‘Real fans are losing out’: Brad Pickett speaks out over fans’ UFC ticket frustrations

Firstly, I would like to address something that a lot of fans have messaged me about over the last couple of weeks.

I have a lot of disappointed fans who were unable to get tickets to see me fight at UFC 204. I’m gutted that it’s not possible for ALL my fans to see me when they want to, but even more so when the reason behind that is because big chunks of the tickets have been bought up by touts.

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Disappointed for the fans: Brad ‘One Punch’ Pickett is unhappy at seeing fans miss out on UFC tickets[/caption]

Ticket agencies make money when they sell a ticket – people balk at the £10 booking/processing fee on regular tickets, so we all know they make a profit!

But when they sell out in six minutes, but tickets are already available on their ‘sister sites’ at three – or more – times the value, well, it’s just not on. Fans that want to support me – and more broadly, want to support the UFC and the sport of MMA are lining the pockets of greedy businesses, rather than the companies they want to support.

Of course I want as much of the One Punch Army there to see me fight – it means the world – but I can totally understand why fans can’t justify spending £300+ for a ticket. The law needs to change, real fans are losing out.

I am running a competition on my Twitter page to win a pair of tickets. I can get two of you in – not very helpful for the rest of you I know, but it’s all I can do right now.

There’s also a runners up prize of a new One Punch shirt (above) by Scramble. They’re on sale now so hopefully I’ll see a whole bunch of you in them at Manchester! Check my Twitter for how to win!

This is my last week at ATT. It’s been a long camp, what with an extra five weeks added on due to my back! I’m feeling great, my weight is low, and I had a great sparring session today.

I’ve been hanging out with Joanna Jedrzejczyk a lot this week and helping her to settle into the team. I first met her at UFC Glasgow where we were both guest fighters – she’s got a great sense of humour and we get on really well.

She’s going to do really well out here in Florida. Between her and Amanda (Nunes) we’ve got two awesome women’s champs at ATT, and an incredible calibre of female fighters.

Back home in Poland, Joanna was mostly training with men, which no matter how good that is, is never going to be as good as sparring and training with other women. It’s great to see the women at ATT flourish, and as the saying goes – iron sharpens iron – they’re only going to get better.

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Strawweight superstar: UFC world champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk has hooked up with American Top Team[/caption]

We’re a real team here at American Top Team, so it was an emotional night when Dustin (Poirier) lost at the weekend. He will absolutely bounce back – he’s still young and is an incredible fighter.

Perhaps he went out a bit too aggressively, which is easy to do – his loss demonstrates how unforgiving this sport can be. My other pal, Sirwan (Kakai), lost at Bellator on Friday too – it’s been tough. We really do feel each other’s losses, but I know both of them will come back stronger.

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Brad’s teammate Dustin Poirier lost out to Michael Johnson in Hidalgo last weekend[/caption]

I’m looking forward to getting home and seeing my family. I fly home on Saturday – my birthday – and will be straight into doing some pads to get a sweat on. Sunday is Buddy’s birthday party and christening, but I’ll squeeze in a run with Bonnie before that!

On Monday, I’ll be straight back to training at Team Titan. Mike Brown and Paulie Gloves will meet me in Manchester, so I’ll be back in the good care of Mickey Papas at Titan.

Brad Pickett

Last time I fought, getting home gave me a real boost to be back surrounded by my family and friends. A real reminder of why I do this. It’s been amazing being in touch with Buddy over Facetime the last few weeks, I can’t imagine how difficult that would have been without that technology. But it will be even better to spend time with him again before I head up to Manchester – he’s the reason I do this now.