Issue 025

May 2007

. . . and one rising star – From UFC 38 to UFC 70

By Andrew Garvey

Almost five years after their ambitious yet financially painful British debut, the UFC are back. 

Much has changed since UFC 38. Over the last two years, parent company Zuffa has transformed the UFC from a struggling money-loser into a financial juggernaut. Consistently smashing records for pay-per-view buys, drawing huge television ratings and pulling in more fans than any other MMA show in North American history (UFC 68 in March), UFC became unquestionably the most successful MMA promotion in the world last year. 

The landscape hasn’t so much shifted as undergone a seismic transformation like that of a major earthquake. UFC 70 (to be held at the cavernous, vertigo-inducing MEN Arena in Manchester) looks like it will be a very different event from the previous English instalment at London’s historic Royal Albert Hall. Even at the time of writing, it is a massive success. Internet pre-sales were around the 5,000 mark, more than the total attendance for UFC 38, and some six weeks before the show the original ticket allocation of just under 14,000 was expanded. The MEN Arena looks certain to sell out. That means there should be somewhere around 19,000 fans in the building for undoubtedly the biggest and most important night in the history of British MMA.

UFC 38 & UFC 70: Comparing the British contingent

Almost five years on from that groundbreaking night on July 13^th 2002, the UK scene has grown tremendously. Back then most of the British fighters who were close to UFC calibre were in action, and were even in featured fights on the main pay-per-view broadcast. James Zikic dropped a close decision in the opening match to Californian Philip Miller. Leigh Remedios was outclassed and submitted by oddball Japanese superstar Genki Sudo, then-undefeated striker Mark Weir sparked out America’s Eugene Jackson in a stunning 10 seconds and FO’s own Ian Freeman annihilated Frank Mir in a stirring upset. 

Freeman already had UFC experience and Weir’s dangerous hands and feet meant he was tipped for a UFC debut at some point anyway, but Zikic and Remedios were really there as a nod to the British audience. As it happened, Freeman and Weir both fought twice more for the promotion. Weir lost both fights, to Miller and David Loiseau. Freeman lost to future heavyweight champ Andrei Arlovski four months later at UFC 40 and would battle to a draw with Vernon White at UFC 43. Zikic and Remedios never fought for the UFC again.

Oddly, given how small the UK scene was back then, the British contingent on that 2002 show was more accomplished and established than the one featured on UFC 70. Michael Bisping is already the biggest star in British MMA history and is heavily favoured to batter Elvis Sinosic in one of the night’s most anticipated fights. Aside from Bisping, this show is less tailored towards the British market. A more self-confident promotion these days, the UFC is not relying on British fighters to sell tickets. Instead it’s the brand name and big stars that count. There’s still quality British talent on the card though. London-based Frenchman Jess Liaudin is a well-respected, experienced fighter and Liverpool’s undefeated Terry Etim may potentially be UK MMA’s next big thing. David Lee, and Paul Taylor (neither of them major names even on the UK scene) round out the British contingent in undercard matches. 

There is a strongly European flavour to the show, with a Croatian, a Belarusian, another Frenchman, an Italian and a German all in action. The message is clear, this most European of UFC shows isn’t just about the British market. A European expansion is well underway. Last time they came over and stayed for one show. This time, with a permanent office set up in London, UFC are resolutely here to stay with at least another four shows pencilled in for the next twelve months. 

The UK MMA Scene

All things considering, for a small island of 60 million people, no mainstream TV or press coverage and very little money on offer, the British MMA scene is an exceptionally vibrant one. Regular readers of FO will be aware of the big boys (Cage Rage), the ambitious one-offs (WCFC), the promotions which form the backbone of the domestic scene (Cage Warriors, FX3) and the smaller, feeder promotions (Cage Rage Contenders, House of Pain etc.) 

With shelf upon shelf of UFC and Pride DVDs in major shops and MMA easily available to anyone with digital TV and a broadband internet connection, its not hard to catch plenty of action, even for people who don’t attend live shows. The number of gyms and academies offering MMA training has also exploded, giving aspiring fighters plenty of options to learn the game. The calibre of British and European fighters has undoubtedly improved overall since 2002. UFC president Dana White certainly believes that and has kept an eye on the scene for the last few years. Now, with the explosion of UK MMA, and in particular some of the very impressive audiences drawn to Cage Rage shows in London, the time was clearly ripe for a longer, more sustained UFC invasion.

Television is Everything

The key to any truly successful and popular sporting promotion in 2007 is a strong television deal, particularly in the US. Five years ago, that was one of a struggling UFC’s biggest problems. They had a short-lived arrangement with FSN (Fox Sports Net) which included a ‘mini-UFC’ filmed by FSN in June 2002. UFC 37.5, the first UFC free-to-air TV show was headlined by Chuck Liddell and Vitor Belfort. Sadly, that experiment in first-run UFC fights on free TV went nowhere. The ratings were better than FSN had live boxing but the timid suits got cold feet over showing a still-fledgling sport with a PR problem. Other than that, all UFC events were shown on pay-per-view and drawing comparatively tiny audiences. 

Zuffa have always been secretive about pay-per-view numbers but industry insiders have pegged some shows in the 2001 to 2003 period as attracting just 40,000 buyers across the whole of North America, with a fairly average show drawing some 80,000. It’s notoriously difficult to be precise about these figures since they are amalgamated from a variety of cable and satellite companies and are further confused by numbers for repeat showings. The only thing we can say for absolutely certain is that every UFC pay-per-view these days draws many, many more viewers. Why the dramatic turnaround? The answer is simple: Spike TV.

When Spike TV targeted male viewers, it was fairly logical they would show some form of fighting. Boxing’s demographic in the US is positively prehistoric but the theatrics of WWE Monday Night Raw remained a hit with the sought-after 18-34 year old males market. Spike wanted a ‘reality’ show based around legitimate fighting that would also hit that same demographic. Zuffa wanted a weekly show featuring fights. They reached a compromise. The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) debuted in January 2005, immediately after WWE at 11pm. The sheer drama of some great personalities trapped together in a mansion, the intense training, the fights themselves and WWE fans sticking around before bedtime made for some great TV ratings. This was the key to making coaches Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture into genuine stars.

Spike quickly caught the UFC bug and started cramming their schedules with UFC programming. Twelve weeks of episodic TV were capped off by a live special on 9^th April, headlined by an unforgettable brawl between Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar. Again, the numbers were excellent, and with replays factored in, Zuffa could plausibly claim 10 million viewers had tuned in. Numbers like that made America’s media sit up and take notice. With three more seasons of TUF in the bag and a total of 13 live UFC specials behind them by early April 2007, Spike is the channel to watch MMA in the US. Crucially, Spike don’t only want to fill up a few hours, they are genuinely behind the promotion, advertise it heavily and even show Countdown specials to promote pay-per-view events that go head-to-head with their own programming. 

This explosion in TV viewership has in turn fuelled a boom in live attendance and pay-per-view buys. UFC live events have topped 10,000 paying customers six times since January 2005. The one million plus pay-per-view buys for UFC 66 on December 30^th 2006 would have been absolutely unthinkable just a year earlier and several UFC shows last year smashed the 500,000 households barrier.

Why does that matter to the British audience? Simply because it turned UFC from a loss-making labour of love into a monstrous cash cow. And what does a company as ambitious as Zuffa do with such an influx of cash? They expand and grow. That money has enabled their British return. But the landscape has also changed dramatically over here. Again, television coverage has played a major role in that. In 2002, UFC had a weekly series that showed seemingly random fights on Sky Sports 3. This did little to build up the fighters on the upcoming show and was a wasted opportunity. UFC 38 itself was offered as a Sky pay-per-view. Inside sources say it did well, but Sky simply lacked commitment to future shows. Fledgling pay-per-view channel Setanta picked up the slack in 2003 but their miniscule advertising budget left them with very low viewing figures and the UFC all but disappeared from British screens for a while.

Like Spike in the US, Bravo came to the rescue. The channel have wholeheartedly embraced UFC coverage, showing masses of UFC footage and airing edited pay-per-views on a next-day delay since 2005 (to the delight of UK viewers). Setanta are back in the game too, offering UFC 70 on pay-per-view for £14.95. This time around Setanta, with lucrative deals on Premiership and European football, are a very different broadcaster than they were in 2003. 

Bravo deserve enormous credit for enlarging the British audience but they’re not alone, as other satellite and digital channels have got in on the act. Sky Sports 3, Eurosport, Men & Motors and TWC Fight have also featured plenty of MMA coverage from Britain and around the world. Much of the credit for the increased MMA audience lies with these cable and satellite channels. The sport’s refusal to roll over and die and its constant growth have even changed a few perceptions in the mainstream media.

A (Slightly) More Accepting Media

Before the real expansion and education of the audience about subtleties such as groundwork and submissions, many UFC shows were marred by restless, drunken crowds. UFC 38 was very different. The crowd loved everything and even fell in love with Genki Sudo (despite him beating an Englishman). The appreciative reaction of the 4,000 or so fans at the Royal Albert Hall apparently ensured Zuffa would be back someday, somehow. 

Sadly, by and large the British mainstream media still reject MMA as a legitimate sport. With controversy whipped up by some misguided promoters and an often negligent, sensationalist mainstream media, its hardly surprising UK MMA has had such a difficult time with short-sighted local councils and tin-pot local officials. Rather than court such nonsensical ‘any publicity is good publicity’, Zuffa go out of their way to educate and indoctrinate journalists. Rightly criticised for peddling the fairytale they alone came up with the rules and modifications that saved the sport (previous owners SEG and the New Jersey State Athletic Commission deserve that credit), the company have nonetheless done a great job of attracting positive mainstream media. Even two years ago, the official UFC website featured only articles written by Zuffa staff and MMA journalists. These days there are links to favourable, often well-researched articles written in mainstream newspapers. Even the Los Angeles Times now have a regular column about the sport and all over the US, major newspapers and mainstream sports channels like ESPN are getting in on the act.

The situation is slowly heading that way in the UK, aside from the predictably shrill and thoroughly ill informed statements from the likes of Frank Warren that is. They say more about his barely disguised panic about the UFC invasion than anything else, and the rantings of Middle England newspapers and late night radio talk shows have done little to dent the popularity of the sport. Zuffa have worked hard to dispel the tiresome ‘no rules and sheer brutality’ myths and few national newspapers have failed to run feature articles on the sport in recent months. 

Indeed, it seems as though Michael Bisping’s familiar grin has been captured by every broadsheet and tabloid for several weeks. Zuffa know how to make the right fighter into a genuine star. That’s exactly what they are doing with Bisping. Notice how he’s in the foreground of the poster campaign advertising UFC 70? Its doubtful there’s a bus shelter in the North and Midlands of England that isn’t adorned by that poster of Bisping, Mirko Cro Cop and Andrei Arlovski. The casual fan, or even just a vaguely interested passer-by, can’t fail to notice the advertising blitz and search out more information.

Perfect Timing

The timing is absolutely perfect for Zuffa’s expansion into European territory. The growth of the British scene and the sheer number of fans over here (with the MMA gospel often spread by enthusiastic fans to their friends) has been incredible. Far more TV coverage, a more educated media and the attentions of the world’s most successful, most professional MMA promotion will all come together on April 21^st at Europe’s finest indoor sporting arena. This debut show is a can’t-miss success, and it is one Zuffa is sure to build on.