The brand new UFC digital network held its first live fight card on Saturday for UFC Fight Night 34 in Singapore, and the stream was rock solid for this MMA reporter.
UFC Fight Pass lives under the website domain of UFC.tv, which is where the UFC offers up their pay-per-views online.
While today was a first impression for many MMA fans with UFC.tv, it was not for me. Along with covering the sport of MMA, I also work for the Buccaneer Radio Network during the NFL season. Since I am on the road for ten weeks during the NFL season, I end up watching several UFC pay-per-views on UFC.tv. During this football season, I have watched UFC 165, 166, 167, and 168 on UFC.tv.
I enjoy the service that UFC.tv offers since it allows me to watch multiple camera angles and multiple sound options for UFC pay-per-views. When I watch a pay-per-view live, I typically will just watch the main feed along with hearing the announcing team of Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan. When I go back to re-watch a pay-per-view, I do find myself listening to the corner audio to hear what cornermen are telling their fighters throughout the fights.
For today’s fight card, there was only one feed that we were able to watch. I expect that the full version of Fight Pass will be ready to go when the pay wall goes up on March 1st.
At its current format, Fight Pass is not a finished product and this is more of a beta program at this time. Fight Pass will improve, and today was a solid performance of the new platform for the UFC. The stream was rock solid from the beginning of the preliminary card to the main event fight. The pacing of the show was great as there were limited commercial breaks and all of the commercials were to promote upcoming UFC fight cards and UFC products.
UFC President Dana White was active on Twitter throughout the event as he was watching the event on Fight Pass from Wyoming. Today’s stream of UFC Fight Night 34 was solid, White tweeted that there are a few tweaks to make to the product.
Thanks everyone for tuning in this Today. We will make a few tweaks to fight pass and it should be great. Also thanks for the input!!
— Dana White (@danawhite) January 4, 2014
Just like any new product, there will always be tweaks to make. Fight Pass deserves a passing grade for its performance today. Once you logged into Fight Pass, it was easy to navigate and find the live stream.
The UFC will have some time to make tweaks to the product as the next full live event to air on the network will be The Ultimate Fighter China Finale on March 1st. The network will be showing online preliminary cards for upcoming events, and all of the executives at the UFC have to be happy about how today’s feed went.