Issue 087

April 2012

You’ll often hear fans asking, ‘What would we do if something happened to Dana White?’ Think twice, it’s Lorenzo Fertitta who remains the lynchpin for global success for the sport.

Gareth A Davies

MMA and Boxing Correspondent for The Daily Telegraph, London

The intriguing fallout from the ill-judged and poorly conceived ESPN documentary Outside the Lines ‘investigating’ fighter pay in the UFC, was not the result of anything the documentary makers came up with but rather the openness of Fertitta into company policy and strategic thinking.

The Zuffa boss is an engaging orator on the sport he is pioneering and driving into the mainstream. His take on the issues of fighter pay, whether the organization constituted a monopoly (an investigation into which has since been called off by the authorities) and a fighters’ union were both revealing and reassuring. The sport is in the most capable, and classy, hands possible.

The full 45-minute interview revealed an insight rarely afforded. Fertitta showed, when the UFC revealed the full interview, the extent to which he is a business visionary, with a missionary zeal for mixed martial arts.

The UFC co-owner explained that the company model “is completely different from any of these other sports leagues or any other boxing promoter.” The UFC is driving the sport. But it is a one-stop shop unlike other sports.

 Formula 1, Premier League football in the UK, take a fee from broadcasters, and disperse it within the sport. And neither the NFL nor the NBA produce their own television shows. There’s no secret who the executive producers of all UFC shows are as their names are included in the credits: it’s Fertitta and White.

While White is CEO, president and also foreman and shop steward, Fertitta is the hand on the tiller of the behemoth. “We are a totally different animal. We are everything. We are the sports entity, we are the promoter, we are the television producer. We are responsible for all of the costs that go into the production; we are talking about millions and millions of dollars. Then on top of that you have all the marketing that we do, all the overheads that it takes to really build this company and build this industry to make it what it is; when we bought the company, there was one state that regulated the sport of mixed martial arts.” So explained Fertitta, when all was eventually revealed.

Therein lies the rub. Unless it were thus, the UFC would be unable to take the sport into new frontiers with the alacrity they have done. They bought the company and now 45 of the 48 American states which have athletic commissions regulate MMA.

 Fertitta admits the UFC pay on performance. “The fighters eat what they kill” financially. He disclosed that 29 fighters (just under 10% of the roster) are partners on pay-per-view. A total of 39 UFC fighters have become millionaires. Since 2005, a quarter of a billion dollars have been paid to Zuffa fighters. 

“We’ve taken something from nothing and created opportunities for these fighters that they never would have otherwise had.” Hear, hear.

FIVE-ROUND HEADLINERS

There is no logic in five-round main events that are non-title fights. In Chicago, main event Rashad Evans vs Phil Davis was a final light heavyweight title eliminator. Thus, in the revised format, it was staged over five rounds instead of three. But the Chael Sonnen vs Michael Bisping clash was also a final title eliminator, for a crack at Anderson Silva’s middleweight belt. But that was contested over three rounds. It just makes no sense.

Ironically, the competitive nature of the latter and the closeness of the scoring would have resulted in two extra rounds that most likely would have thrown up a much clearer winner on the scorecards. After all, even Sonnen accepted afterwards that the result could easily have been scored in Bisping’s favor.

Yet the actual five-round bill topper resulted in a whitewash victory for Evans, and was in the bag after two – never mind three rounds – as he completely dominated the match with far superior MMA grappling technique and speed to burn over his opponent.  

It should be the status of the bout rather than the position on the card that decides whether or not a fight is extended over the full 25 minutes. And, for me, the only bouts worthy of the full five rounds are title fights.