The UFC surprised everyone last week when it was announced that they would be increasing the pay-per-view prices to $74.99. Dana White was recently asked about the increase during the latest event's post-fight press conference.
There was a lot of backlash and many were blaming the UFC for the increase in prices. Video's even surfaced of Dana White saying he would never increase the PPV price. As it turns out, it's not even up to him.
“We don’t have any say in that,” White told MMA Junkie post-fight at Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 32 in Las Vegas. “We gave the pay-per-views to ESPN, so yeah, that’s their decision. You know how I feel about that stuff. I don’t love when prices get raised, but it’s not my decision. It’s theirs.”
It is now up to ESPN as they are broadcast partners and they have control of the PPVs. The UFC started working with them in January and there were many changes.
The UFC now has a certain number of events they need to put on in order to fulfill their commitment to ESPN. This has led to lower quality cards in some respects and many have noticed the difference.
Dana White normally finds himself in the line of fire whenever something controversial happens with the UFC. In this case, the blame goes to ESPN.
There's a lot of backlash from UFC fans because of how expensive it is to be a fan of the sport. This also includes paying for ESPN+ every month.
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