SpikeTV has added yet another show to it's considerable lineup of UFC content. The new show, hosted by Joe Rogan, is called Inside the UFC. In the premier episode, Joe sat down with UFC president Dana White to discuss the past, present and future of the UFC. One topic they touched on is how to ensure UFC champions are fighting the best fighters in the world. Basically, Joe and Dana were dancing around the Liddell vs. Silva debacle that left Dana White watching Pride run a show in Las Vegas while he sat with a very large dose of egg on his face. It's obvious that Dana has learned his lesson about announcing unsigned fights for good this time as no names were mentioned during the show's discussion. Dana did however, make a promise to provide fans with fights that included the best possible combatants regardless of organizational affiliation. He even eluded to a plan that will be put in place to make these types of fights happen in 2007.
My first thought was to say "Yeah, yeah. We've heard that before". Then I started thinking about how Dana approached the subject and something was different. I realized that there was caution in his statement this time as opposed to bravado. I believe Dana truly wants to see Chuck fight Wanderlei, Dan fight Anderson and Tim fight Fedor. I think he has to recognize that he's out of blockbuster matchups following the December 30th rematch between Chuck and Tito as stated previously.
One of the big factors that may help him sign these fights is something that didn't happen this year. Pride FC was unable to secure an agreement for a Japanese TV network to carry their New Years Eve show. For those who don't know, New Years Eve programming in Japan has become a very competitive event for the networks' ratings. Typically, K-1 and Pride would be going head-to-head trying to win the ratings battle but this year K-1 finds themselves the only horse in the race. Pride will have to rely solely on gate and PPV revenues to pay expenses and try to stay profitable. Based on who they list as competitors for the event, payroll should be very high. This could cause huge financial difficulty for Pride moving forward which could open the door for UFC to start bringing in some of the fighters that are bound to leave as opportunities diminish.
Another key element to this issue has got to be general motivation. Dana White got beat to the punch by J.D. Penn when it comes to securing a deal with a premium cable network. Penn was able to secure a legitimate deal with Showtime to promote MMA fights in 2007, something Dana claimed was to happen between the UFC and HBO months ago. The best way for White to best the Showtime-Penn deal is to promote better fights on a competing network. (Incidentally, the fact the Showtime took the MMA leap first is going to force HBO's hand in '07. As it is, they will simply look like copycats when they do sign a deal so it will be criticall that any deal they do sign be a blockbuster type arrangement. Only UFC can provide that.) In addition, the way Pride used Dana and his audience to promote themselves prior to the Pride U.S. debut has to be a huge thorn in Dana's side. It's hard to believe that he's not looking at that and trying to restore some face for himself and his organization.
The biggest reason to believe White is going to make these huge fights happen this year is money. It's now official: UFC has more money to spend on fighter salaries than Pride. Just about everyone was surprised to see what Pride fighters actually make when the Nevada State Athletic Commssion rules dictated that DSE reveal fighter purses following the Pride 32: The Real Deal show took place in Las Vegas. The prior prevailing opinion was that UFC salaries paled in comparison to Pride payouts. This turned out to not be the case. It turns out the two are just about even keel. However, the UFC continues to increase revenues while Pride is looking for revenue sources just to stay afloat. There has been a huge shift in spending power in favor of UFC. This is likely going to result in some major Pride talent jumping ship to UFC.
If ever there was an opportunity in time for mixed martial arts fans to see the best fight each other, 2007 may be it. It likely won't be until later in the year but it has to happen. Dana needs these fights to take his organization to the next level. Further, he's taking a more cautious approach to securing these matchups. So when White promises to provide fans with the fights they want to see in 2007, does he mean it this time? The answer looks to be a cautious Yes.
Will
6 comments:
Regarding the Pride vs UFC: who has more money? argument, you're neglecting something. Both companies seem to employ some kind of bonus payment setup in the US. At UFC 57, both Randy and Chuck both cleared over a million each after purse, bonuses, and PPV cuts. At UFC 64, Anderson Silva both stated in an interview (with Tatame I think) that he and Rich both received $300k in fight bonuses for that fight. GSP told a Quebecois newspaper that he got a $500k bonus and a new car from the Fertittas for his victory over Hughes.
The organizations aren't about even keel money-wise. UFC seems to have far surpassed them. They are on free TV and their PPV buys are over-the-top huge. It really isn't even that close.
Also, dude, this is my first time seeing this blog of yours. It's great. You should update it more frequently.
I would not saying that the UFC was beaten to the punch by Penn. Showtime has a base of 13 million homes and Showtime is not putting much money into that project.
While Pro-elite will be helped by being on Showtime, this is not going to put them into big time MMA.
Tyler,
Thanks for the positive feedback. Regarding the payscales; I agree with everything you said. In fact, you kind of reinforced my point. One thing to not however, is that Pride probably pays off the record bonuses as well. Apparently, Fedor made much more than what was reported to NSAC. The main point was that nobody can claim that UFC doesn't pay close to Pride anymore.
Mysterlynch,
I wasn't really implying that the Showtime deal was going to be very damaging to UFC. I was only making the point that Dana White lost the race to get on one of the huge boxing oriented premium cable networks. The fact is, Showtime made the first real move to bring quality MMA to diehard boxing fans. Dana can only do a deal with HBO now if he wants access to that type of viewer.
Well, it seems like Dana meant it this time.
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