In the beginning, it all started with a simple idea. Dana White, the future president of the UFC, thought with the correct management, marketing and the introduction of sanctioning the UFC could reverse its downward spiral and start competing with boxing and even pro wrestling.
To do this, he sought out the help of the Fertitta brothers, his childhood friends as well as wealthy casino owners, and together they bought the UFC in 2001. The journey to the top though was far from smooth, with the UFC receiving criticism from Senator John McCain labelling the sport “human cockfightingâ€. Fortunately, with Lorenzo Fertitta’s assistance they attained sanctioning from the Nevada State Athletic commission and the first steps to making MMA legitimate had begun.
Alongside this, the first season of the Ultimate Fighter reality show aired. In the show, fighters lived and trained in special facilities and competed against each other for a contract in the UFC. This culminated in a live event where Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar faced off live on Spike TV in what became a pivotal moment in the UFC’s history.
Although in financial difficulty, the UFC demonstrated the potential White believed it held and the success of the sport was becoming more tangible with every event. Pay-per-view buys for UFC 40 in 2002 were just 150,000, and although this was considered a major achievement for the sport, it showed little indication of the success the UFC would soon achieve.
In seven short years, UFC 100 would exceed all expectations. Frank Mir fought Brock Lesnar in a rematch which would see the UFC sell 1.7 million pay-per-view buys and outsell every pay-per-view event of the year to become the fourth highest selling event in history.
The steep ascent in MMA’s popularity can be attributed in no small part to the efforts of Dana White and the UFC. He said, “One of the reasons boxing is dying is because [for] Bob Arum and Don King, two of the biggest boxing promoters in the last forty years, it hasn’t been about how can I secure the future of this sport, it’s about how much money can I put in my pocket. The difference between us and other people are we are investing our money back into this sport.â€
In this regard, the UFC has a track record of building fighters with Chuck Liddell being its most notable poster boy and also heavily promoting fights. White has built prospects and champions alike with the up and coming Jon Jones being an example of how marketing and promotion, as well as Jones’s undoubted potential, have turned him into a star.
In addition, the UFC, never being content to rest on its laurels, constantly seeks out new audiences by bringing their show to new countries, with Abu Dhabi being the most recent. However, the real attraction to MMA is the action that takes place in the octagon.
In former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell’s opinion, “the sport is great because the best guys fight the best guys so you get great match-ups and great fights so the fans get what they pay for when they watch the UFC.â€
Surely, this is what counts most to the fans.
– Stephen Barry
