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UFC 304 Fallout: Dana White Acknowledges ESPN+ Outage Issues: “Nutty”

The boss man was less than pleased with ESPN's performance Saturday night.

Zain Bando

Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports / Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Despite the parity UFC 304’s main and co-main event gave the community Saturday night, the promotion again underwent a less-than-ideal viewing experience for those who had purchased the fight on ESPN+.

Several tweets surfaced from those watching the fights Saturday night when on-screen messages popped up about "channel 1 and 2," robots talking to the television and a fuzzy graphic of ex-Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

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Below is an example of just one of the screens fans captured while watching from home, causing an interruption in the Christian Leroy Duncan vs. Gregory Rodrigues fight, which was the second bout on the pay-per-view main card from Manchester, England.

The feed eventually returned for Tom Aspinall vs. Curtis Blaydes and Leon Edwards vs. Belal Muhammad, as Aspinall and Muhammad both won, respectively. Some even got to see Paddy Pimblett's submission win against King Green. Nevertheless, the UFC's outage issues have become routine in the last few months for U.S. audiences. This is so much so that "Morning Kombat" co-host Luke Thomas made a video in the aftermath of UFC 301 discussing his non-viewable encounter with the service.

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UFC CEO Dana White Reacts To ESPN+ Troubles

Already in a less-than-ideal mood, UFC CEO Dana White spoke on the ESPN+ interruptions at the UFC 304 post-fight presser, clarifying that it was a direct ESPN issue and not the UFC's responsibility.

"“How nutty is that?” White told reporters. "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."

Another 'X' user chimed in during the event to verify this perspective, saying his UFC Fight Pass broadcast had no issues.

It remains to be seen whether or not the UFC will address these issues further as the promotion is already potentially seeking a new media rights holder when the ESPN+/ESPN contract expires in 2025

For now, the UFC will attempt to move forward with UFC 305 on Aug. 17 in a smooth sailing manner, although nothing is a guarantee.

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Zain Bando

ZAIN BANDO

Zain Bando is a writer for MMA Knockout, part of the Sports Illustrated/Minute Media umbrella. He has covered combat sports since 2019 for notable outlets BJPenn.com and FanSided MMA. He also co-hosts a podcast called "The MMA Outsiders," part of the Empty The Bench Podcast Network, which airs Tuesday nights at 7:00 p.m. ET/4:00 p.m. PT. A Chicago suburban native, Bando has been enthralled with MMA since 2006 and has been fortunate to attend some of the most high-profile events in the sport's history, both as a fan and media member, including UFC 264, Bellator 297 and Kayla Harrison's PFL MMA debut. He is excited to take the next step in his combat sports writing journey and looks forward to continuing his following of the fight game for years to come. Bando can be reached via email at zainbando99@gmail.com or by social media @zainbando99

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