The Ultimate Fighting Championship mixed martial arts organisation has launched a new digital subscription service which plans to offer a minimum of 10 exclusive live events per year.
UFC Fight Pass is available on a free trial basis through February 28 and has initially launched in the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Content will vary according to local television blackout rules with the service costing $9.99 per month in all four markets once the trial period expires.
Three international UFC Fight Night events have already been confirmed for the service in the shape of UFC Fight Night: Saffiedine v Lim on January 4, UFC London 2014: Gustafsson v Manuwa on March 8 and a third card in March. UFC Fight Pass will also be the exclusive place to watch live Fight Pass Prelims, the opening contests on major UFC pay-per-views and televised cards.
In addition, subscribers will be able to access hundreds of hours of content from the archive of UFC parent company Zuffa which includes two decades of UFC fights and the video libraries of other MMA organisations including Pride FC, Pride Bushido, Strikeforce, EliteXC, the World Fighting Alliance, Affliction Entertainment and World Extreme Cagefighting. There will also be newly-created content for the service including regular behind-the-scenes reports, fighter diaries and training tips.
“As the demand for live UFC events around the world continues to increase, we’ve responded by planning more big shows in international markets in local primetime,” UFC president Dana White said. “In 2014, there are going to be more international events than ever before – but we wanted to make sure that fans around the world could see these fights too.” He added: “Zuffa has the biggest fight library on the planet, and with a UFC Fight Pass subscription, fans will get access to thousands of fights from the entire history of the sport. This is what fans have always wanted – we are giving them the keys to the candy store.”