The UFC must be desperate for UFC Fight Pass subscriptions.
It would be a safe assumption to say that the organisation's subscription-based video streaming service was dealt a blow in the popularity stakes, particularly on this side of the world, once the powers that be decided to remove all live main cards from the service last August.
Subscribers in the UK and Ireland were suddenly restricted to live coverage of preliminary bouts alone which made Fight Pass far less tantalising a tool than it originally was.
Plenty of fight fans unsubscribed immediately due to the fact that most of the allure of the website came down to the ability to watch all events, from start to finish, online.
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And it would appear that the organisation is in dire need of a boost in subscribers as the UFC has reportedly started denying fighters and their coaches free access to fight tape.
According to one of the top striking coaches in the industry, JacksonWink's Brandon Gibson, trainers will now have to pay a monthly fee for Fight Pass in order to study footage on upcoming opponents.
Gibson explains that it's not the fact that Fight Pass is now a necessity - as most top-level coaches already subscribe because they are also hardcore fight fans - but it's the way that the UFC seem to be offering fighters' teams very little in the way of support.
And considering that the UFC would be absolutely nothing without the fighters who put their health on the line for very little reward makes the change in policy seem very unfair indeed.
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