The popular reality show, the ultimate fighter will
be making its debut in Brazil this coming year. UFC president Dana White has
been saying over the last couple of years that his dream is to have the reality
show take place in different countries all over the world and not just the US. The
idea behind this would be have all the winners compete in one tournament and
crown a world champion. This tournament would bring the UFC back to its roots
of the first several UFC’s which were held in the tournament format. There have
been plenty rumors of the reality show tacking place in country such as,
Canada, India, England, China, Philippians, and other countries were MMA is flourishing.
This is a very exciting concept for fans and the UFC, crowning an unknown world
champion plus deeper talent pools.
Every year the UFC is increasing in popularity, also
there making revenue has gone up significantly, but not for all fighters. Many
fighters are still making below average salaries. Under-card fighters make an
average of $6,000 per fight not including win bonuses and sponsorship pay which
seems low even for a prospect. If a fighter is successful enough to make his
way onto the main card his pay also will increases, goes without saying! In a interview
with espn, majority owner Lorenzo Fertitta stated the when the UFC was originally
purchased for 2 million dollars, it was a business that was lousing a lot of
money. Lorenzo and other investors were 44 million dollars in the hole before
there breakeven point in 2005. With a good business structure and a devotion to
marketing they were able to turn the business around; many people believe the
UFC is worth well north of billon dollars. Lorenzo stated in the interview that
fighter salary has gone up every year since they were in business, and fighters
are paid around 50% of the overall revenue. Also there is ko of the night,
submission of the night, fight of the night and discretionary bonuses and sin,ce
owning the company the UFC has made 39 fighters million eras, they also have
over 350 fighters on contracts. But then again in business know matter what it
is, most people start from the bottom and make their way to the top. In conclusion,
there are many Olympic athletes, college wrestlers, Kick boxers and other
martial artist who never had a plat form like the UFC to make money and perform
their talents consistently on the world stage.
Former training partners Jon Bones Jones and Suga
Rashad Evans will face off April 21, 2012 at UFC 145 for light heavyweight Championship
of the world. The two men have been participating in a war of words over the
last year and seem like they really don’t like each other. Jon who is the
youngest MMA world champion at 24years of age has the longest reach advantage
in UFC history. Rashad Evens a former UFC Champion will be looking to regain
his past glory. Two Former friends, each man with only one loss on their record,
will they be friends again when it’s all over ? Whatever happens should be an amazing
fight.
When Georges St Pierra was originally set to fight
Nick Diaz it was a MMA fans dream matchup, Strikeforce champion vs. UFC
Champion. But when Diaz missed both of his pre-fight press conferences he was
forced out of his opportunity to fight the sport’s top pound for pound fighter Georges
St Pirerre (GSP). Diaz latter regained his opportunity with an impressive victory
over B.J Penn and calling out the GSP after the fight. Then another setback happened,
GSP had to have surgery on an injured knee, these events led to Diaz fighting a
new opponent Carlos Condit, and the winner of that fight would fight GSP after
he recovered. Diaz eventually went on to louse to Condit in a controversial
split decision. Diaz would then contemplate retirement, then he was suspended
for a year due to testing positive for marijuana, Diaz has tested positive for
weed in the past. A little fact, Diaz has a California medical marijuana card,
for his social anxiety. Diaz vs. GSP is
the fight fans want, but will it ever happen?
The UFC has brought its fight towards shutting down
web sites that stream UFC events illegally. A web site called greenfeedz.com
was streaming live pay preview events and had recently been taken down by the
UFC. Also all of greenfeedz.com records which include email addresses, usernames,
IP addresses, and the number of streamed events have been obtained by the UFC. This
information certainly allows the UFC go after individual consumers for
copyright violations, but it’s highly unlikely that UFC will waste its time coming
after the users of this site.
Online streaming of live sports events has become very
popular, do to so many highly priced specialty channels and pay per view events.
A few months back the federal trade commission opened
up an investigation concerning if the UFC has monopolized the MMA business. The
recent purchase of the second biggest promotion in MMA, Strikeforce, has forced
the FTC to open an investigation. This is not the first time the UFC has purchased
one of its competitors. In the past the UFC has bought out many of its rival’s such
as Pride, WEC, World Fighting alliance, international fight league, and now
Strikeforce. The UFC obviously is running some sort of monopoly but according
to UFC, (Zuffa) ownership recognizes this idea as ridiculous. Only recently the
FTC has closed their investigation.
This past weekend, Strikeforce held a
main event title fight between champion Miesha Tate and challenger Ronda Rousey
.In only her fifth pro fight, amazingly all first round arm bar submissions, Ronda
defeat champion Miesha Tate to win the Strikefource women’s bantamweight championship.
Ronda, a very marketable fighter by means of her good looks, decorated Judo background,
and very entertaining trash talk. She’s won multiple world judo championships,
and is the only American female to win a gold medal in judo at the Olympic Games.
This was a very important moment in
women’s MMA considering the purchase of Strikefource by the ufc. There has been
concern surrounding strikeforce and the future of the women’s division. As many
of Strikeforces top talent has made the move to the UFC, it seems that it’s only
a matter of time until the UFC stops organizing Strikeforce events. UFC president
Dana White feels that there is a not anofe good female fighters to create a division
in the UFC, which if asked, the fighters would tend to disagree. . After this
past weekend’s fights and the increasingly growing popularity of woman’s MMA,
the UFC just may have to make room for women’s division.
Pride fc launched its promotion in 1997 and quickly
became mainstream in 2000 when pride fighting legend Kazushi Sakuraba fought
UFC hall of famer and tournament winner of UFC 1, 2 and 4. This was a war
that lasted 90 min, and was eventually was stopped due to Gracie’s corner throwing
in the towel. In the history of Pride there were many amazing battles, too numerous
to list, which includes one night tournaments, vicious head stomps, and soccer
kicks to the face.
In 2006 rumors began to surface that some of Pride’s fights
were fixed, as they might be highly involved in organized crime, the Yakuza
(Japanize Mafia). It’s been said that former manager of Pride fighting legend the
last emperor, Fedor Emelianenko,Miro Mijatovic, helped
launch the investigation on Pride and the Yakuza after he was forced at gun point
to sign his rights to Fedor over to Pride. This investigation led police to Fuji T.V.
were they would inform them of the facts that have been found, which led them to
terminate Pride immediately from their T.V schedule. The effects of lousing there
T.V deal forced Pride to sell their organization to the UFC for a rumored
$70 million dollars. Eventually the UFC absorbed Prides fighters into their
divisions,even tho the plain was for the UFC to continue putting on Pride events.This of course did not happen, according to UFC President Dana White, its impossible to do
business in japan because the mafia controls everything over there.
This story has got me thinking!
Is it possible for organized crime to be involved in
the sporting industry in America?
Is it possible that organized crime exist in the UFC?
