UFC 178 to air exclusively live on BT Sport in Ireland & UK

After 3e’s press release announcing their UFC tv deal yesterday, a lot of confusion has arisen.

Setanta Sports, who carry BT Sport in Ireland, confirmed to us today that all UFC events including UFC 178, which features Conor McGregor vs Dustin Poirier, will air exclusively live on BT Sport in Ireland and the UK and on stream with FightPass.

3e will be showing highlight packages of UFC events, likely on the Monday following the event.

Here is the statement in full: “Setanta Sports today announced that Conor McGregor’s much anticipated fight against American Dustin Poirier will be shown exclusively live on BT Sport which is only available in the Republic of Ireland as part of the Setanta Sports pack.  The fight, which is part of the main card of UFC 178, takes place in the world famous MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas on September 27^th

McGregor’s last fight saw him return from injury to record a devastating win against Diego Brandao.  It took “The Notorious” just four minutes and five seconds of the first round to wrap up a TKO win in front of nine and a half thousand fans at Dublin’s O2 Arena.  The win saw him stretch his UFC record to 3-0.

Dustin “The Diamond” Poirier is expected to provide the Dubliner with his stiffest opposition to date.  Poirier has an 8-2-0 record in the UFC and is ranked number six in the featherweight division.

Brian Quinn, Marketing Operations Director at Setanta Sports  commented, “We are delighted that UFC fans will be able to see Conor McGregor’s Las Vegas debut exclusively live on the Setanta Sports pack.  Conor has built up a huge fan base right across Ireland because of his all action style and infectious personality and now they’ll be able to see him light up one of the world’s iconic venues”.

600,000 viewers tuned into Conor McGregor’s win against Diego Brandao with a peak figure of 340,200 recorded.

McGregor’s fight comes a week in advance of Cathal Pendred’s next outing which is also live on the Setanta Sports pack.  He faces Russian Gasan Umalatov on the UFC Fight Night card in Stockholm on October 4^th.  Gunnar Nielsen headlines that card as he takes on Rick Story. “