ESPN issues statement on technical difficulties surrounding UFC 257 PPV

ESPN has issued a statement after Saturday’s UFC 257 pay-per-view was plagued by widespread technical difficulties.

UFC 257 was headlined by a lightweight showdown between Conor McGregor, the sport’s biggest star, and Dustin Poirier. McGregor has headlined the vast majority of the UFC’s most successful pay-per-views, and the expectation is that UFC 257 was another home-run in terms of purchases.

Unfortunately, many of the prospective viewers that flocked to ESPN+ to purchase the pay-per-view—the only point of sale for the event—were foiled by technical difficulties. Some were simply unable to purchase the pay-per-view, while others were able to buy it, but couldn’t watch it for a significant portion of the broadcast.

Unsurprisingly, ESPN quickly came under fire for this issue and the lack of an immediate public response to the problem.

On Monday, ESPN issued a statement to MMA Fighting, apologizing for the technical difficulties that UFC fans experienced.

“We’re aware that a technical issue prevented a portion of users from accessing part of the ESPN+ pay-per-view event, and we apologize for that experience,” ESPN officials said. “We worked as quickly as possible to identify and resolve the issue.”

ESPN added that they will be issuing partial refunds to viewers who missed part of the pay-per-view due to these technical difficulties.

UFC President Dana White also commented on the issues with ESPN+ on UFC 257 fight night, downplaying them as short-lived and restricted to people on the West Coast.

“It was mostly on the West Coast,” White told reporters at the UFC 257 post-fight press conference on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi. “But [ESPN] got it fixed, and it was a good night. It was a really good night – top-two of all time.”

What are your thoughts on the response ESPN has given to the technical difficulties that plagued Saturday’s UFC 257 card?