Things went awry for UFC CEO Dana White and the production team during the UFC 304 broadcast! The card, headlined by Leon Edwards defending his welterweight crown against Belal Muhammad in Manchester faced some technical issue during the broadcast that drew a flurry of reactions online. The production team has come under scrutiny even as the UFC boss recently revealed that he turned down major deals due to issues over the broadcast production!

In a recent interview with Fox news, Dana White had shared that the promotion was in talks with HBO to put on fights on their platform in the past. However, White revealed that, “HBO came in and started going, ‘Yeah, we’re going to have to turn this music down, this is going to have to’ — and I said, ‘No, no. You guys are not running our production and telling us what to do.’”

Despite the deal being already signed, White then called former UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta and asked him to get the promotion out of the deal and it took Ari Emanuel stepping in to make it happen. But why was White against putting the UFC on a massive platform like HBO? The UFC head honcho confessed, “They put on a good event, they put money into it, but I would have to mute the commentators all the time.” But at UFC 304, it was Dana White’s promotion that faced issues with fans and viewers at home being unable to hear the broadcast at all! Here’s a look at what happened and how the netizens reacted.

Fans and UFC fighters left fuming after UFC 304 broadcast faces technical glitches on ESPN

According to Luke Thomas, there was an audio outage that turned the entire affair into a “production disaster.” This isn’t the first time the issues have popped up as during UFC 300, UK viewers trying to watch the event on TNT Sports found the commentary cutting off randomly, with fight graphics also not being displayed properly during the early prelims.

Others pointed out that the startling tone that took over the broadcast resembled the siren from the movie ‘The Purge’. UFC fighter Brian Ortega has previously made a ‘Purge’ themed walk-out to the Octagon, but this time around it was the production issues that caused the alarm!

UFC fighter Adrian Yanez also chimed in to question ESPN about the broadcast issues plaguing the card

While another UFC star, Cody Brundage, took a humorous jab at the situation and claimed that it was an intern who couldn’t handle the timing of the event and may have been responsible for the issues. The early morning start time for UFC 304 has already been raised as a concern by many in the MMA sphere with Curtis Blaydes even stating, “You wouldn’t have McGregor fight at 4 a.m. regardless of where it is in the world. “

One fan even claimed that the audio quality of the commentary has been worse than usual during the UFC 304 broadcast with the issue specifically affecting Jon Anik, the voice of the UFC

This incident has raised questions about the UFC’s production capabilities. Fans expect a seamless viewing experience, especially during high-profile events. The UFC 304 debacle showed that even the biggest organizations are not immune to technical problems. In conclusion, while UFC CEO Dana White will likely address these issues and ensure that future events run smoothly, a repeat of UFC 304’s problems would be unacceptable for the fans who support the PPVs.