 Black Belt
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deep in thought |
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What Zuffa needs to do to re-establish the UFC's marketability:
It's troubling to read of the recent down-turn in interest in the UFC product, and the resulting dismal credit rating and forecast by S & P.
So where lies the problem? And, is the problem as bad as the S & P report suggests, or leads one to believe?
IMO, the drop in interest can be attributed to 3 factors:
1. Recent poor UFCs that lacked in both entertainment value and "Star" appeal. Unfortuneatly, as much as the "Newbie" term is bandied about with disdain on this forum, it is the casual fan who turns the Zuffa-owned UFC brand from a brand that's just treading water financially to a money-making boon. Because of this, it is the the "House-hold" MMA names that the casual fan pays the PPV to watch. These names are relatively few, and not coincidentally, bring in the biggest numbers. They are: Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz, Matt Hughes and Ken Shamrock (yes, though he's a long-ago has-been, he still brought in the numbers in his last 2 appearances). You could possibly throw in 3 more who bring in moderately large numbers in GSP, Rich Franklin, and Anderson Silva. But, realistically, outside of the big 5 (or 4, if you want to take Ken Shamrock off of the current list) the REST of MMA's fighters (even many of the top talents), no one knows too much about. Consequently, interest wains when the big 5 are not on a UFC card.
To exagerate this problem further, all of the "Big 5" have had their recent set-backs. Chuck Liddell went from a 7 fight win-streak (5 by KO and 2 by TKO), with 4 of the notable wins being huge draws in Tito Ortiz (1 KO and 1 TKO) and Randy Couture (2 KOs), to losing 2 in a row to "Rampage" Jackson (A victory would have avenged Chuck's out-standing loss to Quinton. Ultimately, this was a big blow to Liddell's dominant reputation), and relative TUF newcomer (and unfortuneatly a no name to the masses), Keith Jardine.
Randy Couture was able to recover from his losses to Liddell by moving up to the HW division and obtaining amazing victories (along with the HW belt) over Tim Sylvia and Gabriel Gonzaga. This was the best thing to happen to Zuffa in 2007. But, the payoff was short-lived, as Randy resigned out of the blue, tarnishing both the UFC's image and to a lesser extent, his own.
Then there was Tito, who came back on the UFC scene with a lacklustre/disputeable split decision win over Forrest Griffin. Fortuneatly there was Ken Shamrock who was there to taunt Ortiz into a duet of highly-publicized grudge matches, that virtually obliterated what was left of Shamrock's career. It looked like maybe the old Tito was back, but then he lost a decisive bout to Chuck via TKO, making him look somewhat tired and impotent against a top-tier LHW. Rounding out his fight-record to this point, was a tentative snooze-fest draw with Rashad Evans (who the casual fan still knew little about), that further damaged his appeal, and the appeal of the sport to many MMA fans - both casual and even die-hard ones.
Finally, Matt Hughes suffered a massive loss to GSP in November of 2006, that uncerramoniously ended an impressive 7 fight winstreak over notables in Trigg, GSP, Royce Gracie and BJ Penn. Suddenly the WW division's best ever, appeared human. In fact, his brutal loss, in which he was manhandled in every facet, seemed to deflate the most dominant UFC WW title holder. His close victory over WW gate-keeper Chris Lytle (another relative no name to the casual fan), did little to shine his tarnished star.
Two of the UFC's other big-ticket items in GSP and Franklin had big set-backs, in St. Pierre's TKO loss to Matt Serra, and Rich's nose-deforming TKO losses to Anderson Silva. In Rich's case, two mediocre victories (particularly to Yushin Okami) sandwiched between the losses, did little to revive his image of immortality to the casual and die-hard fan alike. Though GSP did bounce back from his loss to Serra with a very impressive win over Josh Koschuck, his regard as one of the top P4P fighters in the world is still 2 or 3 impressive wins away from where it was before Matt Serra. Of the three honorable mentions, Anderson Silva is the biggest star to rise out of the misty waters of late 2006 and 2007, proving to be the baddest ass on the planet - as he's destroyed every comer in his path. Unfortuneately for Zuffa's marketing department, he's Brazilian, and for the gravy casual fan, selling him to the "Joe America" isn't a gimmee sell, like Chuck Liddell or Randy Couture are.
Outside of these names, Quinton Jackson had good success, but, due to him knocking off a huge fan favorite in Chuck Liddell, he is more notorious than anything else at this point. Yes, he has a following, and he too can be considered a moderate draw at this point. But, ratings reflect that he hasn't been embraced quite yet by the PPV crowds.
2. Over-exposure. As much as I don't like to ask the question...Are there too many UFCs? Seriously, how many times can Rogan and White hype every matchup headlining or co-headlining an event with constant hyperboles such as: "The greatest (insert whatever you want in here) of all time!" and have the fighter (s) or bout (s) come up stinkers - or at the very least, not living up to expectation? Coupled with this, is the fact that in the real world (where the average Sherdogger does not live - no offense), there are very few names, as I listed, that America in particular WANT to see. Most people don't really have time to follow all of the names out there, and all of MMA's sub-plots. People want heroes that they can count on to perform, that make themselves known through impressive performances not judge's decisions. And, unfortuneatly for Zuffa's learning curve, though TUF has been incredibly important to them, it can't be more than a "feeder" organization to their big shown namely, "The UFC." There could be an increase UFNs and even variations of the show where up-and-coming talent is showcased, but you can't properly sell the "Super Bowl" of MMA on a monthly basis (sometimes even more than that), with relatively unknown talent. Not IMO anyway.
3. The number of upsets and Pride short-comings in the last year and a half. Devastating losses to all of the big names became all too common. Hughes, GSP, Liddell, Franklin, Cro-Cop, Shogun, Henderson...The list is endless. Hyping the big names and then watching them get manhandled doesn't do much for the sport's popularity. When you throw in the slew of steroid problems (Sherk and Franca to name a few), and Babalu's choking issues, is it any wonder that popularity took a dip?
Whatever the case, the UFC can build on 3 positives IMO. Quiton Jackson, Anderson Silva, and GSP's return to dominance. But, they need some more good ol' American heroes to rise to dominance again too. And getting Randy Couture back and happy wouldn't hurt either. Maybe an exciting UFC to finish the year would help. If Chuck beats Wandy in a back-and-forth slugfest, maybe that's the ticket. Combine that with a GSP/Hughes quality rubbermatch, and maybe the UFC's numbers get back on track, Zuffa can only hope!
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