MMA: Where we’ve been, and where we’re headed
Article by: “The Fight Professor” Stephen Quadros
As 2008 comes to a close, the vice grip dominance that the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has slowly exerted on the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA) is all too apparent. Their plan was simple yet brilliant: Zuffa just kept doing what they were doing and, unlike most of their competitors, they didn’t try to re-invent the wheel or worse, change horses in the middle of the stream. The recent attempts in North America at “competing” with the Las Vegas based giant (UFC) - the International Fight League (IFL), ProElite and Bodog Fight, have fallen short either from listening to the wrong advice from aggressive people (what’s that kissing sound?) who didn’t know a fraction as much as they led you to believe, as opposed to listening to people within your reach, who didn’t play politics or butter you up daily, but were logical and knowledgeable, non-sensible overspending, inexperienced and even lazy management/marketing, concentrating on fighters with pre-existing fame for their stars while not building new marquee talent from within, panicking when you hit rough spots causing general random, quick fix decisions or all of the aforementioned. “Money” or funding wasn’t the problem at first in any of these company’s woes, planning and execution was.
The current last man standing stateside adversary to Zuffa (UFC) seems to be Affliction MMA. While having many famous athletes, at least on the internet, on their first show on July 18, 2008, Affliction: Banned cost the t-shirt manufacturer a reported $3,321,000 in fighter purses alone, while the take at the live gate was $2,085,510.00 (as released by the California State Athletic Commission). Of course there are other figures that factor into the profit/loss equation, like the (ever elusive) accurate number of pay per view buys, TV, radio and magazine advertising costs, facility cost, security cost, TV production cost, sanctioning fees, etc. So as strong a start as it was in some respects (the Fedor Emelianenko versus Tim Sylvia and Ben Rothwell versus Andre Arlovski fights were noteworthy), Affliction Banned may have set the bar too high in their first encounter for the company to sustain, price tag wise, causing the company to be in danger of falling into the
“start with a bang and end with a fizzle” syndrome so popular with other failed attempts.
MMA promotion is a war of attrition and staying power, but that first step/show is one that must be calculated with forethought and wisdom, not haste. Heading into their sophomore effort on January 24, 2009 (again in Anaheim, California) Affliction will feature the return of the world’s greatest fighter, Fedor Emelianenko in the main event against former UFC heavyweight champion Andre Arlovski. While the match is legitimately worthy of being called a title fight, it will most likely not break pay per view records, or be competitive to various UFC main events featuring less internationally storied fighters, simply because Emelianenko has not been marketed in the US to any meaningful extent. Through no fault of his own, Fedor will not draw the kind of numbers worthy of his ranking as a fighter. This is just a fact of television and the way the “uneducated” public (MMA wise), not the hardcore fan base makes decisions on what they will spend their hard earned dollars on for entertainment. And this especially holds true in this present time of national recession.
Scott Coker (Strikeforce) and Monte Cox (Adrenaline MMA, Extreme Challenge), Roland Sarria (Rage In The Cage) and Terry Trebilcock (King of The Cage) are the only functioning, enduring and profitable independent, mid-sized fight promoters currently in existence stateside. Although not considered direct threats/competitors to the UFC, all four of these entities have their own separate ways of maintaining a fan base and operating in the black. Strikeforce can be seen on NBC and King of The Cage airs on pay per view as well as various networks in Canada.
I wish all MMA fight promoters, successful or otherwise, continued prosperity. If success has eluded you in your first attempt, either learn from your mistakes or don’t be too proud to hire someone to pass the mantle onto who can do it better for you.
Knowing when and how to delegate is crucial to getting ahead. Business of any kind are better off when wise choices are made, as opposed to selfish, reckless or irresponsible ones. But then again…this is the fight game (laughs). And if you are enjoying rewards and profits, use your power wisely. After all, American free enterprise is based on competition. Two or more major brands activate a marketplace, but a singularity creates a vacuum, which creates decline for all in the long run.
Now that the show by show forecast is out of the way, there are a few things I’d like to touch upon.
It appears to me that the sport of MMA is heading in two directions at the moment and this dual trend is something that may be irreversible.
On one hand the level of technique, versatility and athleticism present in training and competing is at an all-time high. Less than a decade ago, super talents the level of Georges St. Pierre, Anderson Silva, BJ Penn and Fedor Emelianenko didn’t exist. Now every fighter has the burden of measuring up to a staggering multitude of skills and physical conditioning expectations that are beyond those of other fighting arts such as boxing, Muay Thai and kickboxing. Mixed martial artists of today not only have to know the elements of striking, wrestling and submissions, but they also have to understand and call upon instantly the cohesion that bring the three dimensions together in one flowing and instinctive package. Separatism of technique became extinct years ago with progressive martial artists/fighters. All must act as one to be effective and competitive.
But the downside of this, and other advances, is that the uniqueness and originality, both physically and mentally that made the early MMA contests so compelling visually are gone. And with the exit of the rough edges went some of the unpredictable qualities that were present back in the early days. While Royce Gracie and Kazushi Sakuraba, in America and Japan respectively, were convincing people that grappling in itself was the only thing necessary to prevail in what was called “NHB” (no holds barred), Igor Vovchanchyn and Jose “Pele” Landy were making a case for striking in Russia and Brazil. Perception was everything. Myths lived. The advantage of the now ancient “style versus style” era was that we didn’t know what would happen. Nowadays we have a pretty good idea technically what we’ll see before any bout occurs. We might not always know who is going to win, but the ways to win are all out in the open and available, therefore taking out much of the mystery and surprise of the good old days. I’m not even saying it’s a bad thing either. It just is…
For the most part I enjoy “The Ultimate Fighter” TV show. True, there have been some seasons that have been better than others. But the main thing is that the show finally bore fruit and produced a champion and numerous contenders (light-heavyweight king Forrest Griffin, Rashad Evans, Kenny Florian, Diego Sanchez, Michael Bisping, etc.) and it attempts to show the fun and even human side of MMA athletes; a side that gets buried in the cookie-cut, same old same old production style of bigger network and pay per view broadcasts. I’m not talking about the ‘pranks’ and gross stuff that occasionally happens on TUF, I’m talking about the in-between things that actually show the real personalities of the fighters and coaches. I know some of the people on the program are trying to put on an act to make an impression or to stand out sometimes. Regardless of the forced flamboyance and false histrionics occasionally present, it is the real people, like the gentlemen I mentioned above - Griffin, Evans, Florian, Sanchez, and Bisping who last the longest once the show ends.
But…there are other ways to view what the show represents. In comparing it to what I mentioned in the second to last paragraph, The Ultimate Fighter also has in some ways become a melting pot for martial arts conformity, where the fighters all train together, learn each other’s trade secrets and then lose their individuality as a result. That is a downside that is hard not to fall into in that environment. Alas it may be something that cannot be avoided. But if this sport is truly going to move to a mountainous peak, the way boxing did in the 1960s and 1970s, then we need a star who does not look, walk, talk and act like everybody else. We need originality.
So my advice to fighters, promoters and anyone else on the planet: do the right thing and…be creative. Your legacy will be more enduring as a result.
Stephen Quadros, “The Fight Professor”, has worked as a host and play-by-play commentator for some of the world’s greatest fight organizations including: PRIDE, K-1 and Inoki Bom Ba Ye. He currently balances his activities between acting, working as a analyst/color commentator for Showtime (EliteXC, ShoXC), choreographing fight scenes for feature films and playing drums for the bands Snow and Whipped Cream. Visit Mr. Quadros on the worldwide web at: www.StephenQuadros.com or MySpace.com/StephenQuadros.
Tags: Techniques
Tags: MMA, Stephen Quadros, The Fight Professor