This one's by Brad, probably one of the most interesting pieces I have read and definitely an issue that goes overlooked by the majority of the MMA media. A great read and, in my opinion, one of the most thought provoking pieces Brad or any other writer has produced at FLD. Enjoy!

http://www.fightlockdown.com/article...annot-be-found

[Brad.Taschuk]

Love the title!

That part of it was Miles' work everyone, so give credit for his robot-like wit.

[MilesHackett]

Originally Posted by Brad.Taschuk

Love the title!

That part of it was Miles' work everyone, so give credit for his robot-like wit.

Haha thanks, I guess being half-computer myself ensures quality interwebz humor..

Your article got me thinking about the UFC Vault, which a number of us have been able to test drive for three free months, and just how god-awful it is.

Prior to gaining entry to the mysterious vault, I assumed that it would be safe-keeping the entire UFC video library, seeing as it was in fact the official video library of the largest MMA promotion on the planet. Man, was I sorely misled. Not only are hundreds of fights missing from the vault, but its a nightmare to navigate, and the quality of the video is less than what you'd expect for a product you are usually expected to pay for.

Either regulate your product to ensure its quality, or make it freely available to the masses with basic youtube quality. As it stands, the current service is not doing them any favors with hardcore or casual fans.

Hell, just make the vault free all the time, that way you'll get direct traffic searching for fight videos at UFC.com, rather than a third party like youtube. Right now their business model just doesn't make sense with regard to their video library, in my opinion.

[vikingpride]

Good stuff.

Simple yet thought provoking and something that could easily spin off into a million directions.

And love the title. I wonder if Robo Hackett has 404 error issues?

The UFC Vault like Hackett was saying is really sub standard for being the primary internet resource for the UFC. The older fights are really low quality and even the newer fights (post 100) are good quality, but still not as great as you would think or really expect. And the navigation is awful and you feel almost like your sneaking around the place and getting lucky when you actually find something your looking for. The overall number of fights is disappointing. Not to mention that there is no real rhyme or reason for them having the fights they do have.

And to deal more directly with what Brad is saying i think SF could really look to jump into a new market here and beat the UFC to the punch and maybe form some kind of deal with Hulu (and what ever sites are available for other countries) to show past events. Like a day or two after they air for CBS fights, and maybe 2 weeks after for the fights that are on showtime (just so people still might be interested in buying the Showtime package).

Actually i just checked and SF does have about 20 fights on Hulu, but all are a year plus old. Newest one i think was Babalu vs Southworth. i really think if done right and kept fairly up to date they could really cash in here.

[Thaispider]

a very good read and well written as always , good work brad and kackett on the witty title

[FunkYou]

Nicxe write up. Didn't realise the vault was so shoddy.

[Superman55]

Originally Posted by MilesHackett

Haha thanks, I guess being half-computer myself ensures quality interwebz humor..

Your article got me thinking about the UFC Vault, which a number of us have been able to test drive for three free months, and just how god-awful it is.

Prior to gaining entry to the mysterious vault, I assumed that it would be safe-keeping the entire UFC video library, seeing as it was in fact the official video library of the largest MMA promotion on the planet. Man, was I sorely misled. Not only are hundreds of fights missing from the vault, but its a nightmare to navigate, and the quality of the video is less than what you'd expect for a product you are usually expected to pay for.

Either regulate your product to ensure its quality, or make it freely available to the masses with basic youtube quality. As it stands, the current service is not doing them any favors with hardcore or casual fans.

Hell, just make the vault free all the time, that way you'll get direct traffic searching for fight videos at UFC.com, rather than a third party like youtube. Right now their business model just doesn't make sense with regard to their video library, in my opinion.

Haha I was pretty much telling my roomate that, and he couldn't understand why I was expecting so much.

Also, adding to what you said about the applet itself, it is terrible. I hate how its inset so you have to use its back and forward options. It also doesn't save passwords or cache that part of the site, very annoying in my opinion. Super clunky application with not much content or value.

[PirateNinja415]

Great Article. I totally agree that the vault should be free. I'm sure the UFC could make their money back on advertisements, and it would definitely could help casual fans get more into the sport. Oh and sweet title

[Negative2]

I thought FLD was broken lol.

Interesting theory. I really don't see what the big deal is about watching fights online. Lemme ask you this; when you couldn't find a video on Youtube or it was taken down due to copyright BS, how many times did you go out and buy the dvd with that exact fight on it??

[Brad.Taschuk]

Originally Posted by Negative2

Interesting theory. I really don't see what the big deal is about watching fights online. Lemme ask you this; when you couldn't find a video on Youtube or it was taken down due to copyright BS, how many times did you go out and buy the dvd with that exact fight on it??

Zero, and that's exactly my point.

Obviously there are costs associated with this issue – and the idea of copyrighted video available for free in general – on both sides of the coin. From one perspective, Zuffa, Strikeforce or any entity could claim that they are losing money when people have access to free resources, arguing that it's one more PPV or DVD they didn’t sell, or one more viewer they missed out on (in the traditional sense of viewership). However, another side is that these companies are wasting money preventing people from viewing their product, people who are just going to find another sneakier, free way to do just that, rather than simply purchasing it. I’m no expert on this issue, and I don’t know how much a company would lose, or how much they would spend in order to retain their product, all I know is that the internet has the potential to benefit the major promotions more than it can hurt them, just as it did when MMA was gasping for air.

Zuffa is spending all this money on tech teams and legal teams to shut down streams and erase Zuffa content from sites like Youtube, but what does it get them? I can't imagine someone being like "Oh dang, they just shut down my stream... maybe I should buy the PPV halfway through the event." And anything they take off Youtube can simply be downloaded anyways. Basically they're flushing money down the drain, and getting no return on it. At least if they embraced the internet, they'd have a new outlet to use to attract fans who might actually buy a PPV (as nobody will argue that watching a shitty quality stream is better than an HD PPV... except in price).