UFC Fight Night 170 is part of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and took place on March 26, 2022, at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, United States. Tickets are sold out and if you haven’t booked your flight and hotel by now, it is probably too late.
Where to stream UFC Fight Night 170
UFC has its own streaming service, called Fight Pass. However, beware. This service doesn’t include the actual fights live. The Fight Pass service includes the build-up to fights and then lets you watch fights two days after they have taken place.
The only way you can watch the fight live online is through ESPN+. If you access the UFC website and try to book a PPV ticket for fight night 170, you get redirected to the Fight Pass subscription page. This will not give you a live view of the match on March 14th. You will only get preliminaries on the 13th and reviews on the 15th included on the Fight Pass.
UFC has sold the live broadcasting rights to its Fight Night events to ESPN+. The ESPN+ service shows some UFC events as part of its subscription service and others are only available as pay-per-view. Fight Night 170 is not a pay-per-view event, so you will be able to see it on the schedule of your ESPN + subscription.
For those who just want to watch UFC PPV events, there is a catch. You can only buy a PPV ticket through ESPN+ if you are a subscriber. So, you need to pay $4.99 per month for the subscription and then pay a $64.99 PPV ticket price on top of that. However, remember that UFC Fight Night 170 is not a PPV event.
Why use a VPN to UFC Fight Night 170
ESPN+ is only available in the United States. You can watch the service online at the ESPN.com website. However, that site scans all video requests and spots where they originated. If that location is within the United States, the video will play, if it is from outside of the USA, the video screen shows an error message.
A VPN relocates its customers. When starting up the VPN, the user first has to choose a location. Once the VPN is active, all requests from the user will appear to have originated from the chosen location. Thus, no matter where you really are, if you chose a VPN server in the USA to connect through, your access to the ESPN video player will be approved.
How to stream UFC Fight Night 170 from outside the US with a VPN
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Subscribe to a VPN provider – pick one of the recommended services in the list below
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Download and install the VPN client onto your chosen devices
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Connect to a server inside the USA
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Go to the ESPN website and log in.
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Click on ESPN+ on the menu at the top of the screen.
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Click on Watch Now from the drop-down menu.
VPNs for ESPN and ESPN+
US sports streaming services are a little tricky. Not only do they block viewers from outside the country, but they impose “blackouts” on different areas of the country for different sporting events. If you get an ESPN+ subscription to watch UFC Fight Night 170, you also have access to many other events. However, in some cases, viewers are not allowed to watch a sporting event live of one of the teams is from the city where they are located. Those location detection systems can work out where a viewer is right down to the street.
This means that for some sporting events, you need to specify exactly which city you want to appear to be in. Most VPNs just allow you to choose a country, but some give you options over the city as well.
Apart from location options, you need to be sure that the VPN you choose can get into ESPN. You also need a fast VPN service because many slow down your connection so it is too slow for live video streaming.
Best VPNs for ESPN
ExpressVPN
Our top pick!
- Always evades internet control in the PRC
- Keeps ahead of the Netflix VPN detection algorithm
- Benchmark tests show excellent speed
Surfshark
- Smart DNS service, understands the technology
- Comprehensive security add-on package.
- No data throughput limits and has a no-logs policy
NordVPN
- More US city locations than its rivals
- Includes malware protection
- No-logs policy
CyberGhost
- Precise locations
- Very large VPN server network
- Offers a 45-day money-back guarantee
IPVanish
- No limit on the number of devices you can connect at the same time
- SOCKS5 proxy, which its main rivals don’t have
- More VPN servers in more US cities to dodge blackouts