UFC and co-promotion
Last month on the Savage Dog Show, Greg was asking what it's going to take, if anything, for the UFC to co-promote with other organizations.
Adam Swift of MMA Payout wrote in his article that "co-promotion is where the sport is headed, if not this year then sometime in the not too distant future. The UFC can either lead the way or face the possibility of being left behind."
While I do agree that co-promotion is where the sport is headed, and I look forward to it's proliferation, who knows how long that will take. In the meantime, the only thing that will motivate the UFC to co-promote is if they loose their status as the top promotion. For them to co-promote before that time would be foolish. In doing so they would have little to gain and a lot to loose.
If they were to co-promote St. Pierre vs. Shields, or if they had chosen to co-promote Randy vs. Fedor a while back, they would simultaneously bring recognition to a competing organization, and publically risk their fighter's dominant status and therefore their promotions as well.
I fully imagine that eventually they will have no choice but to co-promote, as they will no longer have the vast majority of top fighters or market share, but they will be able to see that time coming a long way off and will have plenty of time to adjust...and I'm sure that when they do White will let everyone know how he has been trying to cross promote the whole time and do whatever it takes to put on the best fights for the fans.
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Comments
The UFC's biggest assets
The UFC's biggest assets right now are its stable of fighters and its brand-name recognition. It can use those to bully its competition. However, as that erodes, I'll be curious to see what Dana White's new tact will be and how forgiving the other promotions are. The UFC may eventually give in to co-promotions but will the other promotions forget how they were treated in the past and oblige?
If they can make more
If they can make more money......sure. Plus you keep your friends close, you keep you enemies closer.
if the ufc has all the top
if the ufc has all the top fighters then why co promote?
Underboss MMAfia
Head of the West Coast Family
Because some day a real stud
Because some day a real stud will sign with one of the other promotions and the UFC will need to get the fight scheduled with the other fighter.....so they can make money. Besides you can't clame your the greatest if you can't prove it.
i see. but i don't see dana
i see. but i don't see dana white ever co promoting.
Underboss MMAfia
Head of the West Coast Family
Exactly iamphoenix! There is
Exactly iamphoenix! There is no reason to co-promote if you have all the top fighters, or even the vast majority. But it's extremely unliklely that the UFC will be able to maintain it's dominance forever.
The reason is that there is just too much potential to make money in MMA, and as such investors will keep trying to compete. Consider that as much as the UFC tries to saturate the market (see M-M-Abundance, they cannot contain all the fighters. Also many figter's values will lead them away from the UFC, particularly issues with there exclusivity policies. Also, consider the effect of co-promotion from UFC's competition. This effectively means the the UFC will not be competing with a bunch of smaller promotions, but with a single conglomerate of promotions.
Also consider what some of the UFCs competition is able to accompllish:
- Look at what HDNet is doing for anyone that wants to get televised.
- EliteXC will be on CBS
- What kind of impact will Golden Boy's promotional strategy have on fighter expectations?
For all these reasons combined the UFC will have no real choice. Right now they might be able to offer fighters the biggets paydays, but not forever...and when that happens they won't have all the best fighters anymore either.
When that time comes I'll be relieved to not have to explain that it's actually mixed martial arts and not ultimate fighting, but I'm sure Dana will still be able to say how he made it all happen.
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I see a day when the
I see a day when the Ferttitas realize that Dana isn't the end all be all of mixed martial arts. I see them telling him to get with the program or hit the road. This will happen when one or two big name fighters bolts the UFC for another organization.
Godfather and all-around Mafia Aficionado
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where can a get a crystal
where can a get a crystal ball too?
Underboss MMAfia
Head of the West Coast Family
No comprende Phoenix. Su
No comprende Phoenix. Su ingles es no bueno hoy.
Godfather and all-around Mafia Aficionado
Co-Founder of The MMAFIA
Live Blogger for Fightticker.Com
la biblioteca es muy grande
la biblioteca es muy grande en Kinglevs cabasa.
Underboss MMAfia
Head of the West Coast Family
Oh yo comprende. Te gusta
Oh yo comprende. Te gusta grande negro beecho en la boca y el coolo?
Godfather and all-around Mafia Aficionado
Co-Founder of The MMAFIA
Live Blogger for Fightticker.Com
una mas cerveza. Thats all
una mas cerveza.
Thats all the Spanish I ever learned...
i think co-promotion is a
i think co-promotion is a terrible terrible idea...even though thats where the sport is headed. honestly i think other companies co-promote because they can't hang with the UFC and its the only way they survive the business.
I dont know that it's a
I dont know that it's a terrible idea if done right - but I do completely agree that they are only doing it to try and survive. I like the idea behind HDNet being more of a fight-promotion broker along with having thier own stable of fighters. I wonder if the UFC could adopt something similar to where they still control the production and promotion of thier own fighters. Probably not... but I would like to see the UFC take a different approach and try to become even bigger by 'adopting' these other promotions and angling it to thier advantage for more control...
The UFC has done a masterful
The UFC has done a masterful job of owning "Ultimate Fighting" in North America. People don't call the sport "MMA," they call it "Ultimate Fighting." As the sport grows, with EliteXC getting on CBS and the sport growing as a whole, we will see what happens. Right now, the UFC doesn't have to co-promote with anybody. That will change. In boxing, Bob Arum and Golden Boy have to co-promote huge events to make money. That's going to happen in MMA in the future. So far the UFC can get away with it. That's not going to be the case in the future.
very well spoken clos. i
very well spoken clos. i agree with you.
i think the UFC is smart in protecting their brand, and their image. they're (usually) always looking at the big picture.