Morning Report: Dana White promises ‘surprise’ for all those planning to pirate UFC 257

In 2021, it appears that the price of UFC pay-per-views isn’t the only thing that will be changing. Apparently, UFC President Dana White also has a new plan for how to deal with illegal pirating.

On January 23, the UFC begins its 2021 PPV campaign with UFC 257, headlined by a lightweight rematch between former champion Conor McGregor and former interim champion Dustin Poirier. On Monday, White continued promoting the event by posting another new promo on his Instagram account.

Not long after his post, one commenter responded, declaring his intention to pirate the PPV, to which White promised “a surprise” for all those looking to illegally watch the event.

The recent announcement by the UFC that they would once again be raising the price of PPVs, this time from $64.99 to $69.99, starting with UFC 257, has already been met with some backlash. A number of commenters on Dana White’s post brought up their displeasure with the price hike and given that, it’s possible that more fans will turn to illegal streams instead of purchasing the event on ESPN+. Given that McGregor is the biggest star in MMA, and the PPV is expected to draw huge numbers, it makes sense that the UFC would be looking to maximize their profits on the event by whatever means available to them.

UFC 257 takes place Jan. 23 on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi.

ABC. UFC’s network TV return official with UFC Fight Island 7 headed to ABC.

Roster. Scott Coker ‘surprised’ UFC released so many high-profile fighters, but ‘too bad for them, good for us’.

170. Welterweight title fight between Kamaru Usman and Gilbert Burns re-booked for UFC 258.

Pressure. Alexander Volkanovski believes he’s going to ‘break’ Brian Ortega.

Fighters to watch this year.

Free fights.

Anthony Pettis saying he’d love to fight Jake Paul.

The Co-Main Event. Discussing pay-per-views, Greg Hardy, the UFC PI and more.

Fights Gone By. Handing out the Slacky awards for 2020.

Promises.

Izzy dismissing the Legendary Polish Power.

Shade.

Safety first.

Teammates.

Hmmm.

Bellator with the content we all needed.

Kamaru Usman (17-1) vs. Gilbert Burns (19-3); UFC 258, Feb. 13.

Curtis Blaydes (14-2) vs. Derrick Lewis (24-7); UFC Fight Night, Feb. 27.

Sergey Spivak (11-2) vs. Jared Vanderaa (11-4); UFC Fight Night, Feb. 27.

Johnny Walker (18-5) vs. Jimmy Crute (12-1); UFC Fight Night, Mar. 20.

So, looks like there’s a good chance Poirier-McGregor 2 is for the title. Guess Dana might finally be giving up on cajoling Khabib back. Never could’ve seen that coming.

Thanks for reading and see y’all tomorrow.

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