Why Canadian MMA Fans Are PISSED OFF at the UFC: “A lot of Canadians are upset”
MMA fans in the great fight north will not be happy about being excluded from the perks of UFC’s new Paramount deal per one of the sport’s more tenured media personalities. This was expressed by James Lynch on his YouTube channel recently. As the Canadian combat compatriot got into some of the specifics as to why MMA fans in Canada will be unhappy about this new media rights deal kicking off in the coming weeks, Lynch said,
“As we’re still a few weeks away from the first UFC event on Paramount for UFC 324 on January 24th, we’re going to start to see a lot of outraged Canadians in the next couple weeks when they realize that the Paramount deal only relates to US customers and not in Canada. Because of course in Canada we have the exclusive rights with Sportsnet as they signed their deal in 2024.”
“So even though we get Paramount here in Canada, you’re still going to have to pay for marquee UFC events. And a lot of Canadians are upset with this. And I just noticed on Reddit today that there’s a petition on here – so far only 124 signatures. It says, ‘Stop the Canadian UFC tax, demand for fair streaming for UFC fans in Canada.’ I think people are slowly realizing this.”
Giving an overview of his anecdotal experience in the TV industry and the machinations of certain media rights deal agreements whilst referring to a fan comment, Lynch stated,
“Little did I know that Canadian fans would specifically be excluded from the new era, while fans in the United States, Brazil, Australia, and throughout Latin America are now enjoying every UFC event included in their standard subscription. Canadians have been left behind, trapped in the exact same expensive, outdated pay‑per‑view system as the rest of the world. So there’s two sides of this that I kind of understand. The first side is a deal is a deal.”
“The UFC made this deal in 2024, and we didn’t know what the future of the UFC was going to look like. I think a lot of people when this deal was signed probably figured that pay‑per‑views are going to be sticking around forever, but the UFC decided to change that when they signed with Paramount. So as a result, $79.99 is still going to be charged for Canadians watching the event.”
“Sportsnet’s not just going to go out there and say, ‘Oh, we’re going to change the terms of our deal so we’re going to get less money.’ I’m sure that’s part of it – part of the deal was that you had to go through them to buy their pay‑per‑views, and they get more money. So I’m sure that’s part of it. So I understand Sportsnet’s perspective on this. But at the same time, you’re going to see more of this in the coming weeks when I think there’s still a lot of Canadians out there who don’t realize that you’re going to have to pay for the pay‑per‑views.”
Canadian MMA and how the paramount deal can inform their consumption of the UFC product
Expounding upon why this dynamic will lead to Canadian MMA fans to watching UFC by illegal means, Lynch continued,
“You’re going to be encouraging people to pirate events, and this was already a thing even before the UFC went to Paramount. We saw that there was a lot of people… I know even people watching this video right now, a lot of them do not pay to watch the pay‑per‑views. They find links. I know Dana White shut down one of the biggest free streaming apps that’s out there.
In summation on this matter, Lynch quipped,
“This is something you will notice more of because there are a lot of Canadian UFC fans who buy the pay‑per‑views, who watch the events, and this is going to be tough… $80 a month compared to $6.99 for Americans. That’s going to be a really tough sell for a lot of UFC fans here. At the very least, I just like Sportsnet to come out and say, ‘Hey, listen. This is how long the deal is going. Sorry, we know you guys are frustrated.’ Like, just have some empathy for the fans that are paying customers of your product.”
