Co-Promotion in the UFC? A Noble Idea, Nothing More

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Last Wednesday, Sports Illustrated writer Josh Gross unleashed an article outlining what the focus of mixed martial arts should be this year. In the article, Gross makes these claims:

Serious issues remain unresolved, and new ones will surely arise. Concerns of oversaturation on American television will be met head on in 2010. The impact of collective bargaining for fighters could begin to play out in a real way. A dire need for competent regulation and judging is underscored each time fighters step in the cage. Expansion of MMA internationally will certainly be a story in the coming year (especially with the UFC planning a major push into Asian markets and governments like China poised to embrace the sport). And on the home front, a promotional war between the UFC and Strikeforce is likely to intensify.

Our own Kid Nate chimed in with his own thoughts of the article’s points, and former BE commenter and Fightlinker writer subo ranted back. It’s safe to say that it’s a touchy subject among fans, and it seems that many are split on the issue.

The central issue revolves around the UFC not willing to co-promote with other organizations and it’s robbing the fans of some great fights that should have happened. While I’m not a resounding voice in the MMA blogosphere, I couldn’t help but throw out my own opinion among the thousands already out there. I’m generally in favor of co-promotion for the fights, but the UFC would be crazy to do so in 2010 or while being in the position they’re currently in.

Oversaturation still seems like a farce to me. Many readers here have tried to liken it to Major League Baseball in that they turn on their television in the afternoon and stumble through their 500+ digital television packages hitting multiple games. I think that’s a little unfair because oversaturation is usually based on the more die-hard fans becoming overly tired of the sport due to watching it so much, not casual fans roaming their channel guides and saying “Jesus Christ! There is way too much baseball!”.

From my own experience, most MMA fans won’t be affected by the HDNet, Showtime, Versus, CBS, Fox Sports,and NBC deals that were worked out with various promotions. Most will probably tune in for the CBS cards that Strikeforce promotes due to their quality on the main card, but I doubt droves of casual fans will get “tired” of MMA because of all the events. Most fans will only see the few CBS cards and the UFC cards.

Of course, others are saying that co-promotion will ultimately solve oversaturation because the fans don’t buy the “bad” UFC cards. If we had co-promoted cards, more huge fights would happen — thus bolstering PPV buyrates. Sounds great, right?

The only problem is that the UFC is at the top of the food chain when it comes to revenue and the business side of the sport. Why would they want to share the revenues when they’ll probably gain the services of the fighter down the road anyways?

Sure, it hasn’t worked out for everyone. Fedor Emelianenko has remained out of the UFC due to his management demanding a co-promoted event, and some writers believe that’s a sure sign that the UFC needs to lax their policy on co-promoting fights. I’m not exactly sure why though. I want to see Brock Lesnar vs. Fedor Emelianenko like the next guy, but do I think that one fight will ultimately change the way the UFC does business. Be realistic.

Other promotions have time against them in this scenario. The UFC continues to make money despite the slowdown in their revenue margins. Strikeforce, on the other hand, will always have the visible problem of trying to find quality match-ups for their roster of fighters, a roster that seems increasingly more interested in moving to the UFC after the exposure they receive from network audiences.

The UFC also pays more than any other promotion in the sport, and promotions trying to keep up with those numbers will find themselves out of business. This is much of the reason why some of the big fights we wanted to see years ago didn’t pan out till later, but it can eventually hurt the UFC’s enemies.

2010 won’t be the year to focus on matching top fights in my mind. It’ll be the year to prove the Strikeforce can actually maintain revenues and move forward. CBS/Showtime has money, but they aren’t going to keep a MMA promotion afloat that isn’t making good profits. If they can’t do so, the UFC will be another step closer to pure domination, and then we will get to see the best vs. best — because the UFC will own almost all of them. It’s seems increasingly more believable that the UFC will grab up everyone before the UFC actually fails enough to scatter most of the talent among many promotions.

The UFC’s marketing and resources at their disposal to hype the fighters they currently have is astounding as well. It is worlds ahead of Strikeforce at this point because of the amount of money they have available, and it shows in their campaigns on Spike and the online content. Sure, hardcore fans want to see these perceived great fighters who reside outside of the UFC come into it and challenge for titles, but the UFC could sit around and bring in sub-par talent to those fighters and still win out by marketing them to the casual fanbase.

Why? Because they can still market them as the next great thing in mixed martial arts, and your buddy down the hallway will still have never have heard of Shinya Aoki or Fedor Emelianenko, nor would he care.

I want fights that we can’t have just as badly as the next hardcore fan on the block, but it’s an illogical idea at this point in the UFC’s history. A true fan who would be willing to risk some revenue to snag big fights is what you ultimately need, and Dana White isn’t that guy right now.

This is a business, and Dana White isn’t the president of another promotion behind the UFC in revenues right now. It makes sense for all of the other promotions to co-promote in order to continue being relevant, but the UFC doesn’t need to do so.

I’ve heard this same idea from Josh Gross for years, and while I think it sounds like a great idea — it gives off the feeling that it’s an idea that is more based on pride and power to the people. Give the people what they want, Josh Gross says. Sounds grand and spectacular, but it almost never works out that way.

I’m not opposed to what Gross says. I’m just very pessimistic when it comes to the things that need to happen in order for co-promotion to actually occur in the UFC. More big fights would be made… if there weren’t any egos and this wasn’t a business. Unfortunately for many fans, business is what drives all sports to where they are today. Co-promotion in the UFC is nothing more than a noble idea that won’t come to fruition any time soon. It’s more likely that the UFC will gobble up the competition and outlast the masses of promotions out there.

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Co-Promotion in the UFC? A Noble Idea, Nothing More