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David

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The new ESPN deal, while a bit of a headscratcher in some aspects as far as the UFC goes, is a definite win for fans. $5 per month for the content available on ESPN+ is a no-brainer for those living in the US (and for those who know what they're doing outside the USĀ šŸ˜‰) as the sheer amount of sports coverage is easily worth the sub fee.

I can kind of understand why fans feel that they're being railroaded into subbing to ESPN+, but are there any UFC fans out there who shell out the cash for PPV's who aren't watching the other fights on ESPN+ already?

The truth is, fans aren't actually losing out or paying anything more. In fact, if you really look at it a fan who just buys one PPV event every now & then is getting that same months worth of ESPN+ fights for free, aren't they? All they have is the hassle of cancelling the sub if they don't want to continue after that month.

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6 minutes ago, David said:

I can kind of understand why fans feel that they're being railroaded into subbing to ESPN+, but are there any UFC fans out there who shell out the cash for PPV's who aren't watching the other fights on ESPN+ already?

You'll know better than I do, but I was under the impression that a big chunk of PPVs are bought by casual fans who don't watch Fight Nights or whatever they're called now.

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1 minute ago, Carbomb said:

You'll know better than I do, but I was under the impression that a big chunk of PPVs are bought by casual fans who don't watch Fight Nights or whatever they're called now.

Yeah, but even so, if they buy through the ESPN+ platform they essentially get the UFC PPV and a months worth of ESPN+ for the same price as they previously paid for the PPV alone.

The only hassle they face is remembering to cancel before another months sub is taken from their bank or whatever.

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1 minute ago, David said:

Yeah, but even so, if they buy through the ESPN+ platform they essentially get the UFC PPV and a months worth of ESPN+ for the same price as they previously paid for the PPV alone.

The only hassle they face is remembering to cancel before another months sub is taken from their bank or whatever.

But that free month wouldn't be repeated if they bought another PPV a few months later, would it? It's a one-off, no?

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Just now, Carbomb said:

But that free month wouldn't be repeated if they bought another PPV a few months later, would it? It's a one-off, no?

The price of the UFC PPV's have been dropped from $64.99 to $59.99 to absorb the cost of the ESPN+ sub.Ā 

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7 minutes ago, David said:

The price of the UFC PPV's have been dropped from $64.99 to $59.99 to absorb the cost of the ESPN+ sub.Ā 

Ah!

@ColinBollocksĀ was saying the UFC were getting slagged off by fans forĀ notĀ reducing their prices. Sounds like they've done OK there then.

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1 minute ago, Carbomb said:

Ah!

@ColinBollocksĀ was saying the UFC were getting slagged off by fans forĀ notĀ reducing their prices. Sounds like they've done OK there then.

Yeah, I think some fans are claiming that the UFC are making more money on the front end from the PPV deal with ESPN, and thus should pass some of those savings onto fans. There's a moral argument for that, of course, but from a business standpoint maybe not so much.

In fact, there's even a deal at the moment where a fan can buy a years worth of ESPN+ and one UFC PPV for $79.99, which means they're basically getting that first PPV for $30, which is half price.

You know that I'm quick to pick up on the UFC if they're being shady, but in this instance I don't really see what the fuss is about.

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So many guys are popping all over the place these days, with some of them being proven innocent, that I don't even register anything that we get from USADA until I've had the time to look into the substance in question and see what the fallout is after appeals and hearings go down. It's not as clear-cut these days that anyone popping is immediately guilty.

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The fact that Dillashaw has chosen to relinqish his title seemingly without a fight is a bit strange.Ā 

I listened to TJ on the Rogan podcast and his training regiment was crazy, the workouts were quite caveman-equse but how everything was monitored and food wise he doesnt seem like the type of guy who would make a mistake, they had some mad scientist type bloke running it all.

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1 minute ago, Egg Shen said:

The fact that Dillashaw has chosen to relinqish his title seemingly without a fight is a bit strange.Ā 

I listened to TJ on the Rogan podcast and his training regiment was crazy, the workouts were quite caveman-equse but how everything was monitored and food wise he doesnt seem like the type of guy who would make a mistake, they had some mad scientist type bloke running it all.

Yeah, but when USADA are testing for stuff in such small quantities that often don't even register within the products enough to warrant listing on the ingredients you're always going to have problems. That's why we've seen a load of reduced sentences, and even a couple of rollbacks altogether unless I'm mistaken.Ā Ā 

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There have been severalĀ accusations made against Dillashaw in the past:

Garbrandt:

Quote

During the lead-up to UFC 217, now-former bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt levied an accusation against TJ Dillashaw that raised some eyebrows before the two fought Saturday in New York.Ā At the pre-fight press conference on Thursday, Garbrandt accused his opponent of using steroids and said Dillashaw was responsible for showing ā€œeveryone on Team Alpha Maleā€ how to use them.Ā 

Holdsworth:

Quote

Ā 

There was another instance leading up to the Chico (Camus) fight (in 2014), when he was getting ready for (Renan) Barao. And then it comes to where I hear heā€™s on some special supplements and stuff, and I just lost respect for the guy. Thereā€™s no hard feelings, itā€™s whatever it is, but heā€™s a cheater.ā€

Ā 

Faber (when asked about said allegations)

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Ā 

As far Cody saying the steroid thing etc., these are conversations that, and Iā€™ve heard conversations that have gone in between, you know, within the team, that I wasnā€™t a part of, so I canā€™t say my thing about it. If you guys want to know the details about what Cody is talking about, youā€™re going to have to get that from him because, you know, I was kinda the patriarch of the team, so if something shady is going on, no one would tell me about it.

Iā€™ve heard some things that have made me lose some respect, absolutely, but itā€™s not my place to say about conversations that were had or things that were said or things that were done when I wasnā€™t actually there in the know, you know.

Ā 

Faber's response is a bit murky. But he doesn't exactly refute Garbrandt's accusations. Faber had stated about a yearĀ earlierĀ that TJĀ  resembled ā€œa prepubescent little teenager right now because USADA came inā€. Could it be a case of sour grapes and hyperbole? Maybe, all of the accusations come from the Alpha Male camp. But Dillashaw doesn't have the best reputation.Ā 

Edited by jimufctna24
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Again, I'll wait and see what he popped for and the levels that were found in his system. I don't think I'd be looking at anything his scorned former team-mates have to say as anything worth considering seriously.

One thing I will say is that if there's any truth to what Cody and others have said, they're essentially marking that team down as cheaters. You'll be hard-pressed to find a gym where one guy is using shit and no one else is. It rarely works like that.

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