Issue 061
April 2010
Rampage is back, but does the UFC really need ‘major name’ headliners?
A shadowy figure filled the doorway to the entrance of the Wolfslair training camp, on the industrial estate in Widnes, in England’s cold, windswept Northwest. Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson was back in the gym, with one thing on his mind: That dance with Rashad Evans, put on hold for his blockbuster acting-debut in ‘The A-Team’ movie.
B.A. Baracus was an act; Rampage Jackson means business. I hear from insiders at the Widnes training camp that Jackson is intent on silencing Evans, and then some. Jackson’s absence last year left a hole in the UFC’s programing. Couple that with an ageing Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz, and Brock Lesnar in surgery, and it looked as if the promotion might suffer a hiatus.
Yet in spite of names either growing old or falling by the wayside, a close look at 2009 throws up a major surprise. It was by far biggest year ever for the UFC in terms of pay-per-view sales and ticket sales, and in 2009 the ‘big three’ mentioned (Rampage, Tito and Chuck) only had one fight apiece.
It has always surprised this observer that Rampage is not a massive pay-per-view draw. Ortiz vs Forrest, the former champ’s first fight in 18 months, sold very poorly at the box office.
UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar is already bigger than any of the names above have ever been, and by a long shot. Georges St Pierre and BJ Penn, although not ‘new’ fighters, now outsell the ‘major names’ in pay-per-view. Perhaps it is a sign that not only is the fan base of the sport growing exponentially, but that a generation of fighters face growing old gracefully.
Why Brock Lesnar’s outspokenness is infectious
On the subject of Lesnar, you may not agree with him – and I don’t on many counts, both politically and in the way he conducts himself at times – but one has to admire his forthright attitude in not shying away from controversy and issues close to his stomach.
I refer to his comments regarding the health-care reform issues facing all of North America. The media reported, blow by blow, Lesnar’s account of his decision to rush from the Canadian hospital in Manitoba, driven by his wife Rena, to get across the United States border to save his skin.
Why shouldn’t he express his opinion? He claims the CT machine in the Canadian hospital was broken (they were waiting for a replacement); he needed a picture taken of his stomach and he claims they had no state-of-the-art equipment. He’d been there 48 hours and claims he could have died; he claims his career would have been over.
The self-confessed carnivore (who has slimmed down his rack of meat freezers) will continue his public campaign after his experience. “This [health care] issue isn’t going away,” Brock has declared. “I’m not some dumb meathead fighter. I have something to say. I still have my career today because of the United States health care system. Does it need some fixing? Absolutely. But the changes I’m hearing about don’t sit well with me, and I’m exercising my rights by speaking my mind.” Anyone volunteering to stop him?
UFC at Madison Square Garden in October?
New York is now one of just eight US states where MMA events remain illegal and unsanctioned. Yet, if it is enshrined in law on April 1, my sources tell me that the UFC could be heading there in October this year.
Not before time. Thirteen years of hurt since the ‘outlaw’ sport was run out of town by scroll-holding abolitionists in 1997. They say mud sticks, and it has been scraped off the walls this time.
The UFC’s bulletproof ride through the economic slump and recession has made its impression on New York State’s governor David A Paterson. Late in January, he unveiled the proposals for 2010 / 2011, as those in the thrall wrestle with ways to clinch a $7.4 billion deficit. It included MMA going to Albany.
A top-notch UFC title fight and a ripped card at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan would generate in the region of $ 11million dollars according to Marc Ratner, the UFC’s mover and shaker on these things, but the ripples on the pond could also spawn a cottage industry of small-hall shows in local communities.
Gareth A Davies is boxing and MMA correspondent for The London Telegraph
