UFC 304 UK fans upset at event start times. Aspinall agrees

[Pechan]

If it was in Saudi Arabia or the UAE it would be a desirable time for the locals.

Yep, Brits letting the UFC bitch them around.

 

[justdangerous]

greedy ass ufc. don't make it a ppv, put it on espn in the middle of the day. everyone wins- the way they have it now ALL fans lose. US gotta pay, UK get shitty time

 

[RockyLockridge]

I agree, I wish fights were local time prime time.

 

[Lights Out 101]

Australian fans rejoice - we get to watch a UK card at a normal time for once.

 

[ILove4MinutesHyuna]

UFC is bigger than soccer but we have to start the event in your country at a shitty hour to make sure in America we get our 500k PPV buys.

 

[FreedomCricket]

PPVs start too late in the US.

I can imagine having to stay awake until 2 or 3am to watch.

 

[Mr Dilkington]

Nothing can make a difference, unless the fighters refused to fight at that time and turned down the fights offered. But that isn't going to happen.

We've seen tickets sell regardless of the price elsewhere and I'm sure there will be enough people willing to stay up late in the UK and in Europe to fill 20,000.

ESPN will pay them a fat fee for the PPV. TNT (was BT sport) might not be happy as the broadcast partner as if it was on at a UK time they'd be able to sell it PPV themselves.

In the UFC eyes it will be a success regardless of the time.

The only fly in the ointment would be if the arena is still having issues.

Imagine them cancelling an event as fans are queuing outside like they did with some of the music concerts this week. Dana would turn purple.

 

[shunyata]

Hold that shit Europe. America still claiming victories over you to this day.

I use to watch Pride PPV’s at like 5-7am. Just conform or record.

A man of culture.

Other motherfuckers out here acting like the take at the gate is anywhere near the take from north american ppv sales.

Don't UK fans get the card on cable sports without paying for ppv? Plus there's a slight population difference.

 

[Doctor Grudge]

Hasn't it always been like this though when they have cards in Europe? UFC 75, UFC 120, UFC 122 etc.

Maybe, but those cards you're referencing happened 15+ years ago. One might figure that they'd treat the European cards differently by now.

 

[bbandito925]

I agree too, this is bs for European fans. We only got a few cards yearly and now they fuck the time for this one too.

Wasn’t the last Singapore card also time wise shitty for the local crowd?

How do they choose the events and locations, where the crowd who buys the overpriced tickets to the arena, is in a worse position than the PPV buying audience?

who tf cares about the poor/ broke UK fans or poor/ broke European countries?

these guys already get PPV for dirt cheap, probably because the people can't afford it considering their annual salaries are a joke in Europe.
barely anyone in Europe buys it.


why should we suffer just so A TINY NUMBER of poor/ broke UK fans can watch it at their prefferred time?

the UFC is literally an American company.

You never find Americans crying about the time Cage Warriors starts, why tf do you guys think you have any right to dictate when our events starts?

 

[TGArthur]

It's not actually the UFCs call.

ESPN gets final say on when PPVs take place because they are the one that have broadcasting rights.

They allow for the UFC to put on 2 PPVs a year that arent on USA prime time. And they already allocated both for 2024. Perth and Abu Dhabi.

So in this case making UFC Manchester a numbered card and a PPV is what is causing it to take place during USA prime time. If it was a fight night they could put it on BST, but then they wouldn't have stacked the card with multiple title fights.

That's crazy UFC would agree for ESPN to have that much control especially after they originally hated them in the past, but I guess at the end of the day if it helps their bottom line, they'll do what they say.

 

[Doctor Grudge]

That's crazy UFC would agree for ESPN to have that much control especially after they originally hated them in the past, but I guess at the end of the day if it helps their bottom line, they'll do what they say.

The prelims are on ESPN, so of course ESPN will have to have a say over that. Pretty much any company worth having the UFC on would demand somethings similar.

 

[Daniel_LaRusso]

A lot of Americans prefer afternoon or early evening PPVs too. Staying up until 1am is hard when you work 60 hours a week.

They should meet in the middle and the have the PPV start at 11pm BST, 6pm ET.

 

[Nameless King]

I don't understand why it has to be so late. I understand US is the main revenue for ppv but we talking early afternoon in US!!!

Is it that bad? Most people are off work on Saturday anyway.

 

[Pointy12-6Elbows]

A lot of Americans prefer afternoon or early evening PPVs too. Staying up until 1am is hard when you work 60 hours a week.

They should meet in the middle and the have the PPV start at 11pm BST, 6pm ET.

This is a good take.

Who wouldn’t want to watch some decent fights on a lazy afternoon? It switches it up a bit for you men over the pond.

Given how much tickets are probably gonna cost to buy for the event - any confirmation on how much? I think the times should be for the locals convenience, as in, at a decent time for UK fans. Forcing them to be up so late…they gonna be blasted drunk and windmilling each other in the crowd in the early hours haha.

This is shitting on fans really.

Even though he said he doesn’t mind; Aspinall himself is like a 20 minute drive from Manchester, interim champion and he has to fight at daft o’clock in the morning…just doesn’t make sense to me. Holds belt and defends his belt on his time. Why he gotta change his training/sleeping pattern when he holds a belt and is fighting in his home country?

I feel like the main event should at like 10/11PM. More chance of UK heads actually waiting up to watch the fight…could be more of a spectacle and attract more fans to the sport. I feel like most casual UK heads are gonna just go to sleep…

 

[Elvis.]

It should start at a better time for the hometown crowd
I for one would make the sacrifice of day drinking to help their cause