The UFC Is Trying to Get Ahead of Its Ronda Rousey GIF Problem

Ronda Rousey's immense celebrity has its drawbacks for UFC.

Rousey, the UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion, will defend her title in Melbourne, Australia Saturday night against challenger Holly Holm.

Rousey's sheer talent—she frequently defeats her opponents in mere seconds, with news reports frequently comparing her dominance to Mike Tyson's—may be causing at least one unintended headache for the UFC: comprehensive video clips of her victories are easily shareable on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Vine.

UFC sent an email to members of the press late Thursday reminding them that "no highlights are authorized for distribution" until the company has provided them with "approved guidelines." While UFC did not respond to Motherboard's request for comment, Josh Nason, a longtime MMA reporter for WrestlingObserver.com who received the email in question, told Motherboard in a Skype chat that this was the first time he could remember the mixed martial arts organization ever directly asking members of the media not to share unauthorized video clips online.

"Any reliable media outlet isn't going to pirate the fight," Nason said. "But UFC may be trying to curb the possibility that some fans think they can skip paying $60 [for the pay-per-view] by checking Instagram."

UFC has a well-earned reputation of being particularly strict with respect to online piracy. In one high-profile example, UFC's parent company, Las Vegas-based Zuffa, filed a $32 million lawsuit against a New York man in 2014 for allegedly uploading 141 UFC pay-per-view events to the internet. The lawsuit was settled in 2014 for an undisclosed amount, with the man publicly apologizing "to the UFC for any damages incurred as a result of my actions in illegally distributing copyrighted UFC broadcasts."

This attitude toward preventing the sharing of unauthorized clips online isn't unique. The NFL filed copyright complaints against Deadspin's Twitter account in October for posting highlight GIFs, while the Barclay's Premier League, England's top soccer league, has repeatedly asked fans not to publish unauthorized clips online.

Some sports organizations take a less strict approach. The NBA told the told the Washington Post that having its clips shared online is a "great way to drive interest and excitement." And one prominent GIF creator in the pro-wrestling fan community, known online as Senor Lariato, told Motherboard that the Japanese wrestling promotions that he regularly creates GIFs of have not objected to him "live GIFing" their events. These promotions, he believes, "are more concerned with native Japanese watching the content for free than they are about international fans doing so." (Senor Lariato, whose first name is Richard and is located in the UK, declined to give Motherboard his surname.)

Young Tanahashi tries to stand up to Tenryu #NJPW pic.twitter.com/mcaHtVcfXw
— LARIATOOOOO!!! (@SenorLARIATO) November 12, 2015

"The immediate question for UFC is, do you see these clips as gateways to get people interested in paying for your product?" asked Nason, the MMA reporter. "Because at some point people may start to get sick of seeing her run through her opponents in under a minute."