Streamer banned for pretending to “play” Ngannou vs Fury fight on Twitch

A streamer has been banned from Twitch after attempting to broadcast the highly anticipated Tyson Fury vs. Francis Ngannou boxing match live on their stream, disguising it as gameplay.

Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou went head-to-head in a combat sports crossover match on October 28. Ngannou, a former UFC heavyweight champion, stepped into the boxing ring for the first time to face Fury, an undefeated boxing champion.

The fight, which many expected to be a one-sided victory for Fury, ended up being a thrilling back-and-forth battle, with Ngannou even knocking down the boxing champion at one point. In the end, Fury won a controversial split decision as many viewers around the world tuned in.

One such viewer, however, went to unusual lengths to watch the stream with others, as they attempted to bypass copyright restrictions by pretending they were using a controller to play a boxing game, all while streaming the fight live on Twitch.

The ruse was quickly discovered, however, as Streamerbans notified followers that BLOU had been banned from Twitch as the fight was taking place.

BLOU is a popular streamer on Twitch with more than 518,000 followers and this marks their seventh ban from the platform since 2021 and the fourth this year alone.

The Twitch community had hilarious reactions to the ban, with users joking about the “insane graphics” of the supposed new DLC pack for Fight Night. Others called out the questionable attempt at dodging copyright restrictions, writing, “Bro thought a controller was gonna save him.”

The incident draws comparisons to the memorable example from 2017 in which another streamer, Lester Gaming, attempted to disguise live footage of UFC 218 while streaming under the EA UFC 3 category on Twitch.

Lester was handed a 24-hour ban from Twitch after the incident had been shared by multiple media outlets. But that didn’t deter them from trying again in 2018, streaming an NBA playoff match while pretending to play NBA 2K18.

While Twitch encourages sidecasting sports on the platform, unfortunately, many broadcasts are subject to licensing restrictions, and this was one of them.

The Fury vs. Ngannou fight, being a pay-per-view exclusive event, required fans to purchase access to the official live stream through ESPN+ or DAZN, depending on their location. The PPV would cost $80 in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada.

However, this time, it seems BLOU’s stream provided a free, albeit illegal, alternative for fans unwilling to pay for the special event.