Technical issues plagued UFC 313 this past Saturday night as fans and fighters voiced their frustrations while attempting to purchase the pay-per-view through ESPN+.
Social media exploded after potential viewers realized they were unable to watch the event headlined by Magomed Ankalaev’s unanimous decision win over Alex Pereira.
While UFC declined to comment on the situation, sources told MMA Fighting that executives were “furious” over the situation, especially with pay-per-view still serving as one of the key financial drivers for the company.
UFC CEO Dana White briefly addressed the problems during the UFC 313 post-fight press conference, although at the time he didn’t have any answers about why the technical issues happened.
“Oh yeah, it made it to me,” White responded. “They were having problems buying it on ESPN+. I don’t know what happened with their platform tonight. There were a lot of pissed-off people.”
ESPN issued a statement to MMA Fighting regarding the UFC 313 pay-per-view and the angry customers lashing out due to issues with both purchasing and watching the event through the streaming platform.
“Unfortunately, we experienced a technical issue that impacted purchases of the UFC PPV on ESPN+ shortly after 10pm ET,” ESPN said in the statement. “Our teams identified and resolved the issue, restoring full functionality ahead of the main event. We apologize for the inconvenience and are taking steps to ensure a better experience in the future.”
UFC 313 plagued by technical issues on PPV, ESPN issues statement
There were plenty of unhappy customers Saturday night as UFC 313 was plagued by technical issues on ESPN+.
