Video taking off 20x its usual first day

Joey Essex's draw with Dapper Laughs prompts a scoring debate

DAZN Combat's official highlights draw an exceptional early audience, with viewers questioning whether Dapper Laughs deserved the decision.

Channel:

DAZN Combat Story of October 12, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 254,025 views a day, 20 times a normal first day on this channel (12,813).

Joey Essex vs. Dapper Laughs | Official Fight Highlights

DAZN Combat has posted the punches, but much of the conversation is about the scorecards. Its "Joey Essex vs. Dapper Laughs | Official Fight Highlights" drew about a quarter-million views in its first day, roughly twenty times the channel's usual start.

The bout ended in a split draw, a result confirmed in the channel's separate post-fight coverage. Beneath the highlights, many viewers argue that Dapper Laughs did enough to win. Others pair that verdict with recognition of both men's effort in the ring. The comments arrived far faster than on a regular DAZN Combat upload, making the judging the clearest talking point.

It is a crossover pairing with roots well outside boxing: Essex became widely known through The Only Way Is Essex, while comedian Daniel O'Reilly built his Dapper Laughs persona through short online comedy videos. Here, viewers are discussing their punches rather than their television or comedy performances.

The Essex-Dapper highlights aren't the channel's only unusually fast-starting upload from the card. "Plinio Cruz vs. Gary Olive | Official Fight Highlights" and the tag-team bout featuring NitBoy, KaneWest, Little T and Cracky Tokky also drew much larger early audiences than usual. DAZN Combat has followed the main bout with full-card highlights and a separate Short about Essex's response to Deji's post-fight comments.

Published on Trari

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What viewers say

Dapper definitely won that by a mile but hats off to both of them they both fought with heart
@Lewis-James89See it on YouTube
How that was a draw is beyond me.
@Da10thwondaSee it on YouTube
I find dapper to be very funny, but i have a new found respect fpr him now, hats off to him, he won that tear up
@oxfordlureaddictSee it on YouTube

3 more comments

Both were game and throwing..more punches and spirt than some pro fights . Well done guys
@jayg1285See it on YouTube
Dapper won that by a mile
@BenAdams-s2g9fSee it on YouTube
Dapper won that all day long
@danh8726See it on YouTube

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The facts

Channel: DAZN Combat
Subscribers: 208,000 ▲ 1,000 this week
Channel views, last 7 days: 2,061,446
Channel views, pace per day: 1,450,329 (on a normal day: 393,876)
Video published: October 10, 2026
Video views so far: 314,878 (2 days online)
Video views, pace per day: 286,068

The numbers

The main-bout highlights had an exceptional first day, with comments rising even more sharply than views. Several other uploads from the card also started well above the channel's usual pace.

the video's first day

usual first day here

12,813

this video

254,025

subscribers

208,000

▲ 1,000 in the last 7 days

total views

90,735,165

views per day

1,450,329