Issue 183

October 2019

There are four fights out there right now that could gross the UFC $1 billion, writes Gareth A. Davies.

There is no textbook, no college or university course in how to promote and how to put the best fights together. It is just there in history – part knowledge, part business, part genius. There are only around ten to fifteen people in the world, in the leading organizations, who continue creating 'the book' on how it is done. And if you are ever thinking about the unusual fights that might work, I can guarantee you that the world's leading promoters will have been over them in their heads.

As Scott Coker, the president of Bellator MMA told me recently as we discussed why some fighters have the X-factor, or why some fights just "work", "It’s a weird thing, because people ask what it is about some fighters. And you don’t know. They just have this magnetism to them. And even if they do, it doesn’t mean they can fight. Some have great charisma and bark a lot, but they can’t fight. In Bellator right now, along comes a guy like James Gallagher or AJ McKee. They have the gift of the gab and the personality people love (or hate). And they go out and take care of business. I think in Ireland they love Gallagher. McKee has something special too.”

An arrogance that wants you to see him tested. But as Coker went on to explain, “We are all fans of the fighters in this business. But it is still a business. So the thing is, how do you run your business? You can't treat it as a hobby. Sweat the big stuff and take care of your athletes. Because the athletes are the business. That’s what it comes down to.”

So, to the four major fights for the UFC, around which huge events could be built. For me, two involve Jon Jones, and two Conor McGregor. They are by far the biggest stars in the UFC, in spite of the popularity of Daniel Cormier and Amanda Nunes as evidenced by the votes of fans at this year's Fighters Only World MMA Awards. The feisty Irishman and the enigmatic American cross divides and truly spread their reach to the mainstream. They are different, set apart. The ignition would be started with Jones against Cormier in a trilogy fight. Huge. And at heavyweight, of course. That is the draw. Jones is now far too accomplished at light-heavyweight for a fight there to draw millions of buys. Then I believe Jones against Francis Ngannou would bring something very special. Here, we would see Jones as David in a 'David vs Goliath' match. Jones could ill afford to be caught by the huge French-Cameroonian fighter, and the anticipation would be off the charts. Those two fights alone would ring the cash registers.

But then, think about the trilogy between Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz, which would be immense, and then the rematch fight between 'The Notorious One' and Khabib Nurmagomedov. The prospect of those two fights grossing half a billion is there. They just need to build them. We know that the $4 billion-plus sale of the UFC to IMG-WME created a huge 'mortgage' to pay annually, so these fights, which have a level of animosity that gets everyone rubber-necking, would create major revenue.

No brainers, IMO. Enough money to be made to offer up the fights in a big way to the protagonists. Believe you me, if we are thinking about these fights being the top of the pile for what we would like to see – and I road-tested my theory of this quartet of fights on Jon Anik and Paul Felder in a late-night chat over a few in Las Vegas in July and the chatter was very excited – White will have been considering them. I reckon we can expect to see all four materialize by the end of 2020.