The plot thickens.
2021 kicked off with a warning from UFC president Dana White, targeting unauthorized streamers of pay-per-view events. Last week, he reiterated those words of caution with a promise to catch these “scumbag criminals.”
As a random fan on a vast place that is the internet, the immediate reaction would be to scoff at these threats. But in a recent interview with BT Sport, White says they actually caught one who’s allegedly planning to stream UFC 257 outside of the paid platforms.
Dana White on piracy: pic.twitter.com/zL7fw00P7b
— Jason (@JasonAmadi) January 21, 2021
“When I came out and said these, all these guys started taunting me,” White told Adam Catterall. “So I went through, and I picked, I said, ‘You. You’re the guy.’ And I told my people, ‘I want this guy.’ And guess what, we got him. We’re watching his house, we’re listening to his phone conversations, and if he puts it up on Saturday, we got him.
“He pops this link up on Saturday, we got him. And we will arrest him, and I will prosecute him. I will not be nice, I will not give him leniency whatsoever. I will go guns a-f—king-blazing on this guy.”
According to White, their manhunt for the unnamed individual goes beyond the United States because “this guy isn’t in America.” He says it’s all possible especially if you’re going against someone as “sick” as him.
“These guys think they’re so smart, they think they’re untouchable, they think it’s impossible,” White said. “When you have a company as big… if the NFL wanted to catch people for doing it, they can catch you. You can be caught. The guy just has to be as sick as me and want to get you.
“I got this built-in mechanism, I don’t know what it is with me, but if you want to fight with me, we can fight. And I like to fight, and I like to win. I’m the wrong dude to play this game with, man.”
UFC 257 happens this Saturday at the Etihad Arena on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi. Pay-per-view rates are at $69.99 on ESPN+.