Technical issues with ESPN+ disrupted UFC 313’s pay-per-view, frustrating fans and fighters, and potentially impacting ESPN’s negotiations for UFC broadcast rights.
Technical hiccups hit UFC 313 last Saturday night, leaving fans and fighters frustrated as they struggled to buy the pay-per-view via ESPN+. Chaos erupted on social media when viewers realized they couldn’t watch the event. It was headlined by Magomed Ankalaev‘s unanimous decision win over Alex Pereira.
UFC stayed mum on the issue, but insiders told MMA Fighting that executives were “furious.” No surprise there—PPV is a major cash cow for them. Dana White, UFC CEO, briefly touched on the tech troubles during the post-fight press conference. But he admitted he had no clue what caused the mess.
“Oh yeah, it made it to me,” White said. “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.” Meanwhile, ESPN released a statement to MMA Fighting about the PPV debacle and the irate customers.
“Unfortunately, we experienced a technical issue that impacted purchases of the UFC PPV on ESPN+ shortly after 10pm ET,” ESPN explained. “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.”
The New York Times reported on Sunday that ESPN plans to offer the UFC 313 card free for ESPN+ subscribers. Nice gesture, but it doesn’t help those who missed out live. This isn’t Disney’s first rodeo with streaming woes; Hulu had complaints during the 2025 Academy Awards too. Now ESPN+ is in hot water with UFC 313 issues—bad timing!
Currently, UFC is in an exclusive negotiating period with ESPN over broadcast rights that expire at end of 2025. This window runs until April 15 before UFC can entertain other offers. In 2018, they struck a seven-year deal with ESPN, including PPV broadcasts available only through ESPN+.
Sadly, users have often griped about ESPN+’s tech troubles since UFC events started airing there. Not great news for ESPN as they try to keep UFC—a big draw for ESPN+ from launch day. There’s no shortage of suitors eyeing UFC’s rights, especially now with ticket sales and sponsorships soaring.
Before signing with ESPN in 2018, UFC nearly sealed a deal with Amazon Prime Video. Who knows? Netflix might even jump into the bidding war once the exclusive window ends on April 15. TKO Group Holdings president Mark Shapiro has praised working with ESPN before, but these tech issues could shake things up big time!