Issue 113

April 2014

The Nevada State Athletic Commission, the regulator in the UFC’s home state, is seeking a permanent replacement for former executive director Keith Kizer who resigned in January. 

The 47-year-old Kizer’s unexpected departure from one of the most influential posts in combat sports ended an eight-year tenure that began after taking the reigns from Marc Ratner, now the UFC’s VP of regulatory affairs. 

Kizer oversaw the regulation of the top 10 highest-grossing MMA cards in Nevada, including the Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen rematch, which pulled in $6.9 million.

He’d recently come under criticism for the state’s standard of judging after two 2013 high-profile fights were subject to controversial scorecards: Georges St Pierre vs. Johny Hendricks and in boxing Floyd Mayweather vs. Canelo Alvarez.

According to a job listing, the ideal candidate for the position will have administrative and media experience as well as knowledge of managing or organising high-level athletic events. The successful applicant will receive a salary of $97,901. 

Nevada commissioner Pat Lundvall said she’d prefer to see someone installed who has a good knowledge of MMA, adding: “We’re dealing with an evolving sport, and we want to grow with it. That means understanding the rules and the officiating. Plus, we want someone who’ll grow our drug-testing program.”

Industry jobs

Who: Scott Nelson

Role: President and founder of On The Mat, Built To Fight and Lucky Gi

Info: Going since 1996, On The Mat is a street and web store as well as grappling portal, while Built To Fight and Lucky Gi are some of the industry’s most respected fight wear brands

On The Mat is both an online store and a chain of physical shops. What are the challenges of having a bricks-and-mortar MMA store?

“Before the recession when the money was easy and everything was awesome, income was great. Nowadays people don’t really have too much cash. I call that time the Affliction era. When every person that came into our store wanted to buy five $80 T-shirts, they were going to be the next UFC champion, they trained in their garage, they needed gloves, punching bag, kick shield, mouthpiece, they needed everything. People were just going crazy.”

What are you proudest of from your nearly two decades in the industry?

“I don’t know for sure but I think I was the first American to take all of the gi construction knowledge I learned living in Brazil and teach the factories in Pakistan how to make a real, high-quality jiu-jitsu gi. Probably the thing I’m most proud of is the Lucky Gi brand and just all the changes we made to the jiu-jitsu market. Stuff that we did first is pretty much standard in everybody’s jiu-jitsu gis now.”

Is it frustrating to see huge brands such as Nike come into the fight wear market?

“You know, they’re here short term; I’m here long term. I’m a black belt in jiu-jitsu. I’ve been training in jiu-jitsu 18 years now. I’m not going to all of a sudden stop because a giant sportswear company starts making a crap gi.”

$82,903.86

Andy Foster, the executive director of the state athletic commission in California, where the UFC frequently holds events, earned $82,903.86 in 2013, according to published records.

UFC releases Monster-manufactured headphones

UFC-branded headphones are now available to buy in the US for a cool $279.95. Made by the company which first manufactured the wildly popular Beats by Dr Dre headphones, which had 53% of the $1 billion headphone market in 2011, the ‘Octagon’ model has been worn by several UFC fighters in the lead-up to the product’s early 2014 launch. It features a tangle-free cord, music controls and in-line mic for taking phone calls. 

$160,000

Bruce Buffer’s planned MMA Federation smartphone game reached its $160,000 funding target on Kickstarter in January.

Rallying/Crashed: The MMA business can be cruel and kind

Rallying: Scramble

Scramble began as a small UK-based but Asian-inspired T-shirt firm, gained fame for technicolor grappling spats and is now a respected international brand. Founded in 2009 by former FO writer Matt Benyon, Scramble recently released a Kazushi Sakuraba signature shirt endorsed by the MMA legend himself. 

Crashed: Silver Star

Formerly a mainstay brand on major MMA cards, Silver Star is alive but has a much-reduced presence in the industry in which it found most of its recent success. Formed in 1993 then bought by Authentic Brands Group in 2010, Silver Star is now distributed in the specialty markets by the man who founded it, Luke Burrett.