« Was the Sherdog site hacked? | Home | Fight Opinion Radio: Episode 27 (with Total-MMA.com staff) »
Similar Histories: UFC and WWE.
By Luke | October 6, 2006
To some people the similarities between UFC and WWE might just be coincidence, or maybe there are small little details that separate them, and to an extent that might be true. But, the fact that these two promotions are following such a similar timeline, and given the similar personalities that run both the UFC and WWE. MMA and Pro-Wrestling have a lot in common – from historical timelines, to booking philosophy, to marketing strategy.
MMA is going through a similar growth period now, that Pro Wrestling went through in the 1980s. Dana White is on the leading edge of that growth period in MMA in 2006, as Vince McMahon was in 1985.
Vince McMahon used syndication and MTV to squeeze regional promoters, and put them out of business. Lorenzo Fertitta and Dana White used the Commission system to squeeze Bob Meyrowitz years ago into selling UFC for a bargain basement price. After that Fertitta got UFC sanctioned in the state of Nevada. But previously he had just refused to sanction UFC as a member of the NSAC, when Meyrowitz applied. Which strangely enough was only a few months before UFC was sold to Zuffa.
Both took a big risk that put them over the top. UFC chose to be part of a reality tv series on SpikeTV that exposed their sport to a mass audience that hadn’t seen it previously. Vince McMahon – after a year of syndication and a few million dollars in losses – chose to work with M-TV on a special to promote a show called Wrestle Mania that would air nationally on closed-circuit TV, exposing the WWF to the masses, during an era of regional promotions, when it was faux-pas to “run” outside your home territory. Who is Forrest Griffin without The Ultimate Fighter? Or, Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff without “The War to Settle the Score”?
Vince McMahon had a very close relationship with the New York State Athletic Commission for years that allowed him control that particular region. Dana White and UFC have something very similar in Nevada. As diffficult as Vince used to make it for others to run in New York, Dana White is making it as difficult for other promotions to run in Nevada. One example is the upcoming PRIDE show where PRIDE will be forced to use the UFC round system, and judging criteria, and follow UFC rules. These differences won’t make it easier for PRIDE to be successful in North America. The only thing PRIDE won’t have to do is use UFC’s octagon.
Dana White isn’t doing anything revolutionary. He hasn’t re-invented the wheel. The formula thats being used by Dana White is very similar to the formula thats been used by Wrestling promotions around the world for centuries.
Even the formula for making money is similar. You take two fighters and position them as stars and put them in a ring together. Then you work to convince people to pay to see them fight. This isn’t anything that hasn’t been used in Wrestling for years and years. If you want evidence that it works, just study the buyrates that UFC has been doing this year in comparison with their TV ratings. Then do the same for WWE this year. The conversion rate of tv viewers to PPV purchasers tells the entire story.
Branding is the use of logos, symbols, or product design to promote consumer awareness of goods and services. Many Fortune 500 companies use Branding to help establish themselves in their marketplace. From WWE to Microsoft, to Apple, to the NFL, to UFC. All have taken great amounts of time and money to establish ‘their brand’ of a certain product to the public.
Most of the MMA coverage you see in the mainstream media is UFC coverage. Without the UFC, there wouldn’t be any mainstream MMA coverage. Just recently I saw that UFC has its own tab on the sports page at the Sympatico.ca website. Sympatico obviously isn’t ESPN, but it shows that without the brand “UFC”, would MMA be getting any mainstream attention?
John Q. Public walking the street probably wouldn’t know what MMA stood for if you asked him. If you asked him what UFC stands for, his reaction would probably be “Oh, thats Ultimate Fighting”. What reaction do you want the general populus to have when they’re confronted with the sport? Would like them to say “What is that again?”, or would you like them to instantly be able to recognize it, and know what you’re talking about.
In all three of these areas UFC has utilized something from the Pro-Wresting business to help them become successful. All the while, they haven’t undermined the sports legitimacy, and they’re skyrocketing into mainstream acceptance, and entrenchment. The key difference between the UFC and WWE boom periods is that one is a real sport with true characters, and the other is fake with cartoon characters. The chances of UFC being embraced long term by the MSM is much greater because of that. Compared with WWE, which is laughed at today by the MSM.
Topics: All Topics, Luke Nicholson, MMA, Pro-Wrestling, UFC, WWE | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |