By E. Spencer Kyte (espencerkyte@mmaratings.net)
Like it or not, it’s time to give it up to Dana White.
His detractors will say that he enjoys the failure of his competitors too much and while it may certainly be true, you have to give the guy credit for what he has managed to accomplish with the UFC.
The current buzz around the MMA world is Josh Barnett’s removal from the Main Event at Affliction: Trilogy on August 1st and who his possible replacement might be. Regardless of who fills in to fight Fedor, there is a good chance this will be Affliction’s last show. Another one bites the dust.
Meanwhile, Dana White and the UFC are standing stronger than ever.
On the heels of the second-largest gate revenue in the company’s history, White has the UFC positioned to break into the mainstream media and garner the kind of coverage not yet afforded to Mixed Martial Arts in North America.
Despite his polarizing personality and heavy reliance on The F Bomb, White has succeed where so many others have failed and that is worthy of recognition in my books.
Affliction’s pending demise only further underscores how impressive the success of the UFC as a brand and company truly is. Despite an impressive roster and bi-annual cards stacked to the rafters with talent, Affliction couldn’t make a dent in the UFC’s stranglehold on the PPV market.
While Affliction certainly succeeded where the UFC failed in landing Fedor, the end result may actually be more beneficial for the UFC when all is said and done.
Paying opposition to get obliterated by “The Last Emperor” cost Affliction a ton of money; Tim Sylvia earned $900,000 for 37 seconds of work, while Andrei Arlovski pocketed approximately $2.2 million for his brief Affliction career.
Meanwhile, Emelianenko’s name has slowly began to gain recognition in North America among the casual fan, and just in time for a potential move to the UFC. Funny how that worked out …
From the moment I heard of Affliction’s foray into the promotion business, it sounded like a bad idea to me. Honestly, it sounded like Tom Atencio wanted to get into a pissing contest with Dana White.
Since then, he’s called out White and challenged his image as a tough guy, stepping into the cage himself, as if to prove how tough and committed to the sport he is. Now he’s on the brink of being out of the promotions game altogether.
Then there is White.
Love him or hate him, his shrewd business tactics and decade of work to build the UFC is paying off in spades, with the future looking brighter than ever before.
New markets continue to open. PPV numbers continue to soar. Life has been pumped back into The Ultimate Fighter series. Toys and video games and trading cards are hitting the shelves and flying off of them just as quickly.
Eleven days from now, Tom Atencio will be back mass-producing ugly t-shirts.
Dana White will be busy continuing to build the UFC Empire.
Your winner, by knockout, and still champion of the world …
Wow, what a horrid article. You write about Dana White's alleged "shrewd business tactics" yet can't name any. You claim, without any supporting evidence, that Affliction is "on the brink of being out of the promotions game altogether."
Nothing in your article supports your sycophantic allegations.
The SOLE reason for the UFC's success is what some executive at Spike TV forced upon Zuffa: The Ultimate Fighter television show. That's it. Their cards are crap. Their production is stale. Given the roster, their matchups are crap and poorly thought out.
And thank you for having the integrity to post my very negative comment.
I don't agree with your article in the least, but you certainly have a right to your opinions. (No matter how wrong they are! 🙂 )
Shrewd Business Tactics (to name a few):
– Not overpaying for guys like Arlovski and Sylvia only to watch them get KTFO by Fedor
– Playing hardball with Randy Couture for over a year despite him being the face of the franchise at the time
– Bringing in Brock Lesnar after just one career fight
– Financing season one of TUF on their own
As for Affliction, according to ESPN & Sherdog's Jake Rossen, "Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio has put a marker on Emelianenko's Aug. 1 bout with Josh Barnett, saying that the event needs to perform above and beyond in order to keep his athletes employed."
To me, that is a company on the brink of being out of the promotions game, especially now that one half of their main event is out due to a positive test for steroids.
But those are just my thoughts.
Thanks for the comment.
Bob:
Criticisms are not unwelcomed; I know not everyone will agree with the things I say on a daily basis and I appreciate feedback.
I'd actually love to hear more of your thoughts on the matter in response to my comments above.
I think Sylvia got $750K and Andrei received $1.5M rather than the amounts in your article.
You are right, Dana has managed the UFC brilliantly. It's astounding that people can disagree with that. He built it up from nothing to a now $1B+ company. It's one great decision after another. I think Dana is a mean SOB in many many ways but he has done an amazing job building this UFC franchise.
There are things that confound me, like why wouldn't the purses be at minimum be $20K to show plus win bonus? That would ensure all prospective fighters and good fighters fighting elsewhere would strive for the UFC. An extra $200K or $300K expense on a UFC card must be negligible. Why not go out and get more of the top fighters? Gegard Mousasi is potentially the best bet to beat or at least compete with Anderson at 185. Why not pay the man, or Alvarez or Kharitonov or Overeem???
Why be such a bastard with the $100K/6 month for advertisers? Dana does a lot of prickish things but running the organization well from a business standpoint is something that he's done outstandingly well.
…. and btw, the UFC cards are usually pretty damn good. I'd like them to all be as good as UFC100 but that's not going to happen. If we get at least 3 top really good fights on paper, that's pretty respectable. 101 only has 2, that's disapointing.
Bob, we appreciate any comments, as long as they aren't anonymous. Someone has to take us to task. If we all agreed about everything, then what would be the point.
I will say it was premature for you to state that Spencer " can't name any" [shrewd business tactics] just because he hadn't in the article.
I also disagree with you, Bob, regarding the "SOLE reason for the UFC's success" and the quality of their match ups.
However, I think I tend to agree with the spirit of your comments. I've always thought White gets more credit than perhaps is due. I don't think a bunch of stupid moves from other promoters equate to shrewd business tactics on his. I may be biased, but I've always thought MMA is a business that sells itself to a large extent. Given the intrinsic potential for fan appeal, its just a matter of time.
As far as Affliction goes, I'm much less likely to buy the pay-per-view.
I wish there was some way the remaining Affliction card could just be folded into the Strikeforce card. But I don't think that's logistically feasible.
Thanks to you guys for the good discussion. I'm somewhat shamed by the specific wording in some of my opening salvo.
OK, let's talk about some of this:
Shrewd Business Tactics (to name a few):
"Not overpaying for guys like Arlovski and Sylvia only to watch them get KTFO by Fedor
I don't think we know the specifics of any of this, with regard to negotiations between the UFC and these fighters. The fact is, the UFC only needs warm bodies to stick in their main events. They've promoted Jeff Monson, Travis Lutter and others successfully as main event fighters.
The status of the UFC as top dog, made possible by The Ultimate Fighter, allows them to underpay fighters and promote anyone as a main event. It's highly successful and likely to continue, albeit intermingled from time to time with some outstanding super-fights.
"Playing hardball with Randy Couture for over a year despite him being the face of the franchise at the time"
With all due respect, what was shrewd about that? They looked like arseholes and Randy, by his conduct, didn't do his legacy any favors either.
"Bringing in Brock Lesnar after just one career fight"
In my mind, this is probably the weakest one you list. I don't think it took a rocket scientist to see that a Lesnar/UFC marriage was destined for success. That's my opinion on that.
"Financing season one of TUF on their own"
You're attributing that to Dana White or his extremely rich business partners?
Dana White is on record as having been against that show and it turned out to be what saved Zuffa.
Bob:
While we certainly don't know the specifics in regards to the financial demands of these fighters and the UFC, we know that the UFC didn't pay them the ridiculous sums Affliction did. That is a sound decision.
As for the UFC only needing warm bodies for their main events, Lutter was promoted opposite Anderson Silva, a clear Main Event guy. I agree Monson vs. Sylvia was a weak main event, but not all of them can be Super Fights.
In regards to the Couture thing, who cares about looking like arseholes? Business is business, regardless of appearances, at least in my books.
If it didn't take a rocket scientist to see the Lesnar/UFC pairing would be gold, why didn't anyone else beat the UFC to the punch? That is good business, regardless of how easy a call it is.
Where can I find Dana on record as being against the show? Just saw an old interview last night on The Hour where he talked about pushing for Spike to do it and how they (he and his wealthy partners) shelled out $10M to make it happen.
And don't worry about feeling shamed by the opening salvo – it started this ball rolling!
This is going to sound pathetic, BUT…
I used to have saved to my hard drive two separate interviews with Dana White where he admitted that he was very much against The Ultimate Fighter reality show. I had them for 2-3 years, but last summer I put my hard drive through a huge purge. After searching, I can now say that the two interviews got deleted in the process. Lame, I know.
You can find some blurbs on YouTube like this one, but it's not the great proof that you'd expect me to offer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E43z-ywg3KQ
There is much more out there and I'll search it all out and post it.
PS – Just put a new show out with Nate Quarry on it, for what it's worth.
This is not the first time I've seen these interviews referenced, Bob.
It's most likely the case. Dana doesn't always make the smartest moves. He generally avoids disaster, but he's also a control freak.
If I'm not mistaken, what shot down UFC's tv deal with a major broadcaster was that Zuffa didn't want to give up control over the production (the weakest aspect of the UFC package by far)
For whatever its worth, I had always heard the same thing, that Dana and the Fertitas were not thrilled about The Ultimate Fighter.
I could be mistaken, but I've always felt that while Dana is certainly the face of ZUFFA, the financial support, as we all know, and the business acumen, come from the Fertita brothers, who learned their business savvy from their father.
So while Dana is the public face of the UFC, that doesn't mean he makes all the business decisions and is "the" person who's the driving force behind the UFC and made it what it is today. He's just the one we all get to see.
And Bob – I always heard that too, but I thought it was that not only did he not like reality shows, but if they did it, he wanted it on prime time, not Spike.
Thanks to you guys for the good discussion. I'm somewhat shamed by the specific wording in some of my opening salvo.
OK, let's talk about some of this:
Shrewd Business Tactics (to name a few):
"Not overpaying for guys like Arlovski and Sylvia only to watch them get KTFO by Fedor
I don't think we know the specifics of any of this, with regard to negotiations between the UFC and these fighters. The fact is, the UFC only needs warm bodies to stick in their main events. They've promoted Jeff Monson, Travis Lutter and others successfully as main event fighters.
The status of the UFC as top dog, made possible by The Ultimate Fighter, allows them to underpay fighters and promote anyone as a main event. It's highly successful and likely to continue, albeit intermingled from time to time with some outstanding super-fights.
"Playing hardball with Randy Couture for over a year despite him being the face of the franchise at the time"
With all due respect, what was shrewd about that? They looked like arseholes and Randy, by his conduct, didn't do his legacy any favors either.
"Bringing in Brock Lesnar after just one career fight"
In my mind, this is probably the weakest one you list. I don't think it took a rocket scientist to see that a Lesnar/UFC marriage was destined for success. That's my opinion on that.
"Financing season one of TUF on their own"
You're attributing that to Dana White or his extremely rich business partners?
Dana White is on record as having been against that show and it turned out to be what saved Zuffa.
This is going to sound pathetic, BUT…
I used to have saved to my hard drive two separate interviews with Dana White where he admitted that he was very much against The Ultimate Fighter reality show. I had them for 2-3 years, but last summer I put my hard drive through a huge purge. After searching, I can now say that the two interviews got deleted in the process. Lame, I know.
You can find some blurbs on YouTube like this one, but it's not the great proof that you'd expect me to offer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E43z-ywg3KQ
There is much more out there and I'll search it all out and post it.
PS – Just put a new show out with Nate Quarry on it, for what it's worth.
I think Sylvia got $750K and Andrei received $1.5M rather than the amounts in your article.
You are right, Dana has managed the UFC brilliantly. It's astounding that people can disagree with that. He built it up from nothing to a now $1B+ company. It's one great decision after another. I think Dana is a mean SOB in many many ways but he has done an amazing job building this UFC franchise.
There are things that confound me, like why wouldn't the purses be at minimum be $20K to show plus win bonus? That would ensure all prospective fighters and good fighters fighting elsewhere would strive for the UFC. An extra $200K or $300K expense on a UFC card must be negligible. Why not go out and get more of the top fighters? Gegard Mousasi is potentially the best bet to beat or at least compete with Anderson at 185. Why not pay the man, or Alvarez or Kharitonov or Overeem???
Why be such a bastard with the $100K/6 month for advertisers? Dana does a lot of prickish things but running the organization well from a business standpoint is something that he's done outstandingly well.
…. and btw, the UFC cards are usually pretty damn good. I'd like them to all be as good as UFC100 but that's not going to happen. If we get at least 3 top really good fights on paper, that's pretty respectable. 101 only has 2, that's disapointing.