On Thursday, DAZN announced a major increase to their subscription price for users in the United States. After launching in several international markets in 2016, the streaming service launched in the U.S. in 2018 with former ESPN president John Skipper on board as its executive chairman. The service allowed for a 30-day free trial for those in the U.S. with a $9.99 per month price tag after the trial’s expiration.
This week’s news was that the monthly fee would double to $19.99 per month or the option of spending $99.99 for one-year and emphasizing the value in the yearly option than paying month-to-month. Those that signed up for the $9.99 option will be grandfathered in and allowed to keep the old price for one-year if they sign up before Monday.
DAZN saw trends that provided evidence of subscribers that signed up for one specific event and then drop the service, treating an event like a singular pay-per-view and avoid a long-term commitment. This announcement eliminates the free trial period and users will have to spend $19.99 up front if they are only dropping in to watch a singular event and then drop the service immediately.
Former fighter Frank Shamrock is being accused of animal cruelty with WFAA out of Dallas reporting that Shamrock left a dog inside of a vehicle at a Texas airport for several days. Shamrock spoke to the news outlet and said the dog belonged to his mother with Shamrock in town helping her move. He said she was unable to continue caring for her dogs with one placed in a shelter and claimed no other shelter would take the second one. The report goes on to state that authorities believe the dog was left in the back of a truck from March 2nd through 7th at the airport with some food and water. Shamrock defended his choice believing the dog may not be alive if he didn’t do what he did and is willing to return to Texas if he is charged.
After the story came out, Shamrock was upset with how he was portrayed in the report and issued the following comment on his Instagram account:
This is #fakenews. @abcnews Edited to create a story. Very sad. Rebecca Lopez you should be ashamed of yourself, I am not being investigated and only took the call to help ring #awareness to #animalcruelty and #elderabuse. Funny how you don’t report the All the facts – just the names that create headlines.
Bellator 218 takes place tonight from Thackerville, Oklahoma with the main card airing at 9 pm ET on Paramount Network and DAZN. Below are the fights on the main card:
- Emmanuel Sanchez vs. Georgi Karakhanyan
- Valentin Moldavsky vs. Linton Vassell
- Anatoly Tokov vs. Gerald Harris
- Will Lavine vs. Norbert Novenyi
The UFC returns with a Fight Night card from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee on Saturday night. The weigh-ins took place on Friday and below is the card with weigh-in results.
Main Card
- Stephen Thompson (170.5) vs. Anthony Pettis (171)
- Curtis Blaydes (262) vs. Justin Willis (266)
- John Makdessi (154) vs. Jesus Pinedo (155.5)
- Jussier Formiga (126) vs. Deiveson Figueiredo (126)
- Luis Pena (148.5*) vs. Steven Peterson (146)
- Maycee Barber (126) vs. JJ Aldrich (125)
Preliminary Card
- Bryce Mitchell (145.5) vs. Bobby Moffett (145.5)
- Marlon Vera (135.5) vs. Frankie Saenz (135.5)
- Alexis Davis (125) vs. Jennifer Maia (126)
- Angela Hill (116) vs. Randa Markos (116)
- Chris Gutierrez (135.5) vs. Ryan MacDonald (135.5)
- Eric Shelton (126) vs. Jordan Espinosa (126)
*Luis Pena missed weight for his featherweight fight and will be fined 30% of his purse.