nearly half an hour later, Vera was still unable to catch any action. He noted, “Still can’t watch fuuuuuuuuuuck.” Vera was not the only UFC fighter unhappy with ESPN, with others running into the same issue.

The last time it happened at UFC 304, White told the media, “I guess ESPN was having all kinds of problems tonight, technically, with audio and graphics and NFL graphics were popping up, and I heard about it, but I don’t know why.”

White made sure to emphasize that the UFC itself wasn’t responsible. That might be true, but when fans pay the UFC for a product and that product fails, they aren’t pointing fingers only at ESPN. With UFC 313 suffering the same fate, the patience of the MMA community is wearing thin with even fighters calling out ESPN.

Frankie Edgar claims he was charged “twice” as ESPN broadcast woes hit UFC 313

Veteran fighter Frankie Edgar was also among those who openly called out the network for its poor service. He tweeted, “Hey @espn plus you charged my card twice for #UFC313 put I can’t get it playing, get your s**t in order let’s goooo!” 

UFC events are available to ESPN+ subscribers for $119.99 for the entire year, while you can also purchase a monthly subscription to ESPN+ for $11.99. The PPV is available for an additional cost of $79.99. It seems Edgar has for now lost out on some good money while trying to watch UFC’s latest PPV offering.

Brendan Schaub also wasted no time pointing out the issue, and it set the stage for the general sentiments of the rest of the MMA sphere. If a former UFC fighter-turned-analyst couldn’t access the event, it was clear something had gone horribly wrong. “Anyone else having UFC 313 PPV issues? ESPN system seems to be down,” Schaub tweeted.

One fan took a creative approach to the PPV disaster and referenced Marlon Vera’s recent viral skit. Vera reportedly staged a fake robbery attempt in his driveway, drawing mixed reactions from fans. Some bought into the dramatic video, while others called it out as scripted. Well, this fan used it as a way to point out that Dana White’s PPV failure might actually be a “robbery” according to them! 

“That’s twice in a week now there’s been an attempt at robbery on you,” a fan wrote in response to Vera’s tweet about ESPN’s broadcasting issues.

Meanwhile, fighter Cody Durden was left red-faced as well. He tweeted, “I’m so disappointed. House full of people and we can’t order the fights. It’s not working for some reason.”

Another fan took a jab at the UFC and Dana White’s business model, highlighting an interesting point, shouldn’t fighters, the very people putting on the show, have guaranteed access? Fans paying full price for a faulty service is bad enough, but fighters struggling to watch their own sport? That’s a different level of irony.

“I can’t buy it either also seems like fighters should get employee discount,” they noted.

The UFC CEO often boasts about record-breaking revenues, but when technical failures like this happen, refunds rarely come up in conversation. As such, this fan suggested that fighters shouldn’t have to pay for PPVs and if they can’t even watch the stream, they should be refunded. They wrote, “Ask a refund to King Dana… As an UFC fighter, this should come free for life.”

To wrap things up, with fighters like Marlon Vera struggling to watch their own sport and analysts like Brendan Schaub sounding the alarm, the frustration is no longer just a fan problem. With UFC 313 following in the disastrous footsteps of UFC 304, patience is seemingly running on fumes within the MMA sphere. Do you think Dana White and the UFC will address these issues moving forward? The UFC 313 post-presser might be interesting.