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Saturday headlines: MMA at the Mansion
By Zach Arnold | August 3, 2007
Medical suspensions issued from the NJACB coming out of the IFL show this past Thursday night: Gerald Harris suspended 30 days and needs neurological examination, Bryan Vetell pending x-ray of left foot and opthamalogical exam of left eye, Tim Boetsch pending xray of right hand, David Phillips 60 days and needs neurological examination, Chris Clements 30 days and neurological examination, Rory Markham 15 days or until cleared by orthopaedic re left hand, and Nissim Levy 30 days and needs neurological examination.
The paid attendance for the BodogFight event a couple of weeks ago in Trenton, New Jersey was around 1,200 paid.
I saw the press release regarding Strikeforce’s 9/29 PPV event at the Playboy Mansion in Beverly Hills. Gilbert Melendez will make his SF return at that event. I felt the need to comment on this show for a couple of reasons. First, there have been boxing events previously at the Mansion that have aired on ESPN2. Second, I know for a fact that Ed Fishman is close to the Hefners. He did invite Josh Barnett to go to the place, after all. During the DSE Inc. vs. Fishman Companies lawsuit, several MMA leagues tried to court him (Art of War, ICON, SF, etc.) In essence, he was viewed as a money mark with connections. I would suspect that Ed had a role in SF’s upcoming show at the Mansion, but that is educated speculation on my part.
Bonehead thesis of the week: Steroids are not a large problem in MMA. I am more than willing to extend an open invitation to either writer to appear on Fight Opinion Radio next week to debate me or one of my co-hosts on this issue. No drive-by attacks, no stunts, just a legitimate debate. E-mail me if interested, gentlemen.
A press release that only Dana White could love. Ryan Harkness finds discomfort in the UFC statement.
Gryphon notes something about disgraced former Fuji TV chief sports producer Kunio Kiyohara.
Michael David Smith at the AOL Sportsblog has questions about Jesse Marunde’s death.
No comprende: Another day, another drug suspension. The accused offender responds. The Fanhouse thinks the accused is confused.
Onto today’s headlines.
- The Fight Network: Joe Riggs says he’s fighting Mayhem Miller soon
- The Olympian (WA): Seattle Seahawks turn to martial arts drills
- The Miami Herald: Simon says wrestling (an interview with Joe Malenko, which is really good to read)
- The Sun (UK): Hulk Hogan – thank God I’m alive (he talks about steroids in pro-wrestling)
- Fightlinker: Beach Wrestle Super Edition – Rascal (Gomi) vs. Killer Bee (Yamamoto)
- Sam Caplan: K.J. Noons confirms broken left hand
- Luke Thomas: Any Given Saturday radio show at 2 PM EST with Jake Rossen as guest
- MMA Madness: Interview with Brock Larson
- UFC Mania: White, Couture and Gonzaga on ESPN News today
- UFC Junkie: Dana White says “We’ve got Wanderlei Silva”
- MMA Weekly: K-1 Hong Kong press conference
- The Fight Network: BJ Penn pleads no contest
- The Monitor: Hardly Harmless – A local 11 year old is mastering his second martial art
- The Rochester Post-Bulletin (MN): Eyota martial artist (Logan Clark) has another bout in Las Vegas
- The Orange County Register: Carlos Condit ready for first title defense
- CBS Sportsline: Silverbacks-Pitbulls final set for IFL
- Buddy TV: World Martial Arts Game Committee chairman says UFC will lose its following eventually
- KNDO (Yakima, WA): First-time cage fighter tells his story
- The Fightworks Podcast: Total Combat 22 in San Diego
Topics: IFL, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, Pro Elite, Pro-Wrestling, StrikeForce, UFC, UK, WEC, Zach Arnold | 13 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
In relation to the UFC trademark infringment lawsuit, I’m surprised Zuffa hasn’t gone after Roy Englebrecht Events Inc. for using PRIDE footage in their TV commercial spots for their Melee on the Mountain show held at Table Mountain Casino last month.
lol, coming soon to a press release near you: “Zuffa Sues Manufacturers of Stop Signs Due to Octagonal Shape”
The UFC either has to protect their property or risk it being used by everybody. If anything, the ways the laws are set up, it automatically forces the UFC’s hand on the issue.
I wonder how the Strikeforce event will do. Elite XC refused to release the PPV buys on the joint venture, which means you know it probably didn’t reach anywhere close to 50,000 PPV Buys. I doubt this event will have the backing of Showtime, which means the PPV Buy rate will be even less this time arond. And as much as Melendez is a pure stud and most definitely Top 5 in the world, who are they going to get to compete with him?
As for the UFC acquiring Wanderlei Silva….
I think the majority of fans Top 5 (in no particular order) is: Rua, Jackson, Liddell, Henderson, & Silva. The UFC has all 5 of these guys. Then look at the next 10:
K-1: Sokoudjou & Overeem
UFC: Ortiz, Evans, Nakamura, Machida, Lambert, & Sobral.
Undecided: Nogueira & Arona (both likely with the UFC at some point)
And with Overeem likely fighting at Heavyweight, it is nice to see that with the exception of Sokoudjou, to see all the top guys in one division so we can find out who is the best, no questions asked.
Now, the UFC just has to get Fedor & Barnett, and the Heavyweight Division will be in very much the same position. the Welterweight Division is basically all Zuffa. And the Middleweight & Lightweight divisions are so scattered across promoters that nothing will be resolved anytime soon.
Neifi Perez must have thought he was in WWE, where you can get a prescription from a “mark doctor” (and there’s at least one in every town) and they consider it a “negative” test even if you fail.
I am listening to the Josh Barnett interview, and shame on the Fight Opinion crew for creating their own “UFC Is Made Of Money Myth”.
It was Jeff who stated that the UFC pulled in over $200 Million in PPV Revenues. That is just downright false. They get around 50% of that money and it can sometimes take up to a year to receive the money. In a likelihood, they took in around $110 Million overall. That is a huge difference.
Secondly, they have purchased the WEC, WFA, & Pride. They are losing money on the WEC right now. Let’s give a low estimate of $50 Million for Pride. Already, half of their profits are gone. And then the company lost $40+ Million before turning a profit.
Already, this myth you have that the UFC is keeping all of the funds for themselves is just plainly wrong.
We brought on someone (Josh) who happens to agree with your stance and made the point during his interview. He did a pretty good job, in my opinion, advocating your side of the argument.
UFC did make an estimated $220 million USD in PPV revenue last year. You’re mixing up the term ‘revenue’ with ‘profit’. Combine this with the estimated $100 million USD Spike TV extension that they have either signed or are on the verge of signing and I’d say the group is doing pretty decently right now in terms of cash flow. Also, none of these figures take merchandising figures into account.
You really believe UFC paid $50 million USD for the PRIDE assets? Try $10-15 million USD maximum, unless they are total suckers. And with the Fishman lawsuit settled, we’ll never truly know unless the Japanese police or tax bureau goes after someone over there.
Who on our panel said that the UFC is keeping all of the funds for themselves? They’re certainly keeping a fair amount, that’s for sure. You’re putting words into our mouths now.
First, I really liked the interview with Josh. I think he really kills the idea that these fighters are so poor.
I don’t know of any accounting standard would show the UFC brought in $200+ Million in PPV Revenues. If a company sold a car, then the entire sale of that car would go as revenues. If they have to pay another company for parts they made for them, then those would be expenses. But the structure of those PPV deals, they get half of that money. That money is being paid to them by InDemand or Time Warner. Working with financial statements every day, I can tell you that nobody with even a remote knowledge of how financials would work, would say the UFC brought in $200+ Million in Revenues for the PPV’s.
And that SpikeTV deal is for 6 years. That is around $16 Million a year. Have you seen the WWE’s financials and how much it costs to run events? And if the UFC is running the European PPV’s on SpikeTV, then a lot of that money is going to fighter salaries. Without knowing the exact details of that deal, it is impossible to speculate how much the UFC is actually profiting from it.
What we do know is very simple. They have lost money on each of their first two European Shows (Source: Dave Meltzer). This is mainly from advertising. They are losing money on the WEC shows (common sense). They have purchased 3 companies in the last year. They had to make up $40+ Million in debt to either a credit facility or to the owners of the company.
Start putting that math together, and I highly doubt fighters are getting screwed out of much money at this point. Now, in a few years, once their revenues have stabilized (and so has the sport) then fighter money should have gone up, and it likely will.
What Jeff said was very simple, and was while discussing competition: “UFC making $200 Million in PPV Revenues and seemingly paying a very small percentage of that out”.
As I have stated before, that $200 Million number is completely wrong. So what ever percentage he has in his mind, double it. Then, look at other similar business models. The percentage of athletes pay for the WWE compared to it’s revenues and expenses is very small. The athletes are a small margin of those revenues. Same with the IFL and Elite XC. The cost of running their companies is so high that in the scheme of things, fighter pay really is not the main expense.
Even if there was more competition, I don’t see fighter’s salaries all of a sudden sky rocketing.
[…] There’s a surprising amount of MMA media coverage today. The zone is flooded with content. Here’s our Saturday morning news update. […]
Yeah all those top LHW’s in the same organization. I’m glad we finally get the dream fights like Liddell vs Jardine and Forrest vs Shogun.
“The UFC either has to protect their property or risk it being used by everybody. If anything, the ways the laws are set up, it automatically forces the UFC’s hand on the issue.”
This makes the litigation versus Cage Rage very interesting to me.
I am listening to the Josh Barnett interview, and shame on the Fight Opinion crew for creating their own “UFC Is Made Of Money Myth”.
It was Jeff who stated that the UFC pulled in over $200 Million in PPV Revenues. That is just downright false. They get around 50% of that money and it can sometimes take up to a year to receive the money. In a likelihood, they took in around $110 Million overall. That is a huge difference.
Secondly, they have purchased the WEC, WFA, & Pride. They are losing money on the WEC right now. Let’s give a low estimate of $50 Million for Pride. Already, half of their profits are gone. And then the company lost $40+ Million before turning a profit.
Already, this myth you have that the UFC is keeping all of the funds for themselves is just plainly wrong.
I am sorry, but the UFC (or more properly Zuffa) has made a ton of money.
It has been widely reported that the UFC generated $200 million in PPV revenue in 2006. (Check this story for just one example: http://sports.bostonherald.com/ufc/view.bg?articleid=190424&format=&page=4). True, as I understand PPV deals, they probably received about half of that. But something in excess of $100 million is not chump change. Plus, do not forget to add the money they have already made in 2007 to that total (with Chuck vs. Rampage reportedly giving them their most PPV buys ever)
Moreover, there is no reputable report that I have seen that states Zuffa paid $50 million for Pride. As Zach pointed out, if they paid that much they were suckers. All they got was a tape library and a completely broken promotion (although they also prevented anyone else from buying Pride).
Plus, the UFC made millions of dollars in live gate revenue. As Ivan Trembow reported in June 2006, the gate revenue of just the first 4 UFC PPVs in 2006 came to over $10 million. (http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=2363&zoneid=1)
And, if you want to look at the full picture of the Zuffa’s revenue and profits, you would also have to count the money it makes from the Spike TV shows (even before it signed a multi-year $100 million deal), merchandise and sponsorships.
You also mention that the Zuffa reportedly lost $40 million before the Spike T.V. show, but the TUF show debuted in 2005 and Zuffa earned significant income that year as well.
With regard to the WEC, I have not heard seen any numbers, but I think it is unlikely that any losses are significant compared to Zuffa’s overall revenue, especially in light of the T.V. deal that the WEC signed with Versus.
So, I think there is ample reason to believe that the Zuffa and the UFC have earned a lot of money.
Finally, I do not claim that the UFC keeps all the money for itself – that a myth you created. But I do think that the UFC keeps a higher percentage of its revenue than owners/promoters in most other major sports, and they use their overwhelming market power to deflate salaries. IMO the fighters deserve to be paid more.
The Wrestling Observer, having obtained some Zuffa financial documents, reported a couple of months ago that Zuffa’s profits in 2006 were greater than WWE’s profits for all but three years of WWE’s entire existence. People can believe what they want to believe, but as I’ve said before, it’s going to become increasingly difficult to cry poverty in contract negotiations when certain facts become public like the over-$100 million Spike TV pending renewal.