Suprise, Suprise

Given it is only my second day of having this blog and I was using yesterday to vent on some outstanding MMA issues that have been around for sometime.

And today, ironically, Donald Trump throws his hat into the MMA ring by backing Affliction. He made a very vanilla statement about MMA, its athletes, and that he would like to be a "major promoter" for MMA. Other than the fact that his hair disturbs me and he once made a comment that he would date his daughter Ivanka, you cannot deny that this guy has loads of money along with better marketing skills than Cuban (not to mention Cuban can kiss HDnet airing Affliction goodbye).

Can he make Affliction a huge success? There is no doubt that he has some serious ties to NBC through the success of The Apprentice and he will more than likely broker Tito Ortiz to Affliction's roster of fighters. If anyone is immediatley threatened it has to be EliteXC. If Trump can somehow broker a deal between Affliction and NBC (this is all premature speculation of course) than the network would have benefitted from Gary Shaw's MMA experiment and more than likely have a much more legitimate fight card.

Does this cause any problems for UFC? Not in the near future. If anything it proves that the hard work of Dana White and the Fertitta brothers has made MMA grow into something that can make serious money.

Will Affliction become serious competition for the UFC down the road? My prediction would be that IF Affliction can build its brand (it's current website for the Tim Sylvia/Fedor Emelianenko fight is terrible) and create a 145 lb weight class, it may be able to muscle out WEC and then get Dana to play nice for some cross promotions. BUT, if fighters begin splitting up into all of these different organizations and become too widespread - MMA will deflate faster than it grew.

Mark Cuban - what's his deal?

Let me start by saying that I can appreciate what Mark Cuban is trying to do for Randy Couture and trying to set up the Fedor E. fight.

Here is what I don't get. This guy throws money trying to be the best at everything, but in doing so has become the best at nothing. From the Mavs not being able to grab an NBA title, to his failed "Apprentice" rip-off, and now a tiny television network (HDnet) that he will use to try to out duel the UFC in the game of MMA.

I am beginning to think this guy just has the most severe case of A.D.D. in the nation and cannot focus on any one thing for too long. Even if he lands the Couture/ Emelianenko fight, in the end he has at least one fighter that will retire sooner than later and the other has no pool of talent to fight. The funny thing is, if Sylvia can win during Affliction's first event the whole idea probably goes to hell anyway.

Fedor's biggest fight in the last couple of years was "Cro Cop" who has already lost his UFC contract after his loss to Kongo. No one is in a position to challenge UFC currently. EliteXC has the most potential to, only because they have a network TV deal with CBS, but they have a lot of work to do as proven by Saturday's fight.

Mark, if you ever read this, I would love to help you come up with some ideas for spending your cash. I am sure I can come up with some great ones. You obviously have a great business mind, get an original idea and market the hell out of it. Stop jumping onto ships that have already sailed.

UFC Blabber

As UFC has become a flagship for one of the largest growing sports in the world, a lot of attention has been paid to organization President Dana White. Message boards have become rampant with fans posting about the treatment of fighters in the UFC and how White has put himself as the face of the UFC. This is a look at Dana White and the UFC from one fan's perspective both his positive and negative aspects.


Number 1. Dana White is the P. Diddy of MMA. He is recognized with the UFC like Diddy to Badboy, and has placed himself in all of the videos, sound bytes, and websites. They both have clothing lines to push and one can only hope that UFC will never have its own fragrance (I can hear the commercial now, "Chuck Liddell presents: Iceman cologne, nothing is as cool as the Iceman." And Dana White would be spritzing himself in the commercial).
Dana, like Diddy, promotes himself just as much as the organization (see his Men's Health Article in June/July 2008 Issue), but this may be a current necessity.

Number 2. White is the only true guaranteed constant that the UFC has. There has to be a staple in the sport who can speak on behalf of the organization and grooming someone to be the face of the organization takes time. Joe Rogan is an excellent announcer - the Marv Alberts of MMA (minus the sodomy of course) - and Randy Couture was the ambassador of the sport, until all of the recent legal rigmarole. Couple this with the fact that at least three of the current champions speak English with a heavy dialect or no English at all, White has had to be the man in front of the camera as neither Rampage or Penn are great in front of the camera.

Number 3. The UFC cash distribution. First of all, athletes in a sport that is this young (in its current form) rarely make millions. Period. I do not pretend to know the ins and outs of all of the pay structure of the UFC, but it should grow as the sport grows. And as the UFC has gotten bigger and bigger the superstars should get paid more and more. White handles this subject so poorly in interviews that it irks me to read them and is cause for channel change when discussed via television interview. No one will ever think that the fighters are well compensated as long as their trunks look like a Nascar. I have never seen a boxer with "Condom Depot" on the backside of his trunks.

Number 4. White has done leaps and bounds for the sport but needs to grow up with the sport too. There will be a definite ceiling for the organization if White cannot stop cursing without cause (TUF opening show "are you F%*%ers ready?") and getting into public squabbles with contracted fighters. This may burn him sooner than later. He is already losing grip on the heavyweight division (I honestly dont know if UFC is the premier heavyweight class in MMA) and if a side show company like EliteXC can land a couple of highly recognizable names to place on network television, they will gain a big fan base. Don't think so, remember how many people PAID to watch Tyson fight a no namer on PPV and network TV costs the viewer nothing.

Number 5. Where to from here? Landing Bud Light as a sponsor and upping the ante with the Harley Davidson logo angle during the pre-fight check were brilliant business moves. UFC is bigger than it has ever been before and has a great slate of fights for 2008. Now what? If you do not keep the light burning bright at the other end of the tunnel it can get dark pretty quick.

Number 6. Lack of accessible information for fans. The UFC website publishing a couple of stories a day to their site and has video for upcoming fights, but there are no great sites for UFC fans outside of UFC.com. ESPN and Foxsports coverage of the sport is abysmal, while most other sites are forums where two or three intelligent posts are washed out by a mass of radical opinion and sniping.

UFC is clearly the world leader in MMA, but heavy is the head that wears the crown. Dana White will have some very big decisions to make in the next couple of years as many other sports have risen only to fall because they could not adapt to their own growth. As a fan I hope that Dana and company can make the right decision to keep the UFC growing, but only time will tell.

MMA - The EliteXC Debacle

CBS's venture into MMA (mixed martial arts) by showcasing EliteXC fights has temporarily brought the world of combat sports to the forefront of public discussion. It seems that over the course of the weekend and yesterday that the discussion has boiled down to three questions:
1. Is MMA too violent for network (free) TV?
2. Did the EliteXC broadcast succeed in pulling in new fans to the world of MMA?
3. How does EliteXC measure up to the competition, especially the better known UFC?

Is MMA too violent for network (free) TV?

In my mind the first question is highly debateable for only one reason: Blood. There is no other sport where an athlete can begin bleeding and no time-out is called, no trainer runs into the ring, and the referees wear surgical gloves. To be fair, in the MMA fights that I have viewed the referees will stop the action if the blood is a direct threat to the fighters well being (ie bleeding into the eyes), but if the blood is only poses a long night to the poor guy that cleans the ring floor - game on.
If you move past the topic of blood, there is not argument. Network television shows NHL games, in-which fights occur. After any stoppage or puck drop there is a chance that two guys will drop gloves grab eachothers jerseys and begin throwing over-hand rights. Plus, let's not kid ourselves, America loves a good hit - as long as no one is permanently injured. While an MMA fighters face may look like it has been rubbed on a cheese grater following 3 five minute rounds, I have yet to see a fight where one of the fighters has sustained a permanent injury. Dana White, President of the UFC, was on ESPN to debate the effect of the EliteXC broadcast on MMA and was doing well until he made an ill comparison. MMA vs NFL. While there may be an argument to be had here, you don't take on the king. A lot of NFL fans heard those comments and I guarantee were quick to jump to their league's defense and damn MMA.

2. Did the EliteXC broadcast succeed in bringing new fans to MMA?

Maybe. The best fight of the night was stopped due to an inadvertant eye poke, the headliner came on waaay after broadcast time, and Kimbo Slice was not anywhere near dominate. The timing of the show was extremely sloppy leaving viewers in agonizingly long wait periods for the next fight to tee up. Plus, how long might the show have been had all of the fights gone to a decision? We would be watching Kimbo Slice's labored breathing instead of Sunday Morning and all of the Charles Osgood faithful would be up in arms!
Having said all of this, you cannot argue with the ratings. CBS was able to pull in millions of viewers in a demographic that advertisers slobber over. Does this translate to new fans of the sport? No one knows. EliteXC made the mistake of not putting their best foot forward. The announcers were Busch League at best (Gus Johnson was bad, but Frank Shamrock was dreadful) and the overall production did not cater to those who were already in the MMA fan base. If EliteXC can find some big-name fighter(s) to legitimize their league (I hear Tito is shopping) they clearly have a lot of folks accross the US curious. This question will be answered nearer the fall when EliteXC holds its next primetime event.

How does EliteXC measure up to the competition, especially the better known UFC?

Simple answer: No. Having the network deal with CBS gives EliteXC the potential to be something big, but in its current form it cannot compete the UFC - and maybe not the ever growing WEC (for those that saw the Pulver v. Faber bout on Sunday) which is also owned by Zuffa.
Kimbo Slice assisted Gary Shaw, President EliteXC, in marketing something that hadn't been done before by reaching out to the YouTube generation through a YouTube phenom. But where do they go now? They have some ok fighters in their bullpen but none have near the name recognition of those fighting in the UFC.
While the UFC is lightyears ahead of EliteXC currently, it has some issues of its own. The UFC has a lot going for it: The Ultimate Fighter is a highly successfull reality TV show on Spike, it has the best MMA bullpen currently, and has the best production value of any of the MMA companies. But, there are not without their own issues: Currently in a lawsuit with Randy Couture - who is not only one of the biggest names but also trains a lot of top tiered fighters, they have not been able to draw Fedor Emelianenko (arguably the top heavyweight in the world) which has played heavily into the Randy Couture suit, and Dana White is more well known than most of their title holders.
Currently eliteXC is a sideshow that is in need of somethings to get to the main stage, but they have managed to open a door for themselves with the CBS contract. They need to land a couple of big name fighters, because I doubt they have the cash to stay around long enough to develop their own superstar from scratch.