The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has recently been questioned by fans for using promotional images that look like they were generated by AI, triggering a negative backlash against “AI spam advertising” and “saving money instead of art.” whenWhen UFC President Dana White was asked about this incident, his reaction was not to deny it or to put out the fire with PR words, but to respond to the fans with a very tough attitude., telling everyone to stop arguing and just watch the game.
Fans discovered that many promotional pictures were suspected to be generated by AI, and they were dissatisfied all at once.
The report mentioned that on the eve of UFC Fight Night 271 being held in Seattle, the United States, some fans noticed on the Internet that a promotional image was made using an AI generation tool. Later, some people dug out more past promotional materials, which also had traces of AI generation. This makes many people feel unhappy, because on the one hand, UFC is a large-scale commercial system, and on the other hand, it charges high fees from the audience. Fans will naturally question whether they want to save this little money after making so much, or use AI to replace creators?
Dana White: AIAI, so what if you use it?
In the interview, Dana White first asked what it meant,After the reporter explained fans’ dislike of AI content, he became even more impatient and bluntly stated that the AI era was coming., even if the UFC uses AI, it’s not a big deal, and then directly cursed and asked fans to shut up and watch the game. The point is, he did not deny that the UFC uses AI, but rather acquiesced in his tone: The company may be using it.
This incident is stinging because it reveals what many industries really say about AI.
Kotaku also commented that many large companies have the same idea in promoting AI:Under cost pressure, we want to use AI to reduce costs and increase efficiency, or even replace part of the labor force., but most managers will use nicer words to package it. The difference with Dana White is,He almost said the attitude of “you will still pay for it anyway” in a rough tone.. For those who oppose AI-generated content, this response is not just about arguing about a picture, but about how much value the creator has left.
For Southeast Asia, this incident reflects a bigger shift in how global publishers balance community values, branding risk, and long-term player trust in always-online fandom ecosystems.