Outside the Octagon: Bellator's Business Strategy

In my column, I usually write about the UFC, but this week I wanted to change it up and talk about one of the UFC’s rival organizations Bellator.  Bellator is a much smaller organization and doesn’t have the same star power as UFC.  A lot of times, when Bellator’s best fighters’ contracts are up the UFC will sign them.  Recently, Bellator has been signing a lot of former UFC athletes.  Personally, I do not believe this is the best business strategy.

Outside the Octagon: What's Next for Ronda Rousey?

Ronda Rousey defended her belt on Saturday in a dominating sixteen second victory over Alexis Davis.  She improved to 10-0 with all of her wins coming by either submission or KO.  Rousey is slowly becoming the new face of the UFC.  So what does the future hold for Rousey? 

Outside the Octagon: The Future of the UFC in 2014

The UFC in 2014 has had some troubles.  The PPV numbers are on pace to be one of the lowest in years.  The drug testing system is still riddled with flaws to the point where fighters are retiring because of it.  Finally, the loss of stars Anderson Silva and George St. Pierre has hurt the UFC more than they could have imagined.  I have come up with a few ideas to help the UFC have a better second half of 2014.

Outside the Octagon: UFC's Growing Drug Problem

Earlier this week, Chael Sonnen failed a random drug test and has been pulled from his fight against Vitor Belfort.  His test came up positive for two banned substances, Anastrozole and Clomiphene.  This is the second time that Sonnen had an issue with drug testing.  In 2010, after his fight with Anderson Silva his urine sample came back with having 17 times the amount of testosterone for a normal person.  Sonnen is just another example of UFC’s ongoing problem with drugs.  

Outside the Octagon: Is the Dominance of Brazil over in the UFC?

Brazil has been dominating the UFC for years. This has been from the very beginning of UFC back when Royce Gracie use to beat fighters double his size. There have been points when over half of the UFC champions have been from Brazil. Now Jose Aldo is the lone remaining champion.  I believe there are two main factors that have led to the recent spur of American champions, growing popularity of the UFC and the evolution of the sport as a whole.

Outside the Octagon: UFC's Lack of PPV Power in 2014

This year so far has not been a good one for UFC and Pay per View events.  After four PPV events this year, the buy rate is only at about 1.2 million.  This rate is very low and if it continues the UFC could have their lowest PPV buy rate in seven years.  There are still 10 PPV’s left this year, but all signs point to the UFC having a bad year. 

Outside the Octagon: UFC's New Drug Program

The Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC), who regulates combat sports in the state of Nevada, are now going to implement a more enhanced drug testing program.  This announcement comes a few months after the NSAC banned Testosterone Replacement Therapy.  This new drug testing program will begin for the upcoming UFC 173 on May 24^th. 

Outside the Octagon: Team MMA, The Next US Sport?

About a week ago Deadspin posted an article about Team MMA.  If you have not seen the video I highly recommend you click on the link and check it out.  To summarize the video, it is a 5 on 5 match between Poland and Sweden.  Each person fights one person on the other team.  When someone wins they are now free to help out any of their teammates.  You can imagine that this is when it starts to get pretty insane.  

Outside the Octagon: Crowdfunding in Professional Fighting

Professional athletes are always trying to find new ways to make money to help them personally and to allow them to commit to their sport full time.  Some of the past ways include sponsorships and endorsements, autograph signings, personal appearances etc. MMA athletes have added a new one to the list, crowdfunding.

Water Cooler Talk: It's a Women's World in the UFC

Three years ago Dana White was asked about if women will ever be in the UFC.  His respond to this question was quick and one word, NEVER.  Boy has things changed.  Since then women fighters have helped make the sport of UFC even better.  They have put on great fights while also headlining cards and being on the Ultimate Fighter.  Women fighters have proved that fans want to watch their fights equally or more than the men’s fights. 

Water Cooler Talk: UFC's New Bonus Structure

Last week the UFC announced they are changing up their bonus system for fights.  The old system rewarded $50k for Fight of the Night, Knockout of the Night, and Submission of the Night.  They have decided to remove knockout and submission and award the two $50k bonuses to performances of the night.  This decision came after UFC 169 had all but two of the fights go to decision.  This allows the UFC to have more of the decision in who deserves to get the bonuses.  

Water Cooler Talk: UFC in 2014

If you think about the UFC and the best fighters in the sport usually three names come to mind: Anderson Silva, George St. Pierre, and Jon Jones.  These three fighters are usually the three names of who fans and commentators toss out for best pound for pound fighters.  Silva has recently lost two fights in a row and broken his leg in half.  Who knows when he will be able to fight again and if he will ever be able to compete at the level he used to.  St. Pierre decided to vacate his belt and give up fighting for a while.  Jones has not fought since September and has postponed his fight three times against Glover Teixeira.  With these three stars futures in doubt, I have come up with a few suggestions for what the UFC should do to continue its strong brand.   

Growing Pains For Fox Sports 1

After an impressive debut two Saturdays ago, FOX Sports 1 is learning quickly that competing with the established juggernaut that is ESPN is not going to be an easy task at all. FOX Sports 1’s debut success stemmed largely from the live UFC Fight Night card that pulled an impressive 1.38 rating, grabbing 1.78 million viewers according to Nielsen. The network’s version of SportsCenter, called FOX Sports Live, also had an impressive debut number with a 0.2 rating.

What's next for the UFC and Anderson Silva?

This past weekend was UFC 153 who’s main event was Anderson Silva moving up to the 205 pound division to face Stephan Bonnar.  Bonnar had never been knocked out before and Silva quickly changed that in the first round.  Silva made quick work of Bonnar while at the same time toying with him for most of the fight.  This is the third time that Silva has fought at 205 and none of those fights have ever made it to the second round.  He has also dominated his own division of 185 pounds for years.  The only logical thing to do next, in my opinion and most other UFC fans’ opinion, is to set up a superfight between Jon Jones and Silva.

This fight has been talked about within the last year and a half ever since Jones started to dominate his weight division.  Both of these fighters are 1-2 in the pound for pound rankings of current fighters.  Not only would this fight be amazing for the fans to see it would also be great for the UFC.  The financial potential for this fight would be through the roof.

The highest gate revenue ever at a UFC event happened within the last couple months at UFC 148.  This event included Silva and had a revenue of almost 7 million.  The fight between Silva and Jones could easily surpass this no matter where the event is held.  The event could exceed the highest grossing Pay Per View total as well.  The current record is held by UFC 100 which featured 2 title fights and a matchup of Ultimate Fighter coaches.  The Silva-Jones fight could beat this just on its own so adding one other great fight could destroy the old record.  Finally sponsorship sales would be at record levels because of the potential record amounts of people viewing the event.  

Everyone who is a fan of the UFC hopes that this fight may one day happen but I doubt that it ever will.  After last weekend Silva said that he is done fighting at 205 forever.  If this fight were to happen it would not be until after Jones fights Chael Sonnen in April of 2013.  We are realistically looking at this fight at the earliest of July 2013, which is if the fight even happens at all.  As a fan I will continue to dream that this matchup happens one day in the future but I will not get my hopes up to high.     

UFC 148: The Cementing of a Legacy

UFC 148: Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen II was the most hyped and anticipated fight in the history of the promotion. The pay-per-view buys in the United States have not been released yet, but UFC president Dana White predicts that the numbers will break the UFC 100 record from 2009 which was a reported 1.6 million buys. However in Brazil thus far its been released that 19 million people viewed the fight on television. The "live gate" numbers for the event at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas approached $7 million and were by far the highest in MMA history. UFC 148 Preliminaries on FX have also set a new record for UFC prelims on that network with 1.8 million viewers. The Spike TV all-time record for UFC preliminary fights was set last year at UFC 126 with 2 million average viewers.