I've spent about 10 weeks playing with UFC Fight Pass, the UFC's new digital streaming service that debuted in January by offering a two-month free trial.

Zuffa, the UFC's parent company, began charging $9.99 on March 1. Despite an offer of free service for media, I have chosen to pay for it out of my own pocket because it's the right thing to do.

In using it on an almost daily basis, and in comparing it to the new WWE Network that I purchased last week, I'm astounded at the level of vitriol that surrounds Fight Pass.

In this review, I'm going to try to explain what it is, who it is for and, most importantly, my experience using the service.

Clearly, it's a better product conceptually than in actuality now, but it's good enough as is that I do not plan to cancel (or accept the free offer).

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For those who don't know, UFC Fight Pass is a digital streaming service that Zuffa officials have tried to position as a Netflix for fight fans.

It's available on desktop computers and for mobile on iOS and Android now. In addition, it's coming to services like Apple TV and Roku within 60 days and plans are in the works to add it to the Xbox and other gaming consoles down the road.

For $9.99 a month, customers get access to the full library of UFC fights as well as fights from other MMA promotions that Zuffa purchased, including Pride, World Extreme Cagefighting, World Fighting Alliance, Strikeforce and Bushido.

Preliminary fights on pay-per-view shows and on cards on one of the Fox networks that were previously on Facebook will now be exclusively on Fight Pass.

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Zuffa also added a dozen live fight cards that previously did not exist, and those full cards are on Fight Pass.

Before I get into what I like about the service and the problems I have and have seen with it, let's talk a bit about who this is for and why the UFC is doing it.

This is a service aimed almost exclusively at the hardest of the UFC's hardcore fan base. It's not something designed to develop new fans and it's not for the person who doesn't watch all 12 fights on every card.

This service is for serious fans only.

For UFC, it generates $1 million in gross revenue per month for every 100,000 subscribers, though officials refuse to say how many subscribers there are. It is now available in 178 countries, so it would almost have to be a complete bomb to not be in 100,000 homes already.

After expenses, the UFC figures to make a nice monthly profit from Fight Pass, but that isn't the point of it, either.

Rather, because of the extra cards, Fight Pass does two things for Zuffa: First, it provides another way, similar to "The Ultimate Fighter," to mine and develop new talent.

The significance of that can't be understated. The lifeblood of a company that exists largely on pay-per-view revenues is stars who push the needle and sell tickets and pay-per-views.

That's what TUF did almost immediately, producing fighters like Diego Sanchez, Forrest Griffin, Josh Koscheck, Rashad Evans, Michael Bisping and others who quickly became mainstays.

Additionally, Fight Pass will help the UFC develop the fan base in other countries. Prior to Fight Pass, the start times of events were based upon television in the U.S.

That meant that for a pay-per-view show that started at 10 p.m. in New York, a fan in Rome who wanted to watch had to get up at 3 a.m.

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