Steven Marrocco of the Vancouver Sun writes that the UFC plans to go after individuals and websites that push pirated UFC content:

Mixed martial arts fans who watch pirated internet content could soon be pressed against the cage, says the president of an industry-leading fight promotion. In a move that could signal a sea change in the viral presence of MMA — the burgeoning sport of caged pugilism — Dana White, president of Ultimate Fighting Championship, said his company is readying a legal assault on individuals and websites that deal in unauthorized content. “When people start going to jail, people will stop doing it,” White said. The pay-per-view industry, of which the UFC has emerged as one of the most profitable players with an estimated $349 million US in revenue last year, is the latest front in a war between consumers who want free content and entertainment companies with a product to protect. The weapon of choice for digital thieves: streaming video websites that beam live pay-per-view signals to their home computers, free of charge. UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta testified for the US House Judiciary Committee earlier this month during a referendum on internet piracy of sporting events and said his anti-piracy team had uncovered 271 illegal streams of UFC 106 with over 140,000 viewers. “The piracy of live sporting events is illegal, it kills jobs, and it threatens the expansion of US based companies,” he told lawmakers. “The UFC is potentially losing millions of dollars a year from piracy.”

Payout Perspective:

The goal is a noble one, and definitely for the betterment of the sport, but one has to wonder if the money spent pursuing these lawsuits couldn’t be better spent to further market and expand the sport. It’s going to be a very difficult to bring down all websites, let alone individual users of this content – the music and film industries have tried without much success thus far.

However, this might be the UFC’s best option: join forces with other leagues – and even the music and film industries – to split the costs of the tremendous lobbying effort necessary to strengthen piracy laws.