A petition on Change.org demanding a refund for UFC 272 has reached over 100,000 signatures after technical difficulties obscured less than one minute of the ostensible action of the main event between Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal. Fans who tuned into the tedious grudge match were left outraged after ESPN successfully broadcast nearly the entire event, with only one minor exception in the second round.
“You’re sitting there begging for something, anything to come along and save you,” said UFC fan Terry Harris. “And then, just when you think you’ve got it and that beautiful blue screen comes up, they pull the rug out and it’s right back into the Octagon without another reprieve for the entire fight.”
Many fans noted that the tease of technical difficulties only to be met with a prompt fix was worse than no difficulties at all, and that ESPN might as well have just aired the whole thing uninterrupted if a handful of measly seconds was all they were willing to do for their paying customers.