DAZN's champion lost to Andy Ruiz Jr., an 11-1 underdog. Ruiz was on Kimmel last night and is a likeable guy. https://youtu.be/k_Wpj6E0RV4
On Sun, May 19, 2019, 10:00 AM Steve Timko <[email protected]> wrote: > I’ve been meaning to write a post griping about how difficult it has > become to watch MMA. The UFC started its own subscription online streaming > service and showed features and live fights on there, often a prelim to > bigger fights. The fights were generally inconsequential so I didn’t mind > that. > Then my favorite MMA fighter jumped to Bellator, where he can make more > money due to endorsement arrangements. A short-time later Bellator started > showing its fights live exclusively on a new subscription streaming > service, DAZN (pronounced Da Zone). The first time my fighter was up I > called the sports bar where I watch MMA and asked if they would show the > fight. They said sure. So went down there, ordered dinner and a tall beer > and settled in for an evening of MMA fights. I asked the bartender to get > the Bellator fights. Turns out not only did they not have DAZN, they didn’t > even know how to find it. I still had to pay for dinner but he gave me the > beer for free. I haven’t seen a live Bellator fight since they switched to > DAZN. > Then the UFC announced that ESPN would be showing the majority of UFC > fights. But it turns out most of those fights are in ESPN+, its > subscription streaming sports service. The first few on ESPN+ were meh, but > by now several of those fights were of interest to me. And it turns out one > was actually on ESPN2.. ESPN’s ads only mentioned the ESPN+ streaming, I > would have watched had I known. > So my ability to watch live MMA now is pretty much limited to pay-per-view > at the sports bar. > The New Yorker has a great article > <https://www.newyorker.com/sports/sporting-scene/three-heavyweights-and-the-boxing-revolution> > out now about how the boxing kingdom has been divided among providers. HBO > gave up on boxing but others are pursuing, in part because there’s not just > one but three interesting heavyweights. Heavyweights are what attract > viewers. In the UFC, one of best fighters during the past decade was > Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson, who was UFC flyweight champion from 2012 > to 2018. Although one of the most talented fighters of his generation, he > couldn’t generate ratings. UFC matches that feature only lighter weight > fights don’t do well in the ratings. But fights with several heavyweight > and light heavyweight fighters, even if they’re not the top fighters, do > monster ratings. > Getting back to boxing, all three heavyweights signed with different > providers: Showtime, ESPN or DAZN. Two of them fight each other to a draw > before they signed to separate kingdoms. Now it’s looking like they are not > going to fight each other because no provider is willing to let its fighter > go earn money for another provider. And there’s complaints ESPN will not > feature boxers not under the ESPN tent. > So in this case, it looks like combat sports are not be broadcasted, but > rather narrowcasted and are being used maybe not so much to make a profit > but establish a foothold to replace over-the-air, cable and satellite > content providers. > The New Yorker article is a good read. I think even non-sports fans would > find it interesting. > > https://www.newyorker.com/sports/sporting-scene/three-heavyweights-and-the-boxing-revolution > <https://www.newyorker.com/sports/sporting-scene/three-heavyweights-and-the-boxing-revolution?utm_brand=tny&mbid=social_twitter&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_social-type=owned> > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAH5J8yxSk78o_sQCBDx9R3pN1SPWr0NdSsupLAJziiTsbg6afA%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
