(The UFC, where tapping out doesn’t matter, like the points in “Whose Line is It Anyway?” / Photo Via Getty)
Like communism, the UFC Fight Pass sounds amazing on paper.
For $10/month, not only do you get to see a bunch of overseas cards not aired in the United States, you get access to the UFC’s entire video library—which includes fights from the WEC and Pride, as well as episodes from TUF.
It wouldn’t have been a bad deal if the UFC’s execution hadn’t been lacking in all departments.
FightOpinion, a firebrand MMA website that has recently earned the ire of Dana White, extensively covered the UFC Fight Pass, and not the fluff coverage the paid for media often provides for anything Zuffa-owned. If you want the dirt on the UFC Fight Pass, FightOpinion has the shovel. They ran three articles on the star-crossed streaming service. You should read each one.
Here’s what they concluded:
-The UFC Fight Pass isn’t worth the money, especially when you consider that you have to pay for 13 PPVs throughout the year as well. It costs over $700 a year to be a UFC fan.
-The UFC Fight Pass doesn’t even work from a promotional point of view; the pay wall ensures that the fighters who need exposure most won’t get it.
-The UFC Fight Pass pales in comparison to the WWE’s digital network, a sentiment we share.
-The UFC Fight Pass is lacking a plethora of features that are standard issue on other digital streaming networks (i.e. Netflix, Hulu, etc). It’s also in dire need of polish. An example they give is that searching for “UFC 1″ will give you every single event starting with “UFC” and “1″, so you’ll get UFC 1, 10, 11…100, 101, etc.)
-The legalese in the UFC Fight Pass’ terms of use agreement is binding and horrific (although this isn’t unique to the UFC).
But FightOpinion wasn’t the only MMA Media outlet to have doubts about the UFC Fight Pass. MMA Mania’s Matt Roth went on a twitter rant against the service. Even worse, he says that the UFC charged him for watching fights on the Fight Pass—fights that your monthly $10 is purportedly granting you access to.
It’s clear that the Fight Pass is a half-finished cash grab that’s held together by duct tape. If you buy it in its current, faulty incarnation, you’re either a mark for the UFC or an MMA media member (though there’s a lot of crossover here). Stay away from the fight pass for a while longer. It’s not ready for public consumption.
However, that didn’t stop the UFC from airing its first card on the UFC Fight Pass: UFC Fight Night 34, an event that was held in Singapore this morning.
For the most part, there wasn’t a whole lot of game-changing stuff to happen on this event. We’ll give you a quick rundown with some GIFs (all courtesy of @ZProphet_MMA) and then the complete results:
22-year-old kickboxing ace Max Holloway, who recently suffered a loss to Conor McGregor, returned to the winning column on the prelims.
On the main card, Luiz Dutra received a DQ loss for illegal 12-6 elbows to the back of the head. More notably, he started crying afterwards. I wonder what Jimmy Dugan would have to say about that…
In the co-main event, famed Japanese fighter Tatsuya Kawajiri made a successful UFC debut, submitting Sean Soriano via rear naked choke in the second round—a submission where the referee literally missed the frantic tapout while he was standing right in front of the fighters.
The main event featured a fight between Tarec Saffiedine and Hyun Gyu Lim. By all accounts the fight was entertaining, but Saffiedine was clearly the better fighter. He made use of his signature leg kicks throughout the fight to cripple Lim, stymieing the Korean’s offensive efforts. Saffiedine walked away with a unanimous decision victory.
Here are the complete results:
Main Card
Tarec Saffiedine def. Hyun Gyu Lim via unanimous decision (49-46, 48-47, 48-47)
Tatsuya Kawajiri def. Sean Soriano via technical submission (rear naked choke), 0:50 of Round 2
Kiichi Kunimoto def. Luiz Dutra via DQ (illegal elbows), 2:57 of Round 1
Kyung-Ho Kang def. Shunichi Shimizu via submission (arm triangle), 3:53 of Round 3
Preliminary Card
Max Holloway def. Will Chope via TKO (punches), 2:27 of Round 2
Katsunori Kikuno def. Quinn Mulhern via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Royston Wee def. Dave Galera via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26)
Mairbek Taisumov def. Tae Hyun Bang via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Dustin Kimura def. Jon Delos Reyes via submission (armbar), 2:13 of Round 1
Russell Doane def. Leandro Issa via technical submission (triangle), 4:59 of Round 2