If you’re reading this then you’re likely a fight fan, and you’ve probably heard of the UFC Fight Pass and want to know what it is, how much it costs, the features it has, and whether it’s worth it.
After using UFC Fight Pass, this is an honest review of all of these things and whether the UFC Fight Pass is worth it overall.
Short answer: UFC Fight Pass is worth it if you consider yourself a fight fan because it’s an unrivaled service with a huge library of fights from several MMA and combat sports promotions, and it allows you to stream the UFC’s early prelims and watch multiple live events.
Contents
What Is UFC Fight Pass?
The UFC’s Fight Pass was launched in 2013 and is their exclusively owned digital streaming platform; it’s been described as “Netflix for fight fans”. It’s available 24/7 and 365 days a year and is a monthly subscription-based content service.
The income the UFC makes from Fight Pass subscriptions is reinvested into making the service better. Fight Pass is an individual and separate service and isn’t included in any package such as ESPN+. You can watch UFC Fight Pass on ufcfightpass.com and on the UFC mobile app.
How Much Is UFC Fight Pass?
UFC Fight Pass in 2022 is billed either monthly at $9.99 per month, or annually at $95.99. For those purchasing outside the US, the prices are the same or very similar as they’re converted fairly. For example, UFC Fight Pass to those in the UK costs £6.99 per month or £71.99 annually (depending on the dollar exchange rate at the time of purchase).
At the time of writing this review (May 2022), UFC Fight Pass is also offering a 7-day free trial, which can be canceled anytime before the 7 days are over to avoid being charged.
If the trial is not on offer when you try to sign up for UFC Fight Pass, you may try searching various websites for a promo code as there is an option for this when checking out.
What Does UFC Fight Pass Include?
Here’s a complete list of what you get access to with UFC Fight Pass:
- Fight Library – With over 20,000 fights available from many different MMA promotions. Fight Library has its own tab at the top of the page.
- Dana White’s Contender Series – This can be watched live when new episodes are introduced. Episodes are uploaded the day after airing where there are currently 5 seasons (2022).
- Live Events – 30+ combat sports promotions are exclusively streamed live and can be seen through the schedule tab. Found in the top right of the page.
- Movies – A total of 67 MMA movies to choose from, including films featuring Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris. Found through the home page and scrolling down to Fight Pass Programming.
- The Ultimate Fighter – The same as the Contender Series, TUF can be watched live and episodes are uploaded 24 hours after airing.
- Fight Pass Originals – An extensive library of exclusive in-depth and entertaining MMA content in various formats.
- UFC Shows – A library of various different shows.
- UFC Embedded – 748 episodes of vlog-style content of fighters pre-fight.
- Early Prelims – Available for all UFC events, including PPV.
- Post-match Press Conferences – Live as soon as the event is finished.
- UFC Unfiltered – Over 600 episodes of the UFC podcast.
- UFC Events Uploaded – Fight Nights are immediately uploaded after the event finishes, while PPV events are uploaded between a week and a month after (varies).
- Device Availability – Available on both android and iOS and on all devices and platforms that can download the UFC app. Check your device availability here.
- Favorites and History – Easily save your favorite fights from the video player and check your account history under the ‘more’ tab at the top of the page.
- Subtitles – Under preferences in the ‘more’ tab, you can change the language and language subtitles.
Fight Library
There’s an insane amount of content on UFC Fight Pass, featuring MMA, kickboxing, muay thai, wrestling, jiu-jitsu, grappling, boxing, and more. The content features new and old fights and is split into MMA Organizations (24), Classic MMA (19), and Premier MMA (8).
Fight Pass Originals Feature (Complete list)
Knockouts Only, Fightlore: storytelling animation, Watch Party (UFC fighters watching live UFC events), UFC on the Line (gambling predictions), Year of the Fighter (documentary style), Step into Our World (short mini-series), Extra rounds: previews and breakdowns of UFC events (podcast/interviews), Twenty/20: looking back over some of the best fights, UFC Chronicles (15-30 minute stories of UFC personalities), UFC Fight Physics, Where Are They Now?, UFC Connected, and Funky Family.
UFC Shows (Complete list)
Best of WEC, Ultimate Knockouts, The Ultimate Fighter, Best of Pride, UFC Academy Combine, Fight Flashback, Profiles in Combat, UFC Main Event, The Notorious, UFC Unfiltered, UFC 25 Greatest Fights, Dana White: Lookin’ For a Fight, UFC the Walk, UFC Now, UFC Top 10.
Live Events
With UFC Fight Pass you get access to UFC early prelim fights on PPV nights, which are also available with ESPN+. You also get access to live events, including MMA (outside of the UFC), kickboxing, Muay Thai, and many more. These include large promotions such as Invicta, Fury, Glory Kickboxing, Pride FC, and Cage Warriors.
These live events can be seen by clicking on the Live Now button in the top right of the screen. The Schedule tab at the top of the page can be used to see many live events scheduled throughout the week, held mostly on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.
The schedule for each event gives you the hosting promotion, and the time and date the event starts. Events are scheduled up to 2-3 months in advance and are constantly updated when new events are organized, or if there are any changes to upcoming events.
Does UFC Fight Pass include PPV?
UFC Fight Pass doesn’t have PPVs included for the price of $9.99 per month. However, Fight Pass includes the option to pay for PPVs and watch them through UFC Fight Pass. This is a completely separate payment and can be purchased by clicking on the person icon in the top right of the page and then scrolling down the subscriptions page.
Can You Watch UFC Fight Night on UFC Fight Pass?
All UFC Fight Nights can be watched live on UFC Fight Pass for free.
UFC Fight Nights are uploaded roughly 1 to 2 hours after the event has finished.
What’s Good About UFC Fight Pass?
- The extensive library of content that’ll provide you with any UFC fight you want to watch, as well as any series or other content you’re interested in; there are endless hours to watch, and no other fighting service comes remotely close.
- Convenient search bar in the top right corner to quickly find anything you’re looking for.
- Access to early prelims which are found in the live now or Watch tab at the top of the page.
- Instant uploads of recent UFC events (except PPVs) after the event has finished.
- 7-day free trial so you can try UFC Fight Pass before you commit to a month or annual subscription.
- Saving of $24 if you decide to pay for the annual subscription.
- Ease of cancelation if you choose to do so. This is done by clicking on the person icon in the top right of the screen, taking you to the subscription you’re on and it’ll have the red cancel button just underneath; as seen in the screenshot in the price section.
- The ability to watch on many different devices.
- Save the best fights and easily locate them under the ‘more’ tab and the favorites and history section.
- Worldwide availability, except in Brazil.
- Available customer support email: Support@ufc.tv.
What’s Bad About UFC Fight Pass?
- It can be hard to find fights even when using the search bar. It’s easiest to use google to find the fight you want, and then type the event in the search bar, such as ‘UFC 275’.
- There’s no definition quality control on the video interface and the maximum is 720p. Sometimes quality can be grainy and take a while to improve due to the slow frame rate of some fights.
- The streaming can sometimes buffer and be slow; especially when loading a fight or trying to skip, rewind, or forward. However, it’s usually only a second or two before the video resumes.
- The interface isn’t perfect, and it can be hard to navigate and find what you’re looking for; there’s almost too much content. The only way to find things is by either using the search bar (which has to be quite specific) or scrolling down the home page and the ‘fight library’ tab until you find what you want.
- You have to wait roughly 1 month before UFC PPV events are uploaded, however, at times they’re uploaded earlier than this, with UFC 275 being uploaded just 2 weeks after airing on June 12th.
- Some content isn’t amazing and feels like it’s there for the sake of adding content to amass more in terms of content volume.
- For the price, you might expect more live UFC content than only early prelims. They could offer slight discounts on PPV events or a package incorporating them into a monthly or yearly fee.
- There’s an option to buy the UFC PPV events but this isn’t advised as there are many negative reviews saying the playback of live PPVs is poor quality and freezes. In this case, it’s advised to buy the PPV and watch it through ESPN+ or BT Sport for UK fans, or whichever TV broadcaster has rights to the UFC in your country. If however, it’s your only option, it will still work.
Verdict: Is UFC Fight Pass Worth It?
Yes, it’s worth it, or at least worth trying. For either £7 or $10 a month, you have an unmatched streaming service allowing you to watch an insane amount of fights and a huge variety of MMA and UFC content.
I would recommend paying monthly to start with, so if you don’t use the service enough you can easily cancel your subscription (annual subscriptions are a big commitment).
The price is fair for what you get, as you can see all the fights and series that you wanted, and then cancel your subscription down the line.
Despite only working on one device at a time, you could also share an account with a friend or two if you feel the price is too much; as it’s unlikely you’ll all be wanting to use it at the same time, all the time.
UFC Fight Pass is especially worth it for die-hard MMA fans and anyone into gambling, as you can watch many live events and thousands of fights to increase your knowledge, and there’s also UFC On-the-Line which gives gambling predictions and tips.
Lastly, UFC Fight Pass should be used for the incredible content library it has and despite the interface and video player quality not being Netflix standards, the user interface and video player are more than good enough.
Also, do not buy the PPVs and watch them through UFC Fight Pass as quality playback isn’t guaranteed and will be worse than buying it through other professional broadcasters.
