First off, I want to say how excited I am to finally push my ass into gear and contribute my very first article to Brokenankles. I feel many great things to come through this blog and its people. Last week we were presented with an uninspiring card in UFC 112. Rightfully so, the only match that lived up to the hype that WAS to be the great card of UFC 112 was Mark Munoz’ come from behind destruction KO win over Kendall Grove. (Shout outs to Mark for reppin’ our people well) At the end of the day, though fighters are fighters and I respect them for getting in the cage like that keeping in mind that I still look up to these three fighters that I’m about to mention, fans were disappointed and you can especially thank the lewd antics of one Anderson Silva, a one-off BJ Penn and a gassed out legend in Renzo Gracie. One would expect greatness in the performance of these three individuals in the UFC’s first show in Abu Dhabi, but for some reason it never came it was like the stars were crossed or something. It is lacklustre cards like these that may tarnish the UFC’s brand and ultimately MMA as a whole should the trend continue.
I myself have been a die-hard mma fan since 2000, followed Pride Fighting Championships religiously in it’s hayday along with some of the earlier UFC’s. As said in the title of the article, ‘Where to take the future of MMA?’ I am a firm believer that the world of MMA which is spearheaded by the UFC as its flagship brand can take a few tips from the way the boxing industry is structured. I do realize I may get a lot of flak for this but just listen...
There is no doubt that Dana White and the Fertitta brothers have done amazing things for MMA as far as bringing it to the mainstream of North America through its strong ‘UFC’ brand. However this idea of a strong ‘UFC’ brand that has almost monopolized the MMA market on this side of the world (aside from Strikeforce, Bellator etc.) worries me in that your average viewer thinks UFC is MMA, MMA is UFC. What this means is that if in the future people (casual fans) lose interest in the UFC, if UFC ever dies as a promotion, then Mixed Martial Arts here dies as well. It’s like an investment portfolio, it’s not wise to have all your eggs in one basket holding one stock. I feel the same way with MMA, the UFC is that one “stock” that holds all the clout in the MMA market. I personally like competition, I like diversification and I think the future of MMA needs that. The boxing industry in certain aspects has done that.
If you look at a boxing card, its promoters promote the fighters first rather than it’s promotion company over the fighters. I ask all of you, google under images “Pacquio vs. Cotto, Mayweather vs. Marquez, Tyson vs. Lewis, Ali vs. Foreman” and tell me what you all see. I bet you’ll see the fighters names being highlighted in the largest font. Though the UFC in their ads and promos may do this to a certain degree, you won’t see it without a giant “UFC 112, UFC 113, UFC 114 or a UFC Fight Night 4, 5, 6 etc.” clearly displayed. Like I mentioned boxing seems to focus more on the fighters and the sport itself rather than the promotion company. Out of the two top boxing promotions Top Rank and Golden Boy, when was the last time you saw a “Top Rank 98” or “Golden Boy 87”.
One thing that I like about the boxing industry is that competing promotions are willing to co-promote should two fighters from their respective promotions decide to fight against each other and should that fight draw a large viewing. It can be advantageous for all parties, you have cash flow coming in from not just one promoter one source but other sources, other promoters. More cash flow and marketing from various parties involved can help enhance payouts for the fighters. Cross promotions can help establish undisputed champions instead promotions staying exclusive and people left with ‘what-if’ scenarios. Come on people Brock vs. Fedor, for the sake of the damn sport let’s get it done.
Watching last night’s Strikeforce card, I am pleased to see continued cross promoting efforts with Dream a positive step following prior experiences co-promoting with M1-Global, Elite XC (now defunct), Affliction (now defunct). For those still new to MMA, it was great seeing a champion vs. champion match something you would never see in the UFC, between Gilbert Melendes the Lightweight Strikeforce champion against Shinya Aoki the Lightwieght Dream champion. Shinya Aoki was considered No.2 in the world for the lightweight rankings and with BJ Penn losing last week it meant that this match with Melendes had such a greater significance in determining the No.1 lightweight ranked fighter. Once again you can only do that with co-promotion. I understand the UFC’s desire to stranglehold the market especially since they possess most of the top fighters in certain divisions and since they’ve been responsible in bringing MMA to the mainstream audience, but in the long run constant branding of ‘UFC’ may get saturated in the public consciousness and people may get sick of it and may be turned off from MMA altogether.
In my perfect world, MMA should be MMA, it shouldn’t matter what brand it’s from, one company shouldn’t hold all the leverage. Branding and product should be secondary to the fighters, after all they’re the ones getting in the ring kick each other’s arse putting on a good show. Promotions should only be concerned about promoting the fighters, hyping the fight, making money for all parties and making sure the that the best match ups in the MMA industry are achieved no matter what and regardless of promotion affiliation. My two cents.
post by Richard Silang
follow us on twitter at, twitter.com/brokeanklesblog
No comments:
Post a Comment