Fans have their say on what they’d like to see during BT Sport’s new era of UFC coverage

WE now know that BT Sport has retained the rights to show UFC events up to the end of 2018 in a new, improved, broadcast partnership deal which kicks off today.

The Stratford-based broadcaster now has the rights to show ALL UFC events live, with TV prelims and main card fights from every UFC event from now until December 31, 2018 set to appear via BT Sport’s platforms.

It’s the best package deal UK fans have ever had and, with BT Sport already established as the home of the UFC in the UK, the arrival of the new expanded deal brings the opportunity to take their coverage to a new level.

SunSport canvassed UFC fans on social media for their ideas and suggestions of how BT Sport might be able enhance their offering and the fans came back with an array of constructive ideas and suggestions.

Less ad breaks, more walkouts

The most common change people would like to see is a reduction in ad breaks, particularly during the fighter walkouts and especially during the pay-per-view main cards.

Put simply, fans LOVE watching the walkouts. They build the energy and excitement and also help introduce the fighters – and their personalities – to the audience, with the commentators providing background info and insight into the athletes as they make their way from the locker room to the Octagon.

If BT Sport wanted to make a big positive change to their fight night output, somehow finding a way to allow the fans to see more walkouts would surely be top of the list.

There’s a tricky balancing act, however, with BT running their ad breaks according to a world feed schedule they get from the UFC.

And it’s not an exact science, with running orders and promo spots often being added or removed on the fly as the night progresses.

But it’s not just the walkouts fans are missing out on, with some recent big announcements also going unseen by UK fans due to poorly-scheduled ad breaks.

For example, the UFC made two big announcements at UFC 199, revealing Brock Lesnar’s return for UFC 200, and confirming the rematch between Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor at UFC 202.

UK viewers unfortunately missed both announcements due to ad breaks, and it happened again on Saturday night, when BT Sport cut to an ad break just before a new promo for UFC 202: Diaz v McGregor 2 was unveiled on the pay-per-view broadcast in the States.

Obviously it’s tricky, but the walkouts, announcements and promo reveals are considered by the fans to be an integral part of the event and they want to see them live, just as the fans do in the States.

UK-based coverage

While the live shows are typically broadcast from the US, featuring a predominantly American broadcast team, the responses we’ve received suggest they’d also love to see some more British punditry, either in the form of a revamped midweek show (currently known as Beyond The Octagon) or perhaps even as a post-fight show.

The British duo of Dan Hardy and John Gooden have proved a hit with fans on both sides of the Atlantic.

Featuring the pair in some sort of post-fight capacity would seemingly make sense to a UK audience, who would love to see some real punditry and analysis from UK voices.

FOX on the box

FOX Sports have a significant broadcast partnership with the UFC over in the States, with the broadcaster running regular weigh-in shows, and pre- and post-fight broadcasts. They also have a regular weekly news show, UFC Tonight.

Fans I’ve spoken to over the years have been desperate to see these shows on their UK TV screens, but with those shows owned and run by FOX, rather than the UFC, acquiring them for broadcast on this side of the pond may prove tricky.

More variety

Whether it’s the addition of Dana White‘s new show Looking For A Fight, re-runs of classic seasons of The Ultimate Fighter or the inclusion of more documentary-based content, the fan response we received suggested they’d like to see more variety of content to supplement the live event output.

[Warning: Clip contains strong language]

BT Sport already has access to Ultimate Insider, The Ultimate Fighter and UFC Unleashed, and has also aired UFC specials such as the recent 200 Greatest Fighters series. So an expansion of that output would be most welcome.

The popular, but short-lived, UK discussion show UFC Fighting Talk was also mentioned – and reviving that show would also enhance the channel’s British-based output.

Any other business

Other constructive suggestions made by the fans included:

• Move the BT Sport channel logo to the top of the screen, away from the UFC/FOX house graphics
• More promotion of UK events and UK fighters
• Event replays to be available ASAP the following day via the BT Sport App
• Regular use of British pundits throughout BT-produced coverage

SunSport suggestion: ‘Clash of the Day’

Due to the anti-social time of many UFC events, a good few fans opt to watch the events via their TiVo, Sky+ or YouView box the following morning.

And a weekly highlights show in a regular time slot that doesn’t clash with live football coverage could also prove a hit.

Football has Match of the Day, and there’s little reason why that format couldn’t be tweaked to recap the best of the week’s mixed martial arts action.

Fast-paced highlights, featuring the commentary as broadcast, rather than slower-paced voiceovers, would bring the excitement of the action back to life once again and give fans the chance to enjoy the best of the action with all the ‘live’ reaction as it happened.

It’s something BT Sport has already done, in bite-sized form, on social media.

And the possibility of running regular knockout/submission polls, ‘Goal of the Month’-style, could also help engage the fans via social media as they vote for the most spectacular finishes of the month.

The show could either be kept simple as a fast-paced highlights show with musical montages and on-screen graphics linking highlights together, or as a slightly chunkier show, with a presentation team and UK-based studio pundits.

And given the addition of Cage Warriors to BT Sport’s portfolio of sports rights, the show could be opened up to include action from that promotion, or even include a round-up of the best action from the promotions shown on UFC Fight Pass, too.