The Greatest MMA News Column 02.09.10: Global Domination
Posted by Dan Plunkett on 02.09.2010
411's Dan Plunkett takes a look at the UFC's strategy for global domination and if it will work. Plus, possible light heavyweight championship scenarios, Sonnen vs. Silva, and more!
Can the UFC Make MMA the Biggest Sport in the World?
Just 48 short hours ago, Super Bowl 44 became the most watched TV show of all time. Well, in America at least. 106.5 million people, a third of the population, tuned in to watch the two top teams in football battle it out. That number is dwarfed by the amount of viewers garnered by the 2006 World Cup final -- 715.1 million people around the globe tuned in for that.
Take one glance at those numbers and it's no wonder why people find UFC President Dana White crazy when he says MMA is going to be the biggest sport in the world. After all, we're talking about a sport that has yet to gain mainstream acceptance in the country it's based in. And this guy's saying it's going to be the biggest sport in the entire world?
In 2001, Zuffa, LLC purchased a nearly dead company in the UFC. While I'm not going to buy into the Zuffa Myth and tell you the Fertittas and White came in and changed all the rules to make MMA more acceptable, I have to give credit where credit is due. No, Zuffa didn't change the rules of MMA. In fact, the majority of the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts were established by the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board and used by the UFC a full two months before the purchase. However, what Zuffa did do was have a clear goal of where they need to take the company and sport. Their first big goal was to get it on free television.
In the late 90's, MMA came under an incredible amount of scrutiny from politicians such as Senator John McCain. The sport was deemed "brutal" by media outlets and as a result the people that subscribed to them. But by the time Zuffa had bought the company, MMA had cleaned up its rules for the safety of the fighters and social acceptance. Despite the safety record, social acceptance was very hard to come by. It became apparent that the only way America would one day come to accept MMA as a legitimate sport would be to educate them on the sport. The best way to do that is to make them watch it. However, at the time the UFC was running solely on PPV, and there's no way people would pay to have their minds changed. The UFC had to get on free TV.
That's just what they did. First came a deal with Fox Sports Net, which aired a bout from the quickly put together UFC 37.5. The sport certainly didn't explode and gain mainstream acceptance, but it was a start. Thankfully, TNN had just rebranded itself Spike TV and was looking to target young males. The UFC seemed like the right fit, so that's how The Ultimate Fighter came to fruition.
Today, The Ultimate Fighter is still running strong and the UFC as a whole is doing even better. While mainstream acceptance has still yet to be truly found, the UFC is doing great business and is the undisputed king of PPV. The next step? Global expansion.
Clearly, the UFC has a lot of work to do before they get to the level of soccer on the international scene, but is global domination completely out of the question for the UFC? I don't think so.
Already benefitting from the recent sale of a minority stake in the company to Flash Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, the UFC is looking to launch their successful Ultimate Fighter series in the Middle East. But they don't plan to stop there. White says the reality show is "going to be all over the world."
The brilliance behind an international version of The Ultimate Fighter is that it immediately gives the countrymen a fighter that they can identify with and get behind. Can Filipinos identify with Floyd Mayweather as well as they can identify with Manny Pacquiao? Why are PPVs headlined by Georges St. Pierre consistently breaking records in Canada? Obviously, people love to cheer for their fellow countrymen, especially when they're competing on an international platform.
This is why I believe it's not so crazy to think that one day the UFC could become the largest sporting organization in the world. What better way is there than The Ultimate Fighter than to both introduce people to a sport and give them a fighter to get behind? There is certainly more to it, for instance more schools will need to be built and then there is the obstacle of securing TV deals.
I believe it would take longer than White's prediction of 2020 for MMA to be the biggest sport in the world, but I wouldn't rule out UFC world domination just yet.
Light Heavyweight Title Picture
After Randy Couture's destruction of Mark Coleman, "The Natural" is one of three men hoping to be behind "Shogun" Rua in line for a UFC Light Heavyweight Title shot. The other two fighters, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Rashad Evans, will fight in May. For fun, let's go through every possible scenario and I'll decide who should get the title shot. And by every possible scenario, I don't actually mean that. I refuse to account for a draw or no contest in either remaining fight.
Scenario 1: Machida retains; Rampage wins. This is a tough one, mainly because Quinton Jackson remains in limbo. I'll just assume Rampage is inevitably convinced to stay in the UFC after he beats Rashad. Truthfully, Rampage has been penciled in for a title shot three times since losing his title in July 2008. He was originally slated to get an immediate rematch for the title, but his arrest halted those plans. Then he was supposed to fight Rashad for the title at UFC 96, but Evans couldn't get in an adequate training camp on short notice. After defeating Keith Jardine at UFC 96, Rampage was supposed to fight Rashad at UFC 98, but he had to pull out due to a jaw injury. I feel as though Rampage would have more than earned himself a title shot at this point, so he gets the title shot.
Scenario 2: Shogun wins; Rampage wins. Pretty much the same as above. I can only find two reasons to not give Rampage a shot if he wins: his decision to make the A-Team movie and subsequent "retirement"; and the thought that Couture getting a title shot would do a much bigger buyrate.
Scenario 3: Machida retains; Rashad wins. It wasn't even a year ago that Machida obliterated Rashad Evans and took his title at UFC 98. So the question is would Rashad have done enough to earn a title shot over Couture since that loss? I don't think so. Not because Rashad wouldn't have earned the title shot, but mainly because Machida vs. Couture is an intriguing fight and Rashad was hardly competitive against Machida the first time around. In Machida-Couture, you get the undefeated fighter with a seemingly unsolvable puzzle against the 46-year-old (possibly 47 by fight time) who constantly defies age related barriers set for common athletes and is often regarded as the best game planner in the sport. If that doesn't make for an amazingly interesting build to a fight, nothing does.
Scenario 4: Shogun wins; Rashad wins. You can do a lot of different things with this scenario. With the belt off Machida and no fighter that has to get the title shot, another name moves into the title picture. Anderson Silva has been the most dominating fighter in the sport for the past three years and decimated a top light heavyweight in Forrest Griffin. If available, I would give "The Spider" a chance at being a double champion in an instant. I'm not so sure he will be available though, as a sure-to-be much hyped bout with Chael Sonnen looks to be on the horizon after he fights Vitor Belfort (assuming Anderson wins of course). If for some reason Silva-Sonnen gets pushed back, don't be surprised if Anderson Silva tries to avenge his friend Lyoto Machida's loss. That doesn't seem very likely to happen though, so once again we are left with Evans and Couture. To be frank, Couture hasn't really earned a title shot. I would only give him one against Machida because it's such an intriguing chapter in the ever growing book of Randy Couture's remarkable career. A fight against Shogun doesn't have as good a story it's not much more than Couture trying for a title once again. Despite that still being a good story, I would go with Shogun vs. Evans and put Couture in a different fight. At this point I wouldn't want Couture-Machida, as I don't like it as much without Machida being undefeated.
Last Monday, the premiere of the film Unrivaled, which features such MMA fighters as Rashad Evans, Forrest Griffin, Keith Jardine, and Heath Herring, was the inaugural event at the Charles "Mask" Lewis Theater. It's great to see Mask being remembered in so many ways within the MMA community. Here are some pictures from the event:
Sonnen Brings Much Needed Interest to MW Title Bout
In a nutshell, the UFC's middleweight division has never been a big draw. In fact, I would say it's their worst drawing division. Following UFC 100 and up until he signed with Strikeforce, I repeatedly stated that Dan Henderson taking on Anderson Silva for the belt would be the biggest middleweight fight in UFC history. I still believe it would have been. That time has passed though, and there are other potential middleweight title bouts on the horizon. Thankfully for the UFC, Chael Sonnen has risen to become a top middleweight and the next contender for the title after UFC 112.
I'll admit it, I counted Chael out. In his past three fights, I picked him to lose all three times. It's not that I thought Chael sucked, the fact is he was fighting very tough fighters that I thought to be bad match-ups for him. As it turned out, Sonnen turned in the most impressive performances of his career and won all three fights.
Prior to UFC 109 on Saturday, Chael really began expressing his opinions on Anderson Silva and he hasn't held back since. Now as the number one contender, Chael is saying he wants to fight Anderson because he believes that is the easier fight. Covering everything from his skills to his fashion, Chael's nonstop berating of Anderson Silva makes for a great build-up to an inevitable showdown between the two. I have to say, Sonnen makes for a great substitute for Henderson from a business perspective.
In his last performance, Anderson ravaged Forrest Griffin and surely gained many new fans out of the 900,000 people who bought the fight on PPV. Sonnen is one of those fighters that makes you either love him or hate him. If you love him, you'll pay to see him get a shot at the title. Should you be on the other side of the fence, having Sonnen locked in a cage against the best fighter on the planet is too good to be true. This fight will be the true test of Anderson Silva's drawing power at middleweight. If this fight doesn't draw at this weight class, nothing will.
Thanks for reading. You can leave feedback in the comment box or at the e-mail address below. If you so please, you can also follow me on Twitter.
Good piece on the UFC's hope for Global sports domination. It has to be said as a Football fan (I'm English, I refuse to call it Soccer when every player actually uses their foot to touch the ball) they have an awful lot of work to do.
For starters, as far as getting people involved from a competing perspective, Football requires 2 things; a ball and some space. Goals can be made up from sweaters, t-shirts, trees...anything visible. The cost of this, especially when looking at countries with little disposable income, is minimal. In fact, when I was a kid, we used to play with any ball we could get our hands on, Basketball, volleyball, tennis ball...even a coke can that someone had thrown on the floor if it was that much of a struggle. With MMA you are looking at equipment, instruction and specific gym space.
Secondly, all the major Football events, such as the World Cup, The European Championships, The English Premier League...pretty much any league in the world on top of Cup Finals are all available on free or cable TV, at the very least in the country/continent they are based, and not on PPV. Not everyone can afford $45 or the equivalent price.
Finally there is the loyalty issue that you touched upon. As you mentioned, the Canadians will come out in Force to support one of their own, the English are the same way. However, the individual, first and foremost, is representing himself. The England Football team, for example, is representing the whole of England (the clue is in the title).
I have no doubt that the UFC can become the number one individual sport going, but to topple the biggest team sport in the world is a massive stretch
Posted By: Franco (Guest) on February 09, 2010 at 02:29 AM
Well, the Spider/Henderson fight probably didn't happen b/c either:
a) Nothing developed in talks
b) (opinion) White doesn't want the fight to happen, styles-clash, would either be a KO by Spider or a slow grind by Henderson.
Oh, and the reason why MMA probably won't be as big as White said is probably the reason why the UFC is around.
Do you ever see a Boxing Promotion having their own show? Nope, besides various cards, there really isn't a pure, continuous, fight show put out by a SINGULAR promoter.
And since the UFC is trying to WWE the MMA game, you could see that they will end up with a "Pro Wrestling Syndrome" with spikes and lows.
That's why Boxing will ALWAYS be dormant for a couple years, then have a Blockbuster PPV, drawing in 100's of millions people worldwide.
Until White decides to work with the OTHER promotions (or the other way around, since UFC is such a large corporation), MMA will probably not go as high as UFC's developments.
This also cheats the fans of the sports (or future fans), when you look at the Consensus Top 10 charts (Here, Sherdog, MMAJunkie, etc.) and realize that you may never see any of those "dream fights" (See- Fedor vs. Lesnar) see the light of day. Which hurts the sport more than it helps.
In comparison, although we know there is a HUGE amount of burracracy in Boxing (see- Pac-Man/Mayweather, Jones Jr/Hopkins II), you would STILL see big money fights being signed between two different promoters (recently, Hatton/Pac-Man, De La Hoya/Pac-Man), and it makes for an interesting situation for the fans, because there is only just a little negotiations, then a fight takes place, the sport progresses, people are sent home happy (they saw a fight they WANTED to see), and another Blockbuster takes place (Remember Pac-Man will be fighting Cottley in the $1.2 Billion Texas Stadium, which will draw a LARGE amount of fans and viewers).
Until White, and the other MMA promoters dislodge their collective heads from their "5th point", I really don't see MMA become THAT huge anytime soon.
Posted By: PJL - FF (Guest) on February 09, 2010 at 04:15 AM
As it stands, UFC is an American promotion with foreign fighters on its roster. It will take a great number of succesful foreign fighters to give the non-U.S. audience someone to root for.
Second, UFC runs shows once or twice a month. Going against sports like soccer, which is played on the top level all over the world just about every single day of the week...
MMA as a whole (UFC and everyone else, that is) might one day become the most popular combat sport in the world. However, taking on global giants like soccer is such a utopia that taking UFC from half-dead to where it is now will seem like absolutely nothing.
Posted By: woody (Guest) on February 09, 2010 at 06:31 AM
it's biblical, words have power
Dana is smart to say this. The more you say something, the more likely it is to be true. Let's be honest...UFC was dead in the water 10 years ago. From bringing it to a dead company to even SAYING it will be the biggest sport in the world, is a HUGE accomplishment
It's mainstream acceptance is because of the addition of weight classes and rules which makes it less brutal. If it ever wants to step things up to the next level they need to raise the idea of it being martial ARTS instead of a brutal sport
Posted By: mae (Guest) on February 09, 2010 at 11:58 AM
I like the sport.. but to think it will be the biggest sport in the world is just ridiculous.. it hasnt even topped boxing yet.. compare it to football, basketball, baseball,...... soccer outside of the U.S. there is no comparison yet.. MMA is a young sport, the only driving force behind it is UFC.. and it limits itself by not letting fighters from other organizations fight in it or viceversa. I have no doubt that the sport will be more relavant in the near future but not a dominating sport.. Europeans, Mexicans, South Americans will always prefer soccer. Americans Football, also Soccer is becoming more popular in the U.S.
Posted By: ChrisVazquez (Guest) on February 09, 2010 at 01:00 PM
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