This Saturday (February 9th, 2019), UFC 234: Whittaker vs. Gastelum will not air on DirectTV, UFC officials announced on Thursday.
The promotion announced earlier today that their distribution deal with the satellite TV provider has expired, and heading into this weekends pay-per-view event, the two sides have not yet reached an agreement on a new deal. The event taking place (UFC 234) in Melbourne, Australia will not be available on DirectTV.
“UFC’s live events are some of the most-watched pay-per-views in the country and remain must-see viewing for all MMA fans. Unfortunately, we have been unable to reach an agreement with one of our primary distributors, DirecTV. Though we continue to work to reach a resolution, UFC 234, LIVE from Melbourne on Saturday, February 9, will not be available on DirecTV.”
DirectTV is one of the promotions longtime PPV providers, dating back to the late 1990’s, the “dark era’ of combat sports. Steven Marrocco of MMAJunkie reports; “UFC and DirecTV’s previous contract expired at the end of 2018. The companies reportedly were negotiating a new deal, with the UFC asking for an increase in the share of the pay-per-view revenue that could amount to a 70-30 split.”
Anyone who has purchased the event on DirectTV is urged to call for refunds, and that the event will be available on UFC.tv and Amazon Prime.
UFC 234 may not be the strongest PPV event to date, but, most will tune in for the co-main and main event feature: Anderson Silva vs. Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker vs. Kelvin Gastelum for the middleweight championship. It was said, and offered to former champion, Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva, that if he took the fight with the rising star, Adesanya and was victorious, he would earn himself a title shot. It was a no brainier for one of combat sports G.O.A.T.
Here is the full preliminary and pay-per-view card for UFC 234.
MAIN CARD:
- Robert Whittaker vs. Kelvin Gastelum – Middleweight Title
- Anderson Silva vs. Israel Adesanya
- Rani Yahya vs. Ricky Simon
- Montana De La Rosa vs. Nadia Kassem
- Jim Crute vs. Sam Alvey
Preliminaries:
- Devonte Smith vs. Dong Hyun Ma
- Shane Young vs. Austin Arnett
- Kai Kara France vs. Raulian Paiva
- Teruto Ishihara vs. Kyung Ho Kang
- Lando Vannata vs. Marcos Mariano
- Jalin Turner vs. Callan Potter
- Wuliji Buren vs. Jonathan Martinez
(photo via: sportingnews.com)
