Watch MMA in Canada for Free!*

If you’re sick of paying big bucks to watch less-than-stellar fights – or if you are just a cheap bastard – I have a few ways for you to watch most fights without forking out extra dough.

First of all, WEC is shown in the USA on the Versus cable channel. In Canada, The Score picks up the Versus feed for us. If you have an extended cable or satellite package, you likely already have The Score. So you’re already paying for it, you pay no extra fees, just tune in. The Score is also available in HD, so make sure you ask your cable provider for more information about that.

The Score also carries Bellator broadcasts, albeit a day later. So tune in to what they call MMA Fight Night on Fridays.

The Ultimate Fighter series is shown on Spike TV, which is also on your extended cable or satellite service. It can also be seen, on a delayed basis, on Rogers Sportsnet. The only reason you might wait to watch it on Sportsnet is if you wanted to see it in HD, since Spike is not yet available in Canada in HD. If Sportsnet were smart, they would take advantage of Canada’s blackout rules and have Spike‘s broadcast replaced with yet another episode of CSI:.

Also available on both Spike and Sportsnet is The Ultimate Fighter finale. Sportsnet generally simulcasts this live event as well as most live Spike Fight Nights.

But those are the easy ones that you already knew about. What about Strikeforce? Well, since you know about the above broadcasts, you are no doubt aware that every once in a while CBS will deign to air a Strikeforce event. I don’t know of any cable or satellite company that doesn’t carry a CBS feed in Canada. And, to the best of my knowledge, these feeds are on basic cable, so again, you’re already paying for it.

Strikeforce on Super Channel, on the other hand, takes a bit of effort. Super Channel is a premium service in Canada and therefore is not included as part of any cable package. It stands on its own, and can be quite pricey, especially considering the movies they show are ones nobody has ever heard of. And not in that arty, independent, foreign, award-winning way either!

Here’s what has worked for me in the past. (My cable provider is Shaw. Results may vary with your provider.) About an hour or two before the Strikeforce event was to start, I phoned my cable company and asked them to add Super Channel to my services. After the event was over (actually the next day, since their office was closed at that late hour), I phoned the cable company and cancelled the service. They didn’t ask any questions. And when I received my bill, because I had it for such a short period of time – less than 24 hours – I was not charged for it at all.

So that covers Strikeforce, WEC and Bellator. What else is there? Oh yeah. UFC. The big dog. Well, as I mentioned, you can see some of their events on Spike TV and Rogers Sportsnet. But really what you wanna know is how can you see the pay-per-views for free.

There are a number of websites that offer torrents of ppv events. And others that offer live streaming video of the events for free. But I cannot tell you where they are, since they are technically illegal and we are a law-abiding site; we won’t be encouraging people to break the law. Instead, why not head out to your local bar or restaurant and catch the action with a bunch of other like-minded folks? I know just the place!