Issue 082
December 2011
Mainstream movement for the sport through the Fox network deal with Zuffa – which amounts to nearly USD$100 million per year, for seven years – means the Ultimate Fighting Championship can now move inexorably towards the summit of its own Everest. Mixed martial arts makes its return to network television. The changes will be felt firstly, of course, in the United States, but the ripples will be global. It will bring wholesale changes, perhaps not all obvious at first.
But there are risks, too, and that may center around projected viewing figures required by the Fox network. The UFC will only see that as a challenge they want to address. The UFC barely takes a backward step so are likely to maximize every opportunity. From a company-rich base, they have the advantage of being able to pour resources into achieving the joint ends of the television network, and the vaulting ambition of the fighting organization’s drivers Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta. The default setting is there: to make the UFC sit with the top five sports on earth.
The UFC, as we all know, don’t do things by halves. There are several aspects which will bring change, and it is arguably the single most important event outside the fighting arena to happen to mixed martial arts since Zuffa acquired the UFC just over a decade ago.
It will also bring with it changes: some subtle, some immediate and obvious. Like Fox appointing an MMA ‘outsider’ in Gus Johnson as anchor. It makes sense. The notion of treating a viewing audience as if new to the sport is a pre-requisite. Highlight reels are sustenance to the converted; but can turn off the uninitiated.
Also significant will be the reaction of mainstream media outlets – particularly in the US, but also around the world – which have hitherto largely ignored the sport. They have seen the tide coming in, and are now up to their waists in water. In reality, the battle to gain mainstream media acceptance, which mixed martial arts faces, is nothing new. Once upon a time, NASCAR and even the NFL faced similar reactions.
But the rattling energy that UFC president White demonstrated in an international news conference with Fox executives was tangible. Seven years. No itch. The UFC can now ensconce themselves among sports’ biggest players. Fox signaled their intent by promoting UFC events with immediate effect after the deal was inked.
The UFC responded by announcing a pre-contract show, significantly, including the UFC heavyweight title. The signing of Alistair Overeem came less than a week later. Nothing captures mainstream sports fans like heavyweight fights. White knows this only too well. The general public, arguably even
the casual sports fan, wouldn’t know who
Cain Velasquez or Junior dos Santos were if they bumped into them outside the grocery store, but the big guys have the potential to draw such an audience.
Little things will change – like Joe Rogan
in a blazer. Who knew the stand-up comedian and color analyst had one in the wardrobe? There will be the calls from old school fans that mainstream means ‘catering to the corporates,’ but in many ways, the UFC is MMA’s corporate giant from an alternative field. The sport can also expect mainstream media scrutiny, which will mean dealing with the negative as well as the positive. The magnifying glass will be from the outside in from when major, or even minor, issues break, and that will be a sea change. Rather than the lads laughing at ‘Rampage’ Jackson’s suggestion of ‘motor-boating’ a female reporter’s breasts, or dry-humping another – both viewed as amusing at the time with no major offense taken – such an event on Fox could become an incident. Small issues, but from experience, mainstream media means conservative with a small ‘c.’
Doping too will become a more visible issue, I suspect, and we are likely to see draconian measures meted out on those who are caught by the athletic commissions. How will the UFC handle those situations in this new era? A much beefed-up media and public relations department at Zuffa HQ should be well equipped to deal with this. In Caren Bell as communications head, they have recruited a former Nike executive well versed in dealing with major situations, while they have recruited a top team from a range of the top five sports.
Finally, on another heavyweight note, was I alone in thinking that ‘Big Nog’ Nogueira missed the perfect moment to announce his retirement when he KO’d Brendan Schaub at UFC: Rio. Just a few miles from home and his own gym, and with the adoration of the local fans and media. I can’t see it ever getting any better for the moment for a legend to call it a day. But that’s fighters for you... so few of them can call it a day.
