Mass Debate? Comparing The UFC To “Mainstream” Sports

The UFC has long been the staple of most mixed martial arts fan’s diets. News surrounding the biggest MMA promotion swarms our social media feeds and headlines about the biggest stars such as Jon Jones, Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey etc. dominate the numerous media outlets that have steadily grown with the sport. Yet still, even with the global popularity and expansion of not only the UFC, but the sport of MMA as a whole, it still is slightly short of that mainstream sport status. Why is that?

Well age and experience has a certain amount to do with it, with the UFC only being 22 years clear of it’s inception. But even back then, Art Davie, Rorion Gracie, Campbell McLaren and Bob Meyrowitz were up against the giants of baseball, basketball, football, golf , boxing, hockey and more. These long established pursuits are backed by billions of dollars and years of consistent popularity, making the struggle of mixed martial arts in the shark tank of mainstream sport an unlikely one.

Still, even against those staggering odds, MMA has managed to drag itself out of the dark corners of illegitimate bloodsport, and in to the domain of worldwide sensation and beyond. But why does this tag of ‘not mainstream’ still get thrown around so much? Mixed martial arts is now legal in every American state, is wildly popular in every major continent, and recognized as ‘the fastest growing sport’ of the modern era. When does it cease to be this back seat passenger to the giants of NBA, NFL and so on?

Well, to a certain extent, we as MMA fans and the sport as a whole often view things through the glasses of MMA being the world’s most popular sport, but let’s be honest, it isn’t yet. There are numerous reasons why, but then also multiple arguments for the fact that it really should be at that elite level with the other major sports by now.

So what’s the hold up?

Money

Yes, it makes the world go round, and is no exception within the rules of the mixed martial arts market. Money is everything, and although they are banking big cheddar every financial year, the UFC and all other MMA promotions are merely scratching the surface of what mainstream sports has to offer their bank accounts. When you take in to consideration that some MMA fighters, professionals in their own sport, make $500 for a fight and even less in sponsorships with the new Reebok deal, it’s no wonder that even the most hardcore MMA fans don’t consider the sport in the same bracket as those major leagues.

UFC Revenue 2015

$600 Million USD

NFL Revenue 2015

$13 Billion USD

With numbers like these, the promotion has a very long way to go, even with the fact that MMA fighters are becoming household names now days. Of course making a comparison between MMA and pro football is probably an unfair measuring stick, but it just goes to show what a ‘mainstream’ sport brings in revenue. That said, there is a very interesting stat doing the rounds at the moment, and you might be interested in seeing how much UFC stars like Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor make per second of fighting:

Although you might argue that the speed in which they win/lose their fights, and also the fact they only compete for a maximum of 25 minutes at a time makes this a lopsided stat, it’s simple logic. Yes Serena Williams made a butt load more money than Ronda Rousey, but she had to work a lot more during her active season. MMA is certainly coming along well, but there’s blame to place on the major promotions too…

Swings and roundabouts

Yes, we can certainly praise the UFC for being the world’s largest MMA promotion and helping push the sport in to the limelight, but with that thanks, and it’s not only toward the UFC, there also comes a certain amount of blame. In the case of the UFC, they’ve made a number of bloopers over the recent years, but none more catastrophic and damaging than that of the Reebok deal. The notoriously stringent partnership between the sports manufacturer and the UFC includes terrible sponsorship pay for fighters, a weak product range that’s riddled with frustrating and offensive errors, and a reveal that was both filled with mistakes and made the hardest men/women on the planet look like power rangers in pre school.

It was a clear attempt at joining mainstream sports in owning their product, something that the UFC does very well, but does a top level promotion try to copy other already established sports, or do they blaze a trail of their own? It might interest readers to learn that the NBA are now moving towards allowing sponsors on team jerseys:

From ESPN:

NBA owners are scheduled to vote this week on putting ads on jerseys for the 2017-18 season, multiple sources told ESPN.

The measure is expected to pass, according to sources. Several teams have begun testing the market to sell the potentially lucrative ads, which would be placed in a 2.5-by-2.5-inch patch on the left shoulder.

A proposal was presented to the owners in February during a meeting at the All-Star Game in Toronto with the expectation that a decision would be reached at this week’s board of governors meeting, held in New York on Thursday and Friday.

The initial proposal to owners was for teams to keep 50 percent of the sponsorship money from the jersey ads and for 50 percent to be added to the revenue-sharing pool for all teams.

The irony of the UFC now being stuck in a one dimensional and somewhat comical deal with Reebok for the next six years, and thus being unable to emulate the mainstream sports as they originally desired, is not lost on this writer. But it isn’t only the UFC that has to shoulder some of the blame, and later we’ll give them their huge props too, but Bellator MMA needs to be called out on a few things. First off, their take on freak shows very nearly ended in a major MMA promotion witnessing a death mid-combat. Yes, Dada 5000 experienced kidney failure and TWO heart attacks while fighting Kimbo Slice at Bellator 149, and although it may have been a laughing stock of a fight, it could have seriously sent MMA in to a hole that it may never have climbed back out of.

The fact Scott Coker‘s clunky promotion allowed Dhafir Harris, a clearly out of shape and inexperienced fighter, to climb in to the second most popular MMA platform on the globe and nearly die due to these major shortfalls in fighter safety and medical care is essentially a crime. It was very nearly corporate manslaughter, and also the commission that licensed the fight in Houston, Texas deserves a fair whack of the blame too. With the battle to become more mainstream never more ferocious, MMA needs to avoid these types of incredible pitfalls to succeed in it’s mission.

Talking of pitfalls….

Aliens with muscles on their teeth

It might be a confusing heading, but let me explain it for you. UFC color commentator Joe Rogan once described Vitor Belfort‘s physique as following:

“If we saw Vitor in his TRT prime, like he was against Rockhold or Bisping, compete against Weidman, would we see a different result? We would certainly have seen a different body. His body was shockingly different when he faced Chris Weidman compared to when he faced Dan Henderson or Luke Rockhold, especially.”

“I mean that Rockhold fight, Jesus Christ! He looked like a fucking alien! He had muscles on his teeth. He had muscles on his eyeballs. He looked incredible. Then for the Weidman fight he looked much older than his chronological age. Compare Vitor to Randy Couture when he fought Tim Sylvia. He was into his forties and he looked fantastic.”

Yes I’m very subtly eluding to drug use in mixed martial arts. It’s rampant, and never has it been more apparent than since the USADA (United States Anti Doping Agency) took control of the whole drug testing matter. They now implement a strict regime that includes frequent random testing, no more IV dehydration and numerous new policies/practices that intend to end drug cheating in combat sports. The UFC was essentially forced to embrace this once their legends started to fail drug tests, with Anderson Silva being the biggest confirmed kill to date. Ironically the very ‘new era’ of drug testing the UFC embraced is now starting to prove very damaging to many respected fighters legacies, ergo the very fabric that holds the promotion’s colorful history intact.

Above is what MMA fighters may have looked like in 2020 if USADA hadn’t intervened.

All humour aside, with the narrow minded points of view still possessed and purveyed by many main stream media outlets, politicians and your average sports fan about MMA being a ‘savage’ or ‘caveman’ pursuit, having these warriors hopped up on horse meat is simply ammo for these pathetic arguments to grow in legitimacy. The long standing sports like baseball for instance are far more resilient to these sorts of dramas, and face way less criticism for their sport as a concept than MMA.

Finally…

Props

Yes Dana, it’s time to give you and the UFC your props. We can sit here and pick apart the bad points in the UFC’s current gameplan, but the truth about this was evident in the opening paragraph. The UFC is the number one organization in MMA for a reason, and whether you like that or not, they’ll be staying there for the foreseeable future. Although their somewhat selfish views have been revealed since the explosion of social media and the alienation of numerous employees over the years, they are still paving the way in many aspects of promotion and marketing the sport.

Of course there’s the opinion that the UFC is strong arming the market and making it impossible for any other organization to make it along the same lines of practice, but that’s a different argument for a different article/day in court with Nate Quarry and co. It’s unknown to what scale the sport would have grown without the UFC, the common consensus is not at all, especially if Bellator MMA was the best on offer. That’s a world that wouldn’t be worth living in.

In closure, MMA is not mainstream, but to fans like myself and many others, it’s the only sport. Nothing else comes close, hopefully for the fighters and other people working hard for themselves and the sport, one day this amazing sport will be enough for the to make long and safe living from. As it stands now it’s a top heavy payscale that benefits only the elite in the long term, somewhat mirroring the western ‘democracy’ that’s currently monopolizing the globe today.

It’s been fun mass debating with you, and thanks for reading.