Former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson had a front-row seat to one of the most frustrating moments in recent pay-per-view history, and he was not quiet about it.
With the main event of UFC 326 well underway, Paramount+ went dark at one of the worst possible moments. The live broadcast of the highly anticipated bout between Max Holloway and Charles Oliveira cut out for viewers as the two were heading into the third round, leaving fans staring at blank screens for roughly two minutes.
When the feed finally resumed, most found themselves plunged more than two minutes into a round they had missed entirely.
Johnson had been reacting to the action in real time just before the outage hit, breaking down exactly what was unfolding between the two competitors.
“That’s what Charles is being able to do to Max Holloway,” Johnson said. “Max can’t get his hands off. And Max is a great grappler, but not the level of Charles Oliveira.”
Then, without warning, the picture vanished.
“The TV just turned off,” Johnson said. “Hope we don’t miss anything.”
His mood shifted quickly from concern to full-throated exasperation, as he found himself mourning the reliability of older broadcast formats.
“I miss the good old days when it was DirecTV, Comcast,” he said. “You know, this broadcasting bulls**t, just keep it on f*cking DirecTV.”
When an error message appeared on screen reading, “Oops, looks like your internet was interrupted. Please try again,” Johnson had a sharp response ready.
“No, bi**h, your s**t got interrupted.”
Johnson was far from alone in his frustration. MMA journalist Ariel Helwani flagged the issue in real time on social media, writing that he was getting “the black screen of death on Paramount+,” while reporter Danny Segura similarly questioned whether the platform had collapsed under the weight of the event.
Helwani later confirmed the feed had returned but noted that at least two minutes of the third round had been lost to the void. He also clarified that while it was initially unclear whether the problem originated on the viewer’s end, the evidence pointed squarely at Paramount+ itself.
The platform offered no immediate comment on what caused the disruption.
When Johnson’s own broadcast finally came back online, he wasted no time getting his audience back up to speed.
“We’re back, boys,” he said. “Charles Oliveira’s on top of Max and he’s mounting him.”
