Issue 037
May 2008
The people of Montreal and the surrounding province of Quebec like their fighting. The city’s TKO promotion (formerly UCC) has been around since June 2000, making it one of the most stable, consistent promotions in North America, producing some high quality fighters. None more so than Georges St. Pierre, the perfect example of a modern-day hometown hero, but he’s not the only one, even in Montreal.
Former ice hockey ‘enforcer’ (the guy designated with getting into the on-ice scraps) Steve Bosse is another Quebecer. Unlike St. Pierre, he’s far from being one of the best fighters in his weight class. He’s a raw, aggressive 27-year-old with a professional record of just 2-1. But he drew several thousand highly excitable fans to last December’s fight with former TKO heavyweight champion Icho Larenas. Bosse lost in the third round of a dramatic brawl but provided plenty of entertainment for the audience and plenty of cash for the promotion.
Bosse was hardly an NHL (National Hockey League) superstar. His on-ice career was entirely played on relatively minor-league Canadian teams. But the combination of his name value from that sport and his birthplace meant he featured prominently in the advertising for all three of his TKO appearances. Bosse sells fistfuls of tickets, and for all his inexperience and grappling shortcomings, he’s a far more valuable commodity in his area than far better or more famous fighters.
The California-based promotion Strikeforce have their own hometown heroes. Both self-promotional genius and fighting legend Frank Shamrock and former San Shou star Cung Le call San Jose home, and between them and Cesar Gracie they pulled over 17,000 fans to the promotion’s debut show in the city. Headlined by Shamrock finally facing, and trouncing, Gracie in a grudge match several years in the making, the local element was an absolutely vital ingredient in the show’s success, and nobody in the raucous audience cared that it was, in purely sporting terms, a serious mismatch between a great fighter and an aged Brazilian jiu-jitsu instructor.
Stepping outside their California comfort zone, Strikeforce headed up the coast and in February presented Bob Sapp’s first ever MMA fight on North American soil. Over 7000 fans handed over their money to see the local Seattle native fight Jan Nortje at the Tacoma Dome. The show itself was a disaster – interminable, disorganised, poorly lit and even worse, Sapp was rescued from a serious beating by the referee after just 55 seconds. But without Sapp’s presence, it simply wouldn’t have been possible. He was all over the local media and must be credited with pulling the vast majority of the audience. He may be far from a credible fighter, but like Bosse and Le, his name on a poster, in the right city, absolutely guaranteed ticket sales.
In an era when seemingly everybody with some cash to spare is trying to jump into promoting MMA, it’s clear that finding charismatic fighters who can shift tickets in their home cities and states is vital to a new or young promotion’s success. Nobody can compete with UFC’s brand name, but they can do steady, consistent and sustainable business by learning from the likes of TKO and Strikeforce and building their events around marketable locals.
This is hardly a new idea. Back in 1997, future UFC middleweight champion Evan Tanner was a hero to the fighting fans of his hometown Amarillo, Texas. The enigmatic Tanner was the face of the United States Wrestling Federation (USWF), regularly pulling in thousands of hard-drinking blue collar Texans to watch as he took on and defeated bigger opponents. Sadly, the USWF dwindled away soon after Tanner headed for the bigger leagues, but at least one well-run local promotion from that era is still around.
Aside from the most hardcore fans, few people outside a certain area will have heard of Hook n’ Shoot. An independent promotion conceived, owned and run by former UFC announcer, BodogFight commissioner and all-around MMA guru, Jeff Osborne, Hook n’ Shoot have been running shows in Evansville, Indiana since 1996. Relying almost exclusively on a steady procession of local fighters and using local radio to build-up fights, personalities and grudges, Hook n’ Shoot have kept costs low, kept their loyal fans entertained and most importantly, kept themselves in business. Modest they may be, but such promotions are the lifeblood of the sport and their tight focus on building a loyal local following will surely outlast the bigger, more ambitious, more expensive promotions who fail to learn from the successes and failures of others.
