Streamer illegally broadcast a pay-per-view fight by pretending to play UFC 3
UFC 218 took place on Saturday, with feaherweight fighters Max Holloway and Jose Aldo headlining the event's main card. By pretending live footage of the fight was in-game footage of the latest EA Sports UFC videogame (UFC 3), popular streamer Aj Lester broadcast the otherwise pay-per-view event to the world.
To make his charade more believable, Lester even accompanied his 'gameplay' with sound effects. At one point he even calls himself out for not blocking an attack.
Since his tweet he was featured in went viral, Lester has deleted the VOD of the fight. But in a follow-up stream, he claimed he hadn't heard from Twitch, UFC, or any other authority on the matter. Lester has, however, found some success from his endeavours; his follower count which has been stuck at 2,000 for years, has more than doubled since saturday night, and has now reached nearly 5,000.
Despite breaking the law, Aj Lester's commitment to the ruse is admirable. His grunts and sharp glances to the stream's text chat do make it seem like he's in control of the fight.