BozoNeedles stands firm in choice to prosecute indivduals

Steal from the UFC, and you will be punished.

That's the message from UFC president Dana White, who is not backing down in the face of some criticism for his company's decision to prosecute individual Internet users found watching illegal streams of UFC pay-per-views.

White said his promotion refuses to go the way of the music industry, a segment that once printed money and now is struggling to stay afloat.

"The bottom line is the same [expletive] guys that are saying, 'Why would you sue the fans?' are the same guys that are going, 'You should pay the fighters more,'" White told a small group of reporters following Tuesday's UFC 146 promotional press conference in Las Vegas. "How the [expletive] do you think this thing works? You think the Fertittas just pull all of the money out of their [expletive] bank and pay everybody? No, this is a real business.

"There's this whole generation out there that grew up getting free [expletive] on the Internet, so they thing everything on the Internet should be free. That ain't how it [expletive] works. The music industry was single-handedly destroyed by the Internet. They'll tell you that. It's a fact."

While targeting online piracy has long been a priority for the UFC, the company recently instituted a new policy, which includes targeting not just businesses and websites that host illegal streams but also online users who watch said fights.

The UFC legal team recently revealed they've already obtained "voluminous" user records from the recently shuttered website Greenfeedz.com and that the information is currently being sifted to "extract certain data and make determinations internally."

Some have argued that the strategy is counter-productive since the UFC would be legally prosecuting fans of the sport. White disagrees and sees the issue as a clear matter of right vs. wrong.

"I respond to people every day on Twitter, like, '[Expletive] you, you criminal. Yeah, we're coming after you,'" White said. "Oh, boo hoo. 'You're coming after the fans.' Yeah, you're [expletive] stealing."

It may be somewhat ironic that the UFC is following the very same path as the music industry in attempting to prosecute individual users. The move – necessitated by the launch of Napster and other file-sharing services that were used to illegally distribute music – was largely panned by the public when first introduced by the music industry years ago, and many fight fans are now protesting the UFC's choice to follow suit.

However, White said the reality of what happened to the music industry, which has seen revenue consistently decline in recent times, is proof positive of why he has no option.

"You go from having all these music outlets – and it's not too long ago – what was it, five years ago? If you wanted to listen to it, you'd have to go buy the CD," White said. "The iPad and all these 'i' things have only been out for a little while. So when you think about it, all these stores existed throughout the country where you would go and you would buy their CD and all this other [expletive]. Now you're buying songs for $0.99. Woo hoo! That's not good. That's not good for the music industry.

"It's better now that you can go on iTunes and buy some [expletive], but they were stealing things for years. Single-handedly, all these business went out of business, which the artists lose money. People lost their jobs. People lost their businesses. The list goes on an on."

White said he's listened to fans complain about their massive cable bills after plopping down $50 for each pay-per-view event (which can sometime be held twice monthly). Many have suggested some type of subscription model, not unlike the NFL's "Sunday Ticket" as a potential solution.

The UFC boss said he's actually open to that concept and points to a recent pricing special that allowed DISH Network subscribers to purchase six UFC events for the price of five with a UFC T-shirt thrown in as an added bonus.

However, he also think fans may not be entirely realistic when it comes to how negotiations work in the pay-per-view and television industry.

"We just did a deal where you could buy a package of fights," White said. "We've been working on that for a long time. What's funny, fans go, 'You should do this. You should do that.'

"I'd love to do a deal where we set it up, and people can buy the package like the NFL. We've got to get this deal done. It's not like we just go, 'Hey, guess what DirecTV? We have a great idea.' You've got to get these things done."

So for now, the pay-per-view model remains in place, and White promises his company will be vigilant as it tries to protect its product. The UFC boss said he truly values each and every UFC fan, but theft will not be tolerated.

"There isn't a sports organization that's more fan-friendly than we are," White said. "We try to do as much as we can for the fans. Then you've got these guys out there saying that they think it's OK to steal our [expletive] on the Internet. [Expletive] you. It's not OK. Yes, I'm coming after you. Yes, we will [expletive] sue you.

"If you steal our [expletive], we're going to get you. We might not get you now or next month, but eventually we will, and we're spending a lot of money toward busting people who steal."

I wonder if Lorenzo Fertitta knows about this. Because if Lorenzo says 'no' to something, you know Dana listens.



this post? A reason to post that gif.

Good post ZK. I'm gonna start ryling up some shit with the wunderkind hacker again on twitter. You know the one that went after Dana and the UFC site 8)

https://twitter.com/#!/s3rverexe


P.S. - Put links up with your posts ZK... I like going to the original site and then coming back.

I got that post at ufcjunkie oh my bad so called mmajunkie here is the link:
http://mmajunkie.com/news/28021/ufc-boss-open-to-subscription-model-stands-firm-in-choice-to-prosecute-individuals.mma

Yeah and I stand firm in my choice to continue to pirate their pay per views. Lol.

ZuffaKiller wrote:I got that post at ufcjunkie oh my bad so called mmajunkie here is the link:
http://mmajunkie.com/news/28021/ufc-boss-open-to-subscription-model-stands-firm-in-choice-to-prosecute-individuals.mma

Thanks. Dagwood used to be a long time poster on UFClinker.com.

"The music industry was single-handedly destroyed by the Internet. They'll tell you that. It's a fact."

Actually the record industry was decimated, the music industry is thriving.
The one negative I can think of is over saturation.

Hopefully the internet can do the same for combat sports,
with fighters setting up their own fights independent of any promotional entity.

rezin wrote:"The music industry was single-handedly destroyed by the Internet. They'll tell you that. It's a fact."

Actually the record industry was decimated, the music industry is thriving.
The one negative I can think of is over saturation.

Hopefully the internet can do the same for combat sports,
with fighters setting up their own fights independent of any promotional entity.

Spot on, internet got rid of the middle hand for musicians and hopefully the same thing can happen in mma. Who needs a promotor who takes most of the profit when you can promote you own show on the interwebz.

so what happened to the court ruling? Dana and his toothless kittens if the judge ruled against them.

im so sick of this guy, im going to have to take up my hatred of him another notch. As it is right now im only going to watch when a old PRIDE vet is on once thier all gone im done with the youFC.. sorry up and commers but sometimes thier is caualties in order to take down a tyrant such as dana(lol girls name) white.

PRIDE NEVER DIE wrote:im so sick of this guy, im going to have to take up my hatred of him another notch. As it is right now im only going to watch when a old PRIDE vet is on once thier all gone im done with the youFC.. sorry up and commers but sometimes thier is caualties in order to take down a tyrant such as dana(lol girls name) white.

I've been doing this since about 2008. Not even kidding. I don't have a clue who a lot of lighter weight classes and newer guys are. I've had to avoid watching most non-PRIDE fighter fights just so my brain would no longer continue to be infected by the post-2008 UFC fight style. Like you, I have vowed to myself to drop watching UFC fights (I am almost there now) unless there is a great match up with fighters who are extremely talented & technical and not point-fighters.