While the UFC prefers holding at least one event per year in the United Kingdom for their fans across the pond, the promotion has yet to come up with an effective solution to manage the timezone. If fights follow their usual timing but in the UK timezone, the PPV sales in the States might suffer since fans will have to tune in to the action in the middle of the workday. However, the UFC’s solution to this isn’t perfect, and TJ Dillashaw recently explained how that affected the UK fighters at UFC 304.
The UFC’s solution to combating the timezone issue is to hold fights at odd times in the UK. For example, UFC 304 started at 11 pm in the United Kingdom, just so US fans could tune in at their usual time. However, this meant that fighters, especially the ones living in the United Kingdom had to change their schedules and stay up throughout the night.
Dillashaw voiced the same concern when he appeared on the latest episode of the Jaxxon Podcast alongside Rampage Jackson and Luke Rockhold. During their conversation, Rampage and Dillashaw shared their thoughts on the timing of the fight and how it affected the fighters. While Rampage believed that the timing affected all fighters, Dillashaw claimed it only affected the Britishers, saying,
“So think about it, they’re doing the whole card on the US timezone. So if you’re Leon Edwards, you’re living life over there. You’re waking up in the morning, you got your kids, you got your family. So you’re living the normal life, then all of a sudden you gotta switch it up at the end. And now you’re so fucked up, you’re fighting at like four in the morning, five in the morning or something to where you should have been asleep.”
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At the same time, the former champion insisted that American fighters should not have had a problem as they were just following the American timezone. Well, Dillashaw wasn’t the only one to criticize the timings, as fighters, including Edwards and Tom Aspinall, claimed their performances were hurt due to the UFC’s decision.
UFC fighters bash the timings for UFC 304 in Manchester
After the fight, several fighters, including Edwards and Aspinall stated that the timing played a huge role. Essentially, the British fighters had to stay up all night and perform at the highest level. Despite securing a first-round knockout win, Aspinall stated that he felt tired there. Edwards also echoed similar sentiments.
Tom Aspinall says he felt “tired” in the cage at UFC 304
“I got up at 8am and I’ve been awake nearly 24 hours now”
Tom Aspinall Official pic.twitter.com/GeeE7Qtyqs
— ACD MMA (@acdmma_) July 28, 2024
Dana White doubled the performance bonus on the night to $100,000 to incentivize the fighters. However, after the event, he stated that he would never increase it again since it did not serve as motivation for any of the fighters. Moreover, White does not believe that the change in timings played a role in the fighters’ performance.
