MMA Analytics 12.24.07: Reviewing the UFC's Year
Posted by Leland Roling on 12.24.2007
Along with the great accomplishments by the UFC this year come disappointments as well. We'll look at some of the problems the UFC has had this year, and look at some of the improvements that the UFC could possibly make in the upcoming year as well in this edition of MMA Analytics.
The Ultimate Fighting Championships is revered as the top mixed martial arts promotion in the world as the year ends, and arguably could be considered the top promotion even before PRIDE had succumbed to the reality that it was failing. Throughout the entire year, the UFC reached many goals that they had talked about earlier in the year. They acquired PRIDE, and even with the snags regarding the contracts, were still able to sign some of the top talent. They reached new TV deals, great PPV events, and have set themselves up for more success in the future. Without a doubt, the UFC is the top organization in the world of mixed martial arts.
With that said, let's focus on a different issue. All organizations have problems, and the UFC's problems are magnified in the public eye ten fold. Most lists toward the end of the year have been focusing on the great feats that the UFC has done over the course of the year, but as my blog looked at earlier this week, let's look at some of the disappointments during the year. Although many fans love to hate this list because why would anyone hate on the top promotion in mixed martial arts, it is still worth looking at many of the issues that the UFC could potentially have done better and could improve in the future
Marketing and promotion by the UFC
One of the bigger disappointments of the year was the marketing and promotion of the UFC fighters and events. Specifically, the culmination of a poor marketing strategy is being seen in the hype being created for the Chuck Liddell vs. Wanderlei Silva.
First and foremost, the matchup between Liddell and Silva has been seen as an epic battle between two great styles for years. The counter puncher vs. the devastating striker is one of those classic matchups that sees explosive results. Even in comparative combative sports such as boxing, these type of matchups produce huge revenue and exciting fights. Wouldn't it be a priority to create hype for this fight that is unequaled to what has been done before by the promotion?
As boxing had done this year with 24/7 Mayweather-Hatton, the reality show that created characters out of the people nearest to both fighters and produced explosive quotes from each fighter, the UFC needs to produce something close to that type of promotional tool. UFC Countdown doesn't do enough, and All Access provides a small glimpse into the fighter's personality, but without the supporting cast.
Can the UFC produce something with a bit more substance in the future? Absolutely. There is history in the Liddell vs. Silva feud that runs back to PRIDE events. None of that has been touched upon. Also, Liddell isn't a promoting machine like many other fighters in the UFC. A perfect example of a fighter who has lost some of his luster in the cage, but still manages to sell event cards is Tito Ortiz. Ortiz can create hype from interviews, TV appearances, and even by simply sitting in the crowd at a UFC event. Liddell has trouble with interviews in that he seems to be very uninterested and gives the same cliché answers to questions. A safe move, but unexciting to fans who want to see some tension between the combatants.
Instead of countless interviews, put these guys and their personalities on display regardless of the language barrier that Silva has. Over the course of the year, it seems the UFC avoids those barriers and also gives bigger events the typical marketing and promotion push before an event. It's a blueprint that never changes. A Countdown show, an All Access show, and countless promotional commercials that don't give the fight any excitement factor.
TUF is good for promotion, bad for divisional titles
One of the best ideas by the UFC has been creating fights using The Ultimate Fighter reality series. Creating tension and hype over the course of the show between two coaches is exactly what other big name battles need over the course of a series of shows. The problem is that the show seems to stop the divisional title picture from progressing for at least 5-7 months.
The Welterweight division seems to be the most regressed division in the UFC. The upper-echelon of the division has been on a standstill for the recent Ultimate Fighter season that set up Matt Hughes to take on Matt Serra for the title. After news that Serra had sustained a herniated disc during training for the fight, the UFC replaced him with Georges St. Pierre for an "interim" title. The horrible part about the entire situation is that Serra's injury could keep him out for nearly half a year. Fighters like Parisyan could be sitting around till the end of next year before seeing their title shot materialize.
The UFC needs to figure out a way to either shorten the production of the show or somehow create a new type of format that is more friendly for setting up fights in the related division. Add in the injuries near the top of each of the divisions, and we may start to see even longer delays. The Ultimate Fighter formats don't help the cause. Rumors are that Forrest Griffin and Rampage Jackson won't fight till the summer or fall of 2008, nearly 6-8 months from now. The most exciting division in the UFC will have its title on hiatus for quite some time.
Other issues that need attention
Fighters being sat on the bench when only having one fight left on their contract should be illegal. The latest and most annoying use of this strategy is Andrei Arlovski's current situation. Arlovski, one of the UFC's elite Heavyweight strikers, is one fight away from fulfilling his contract, but the UFC wants to either sign him to another deal or make him wait until the final hour of his contract before giving him a fight to fulfill his contract. Although it is in the best interest of the UFC to get the best deal for Arlovski's services, this seems to be a strategy that not only stops the fans from seeing Arlovski fight, but also angers his management and Arlovski as well. With that said, it sounds like Arlovski may simply fulfill his contract and move on. Bad move, UFC.
Dana White's mouth this year had some moments of weakness. His "Crazy Russians" comment seemed to have hurt the Fedor deal, along with other demands that he felt were "absurd". His blatant profanity in some instances is uncalled for and brings a mentality with it that gives the sport the typical street brawl attitude that many mainstream outlets like to coin on the sport. His dealings with the CSAC and indecisiveness in punishing Sean Sherk confused fans for months, and many fans feel that his crude attitude may hurt some of the negotiating for TV deals and fighter contracts. Will this improve? Hopefully with the continuation of the UFC's success, Dana White will learn to be a bit more professional in his manner.
Final thoughts
The UFC has had a great year as far as matchups, events, and bringing over PRIDE talent goes. They've produced some phenomenal battles in the Octagon and made a good profit at the same time. Even organizations on top of the food chain make mistakes however, and the UFC is no exception. The promotion could use better marketing and promotion for bigger battles that actually have interest in the MMA community. The divisional title matchups that are tied into The Ultimate Fighter reality series shouldn't be tied up for close to half a year, and the show's production time may need to be shortened to continue to see the benefit of the show to the fighters involved without keeping the title picture in limbo.
Those are two of the bigger issues on the UFC's plate that I found very disappointing. Of course, there are many other smaller issues that could be improved. Hopefully over the course of next year, we will see some considerable improvements. For the sake of the continued rise of the UFC, the marketing and promotion should be a #1 priority. I believe putting more money into that piece of the puzzle will result in higher growth of the sport overall.
This makes 2 articles that focus on the UFC's negatives. I'm no booster, but where's the coverage of what was *good* about the UFC in 2007? Makes it easy to see why Dana White & others in the business rail against sites like this.
Posted By: kevbo (Guest) on December 24, 2007 at 11:02 AM
This was easily the best year for UFC ever. They expanded greatly and yet you still manage to bring out the negatives. Besides, the year isn't over yet. I think you should stop finding stupid non important things to write columns about and look at the cold hard facts. UFC did amazing this year, and just because they aren't hyping the next Liddell fight doesn't mean they didn't do a damn good job for others.
Quit being a tool and thinking your opinions matter and start looking at the facts.
Posted By: Cj (Guest) on December 24, 2007 at 04:10 PM
I agree with the posters above me. All of these so called MMA experts keep crucifying the UFC and Dana White for the littlest things.
Like this whole marketing thing. Why do all of you guys keep bringing up 24/7 like that is the best marketing tool ever? when TUF, All Access and the countdown shows all do the same thing except make character's out of other people that aren't going to be in the ring? UFC is doing fine in terms of marketing. The reason why Liddell vs. Silva is not being marketed heavily is because those 2 dudes are coming off of 2 major losses and the only people that truly want to see that match are the hardcore fans, who don't need any marketing whatsoever. A simple forwarded email would have done the job there. Subject: "Yo dude!! Silva and Liddell are fighting on the 29th"
Boom that's it.
And the TUF to promote a title fight is an amazing idea. What better way to promote a fight than use the most watch UFC show on television to promote it? I think TUF was great in showing that Matt Serra may have a shot against Hughes. An injury like Serra's could happen anytime. UFC shouldn't rush matches just to avoid injuries.
Griffin and Rampage are going to be great as coaches for the entertainment value alone and will be great for hyping the match.
ANd the Arlovski situation, nobody knows what's really going on. It seems like the ball is in Arlovski's court. Dana said that he would book Arlovski in a fight tomorrow, and Arlovski's people said everything was cool and they were in good talks with the UFC. I really don't see a problem there.
I think Dana White's mouth is great. Sure he swears but everybody does. I think it's great that he could be brutally honest with his feelings towards certain issues and people. I wish more presidents and CEO's were as honest as he was.
Sure he didn't bring in Fedor like he said he would, but IO guess he assumed like everybody else that Fedor wanted to fight the best and prove that he was PFP the best in the world (which he is not) But him in his management decided that was too risky and he is now fighting jobbers like HOng man Choi.
Give Dana the UFC the credit they deserve. and That's for bringing MMA to heights that were not even fathomable 5 years ago. The Cusp of mainstream acceptance.
Posted By: Seth (Guest) on December 25, 2007 at 09:48 PM
A review of 2007 without a word of the Cinderella story that was Couture's return? Not a word of Liddell-Rampage or Rampage-Hendo? Not a peep of awesomeness of Huerta-Guida - or any other amazing matchups of 2007. Dude, wtf?
Dana may need to adjust his attitude or the UFC will remain at the CUSP of mainstream acceptance for a long time, but at the same time, he's the man that brought them there.
Having said that, mr. Roling makes solid points. Having a title like UFC LHW sit on the sideline until June-August is not only bad business, it's damn near criminal. Rampage-Griffin in March/April, book it!
Also, UFC's PR department needs to get their act together. I think Liddell-Silva could draw viewers outside the hc fandom, if they only even attempted to publicize it better. Like the man said, this goes back to the days of PRIDE and Liddell-Rampage I.
Now that I got that out of my system, what's up for 2008? Rampage-Griffin (potential MOTY). Lesnar-Mir (Brock, meet Reality. Reality, meet Brock.) Hughes-GSP (OMG!). Silva-Hendo (see above). And finally, possibly, Couture-Fedor. We all can hope, at least.
Posted By: woody (Guest) on December 26, 2007 at 01:11 PM
UFC did fuck Fedor. He might have asked for stuff but UFC really showed their cards with how they dealt with him. Stupid.
Posted By: Bryan (Guest) on December 27, 2007 at 04:12 AM
I appreciate the comments, but I want to make one comment regarding the negatives. There are many things the UFC did well this year, but focusing on the negatives for a brief moment can at least push out some of the issues that the UFC has had. It's not terrible to focus on those small things. Overall, they had a great year, yes... but there is room for improvement and it isn't inconceivable to talk about it.
CJ,
Your opinion doesn't matter to me for the simple fact that you revert to calling people names. It's a perspective piece. The UFC did a great job in the matchups this year and producing great fights, but they have problems just like everyone else. Instead of being demeaning, intelligently argue your point.
The article was to focus on the small negatives of the year, not the positives. It's evident what the positives were to the many fans who follow the UFC. Plain and simple.
Looking at both sides is what the article is about. Try to have two perspectives, that's the point.
Posted By: Leland Roling (Registered) on December 29, 2007 at 07:06 PM
