« UFC 171: Johny Hendricks survives round one of Strikeforce Welterweight division takeover | Home | Current casino owner who books fight shows appointed to Nevada athletic commission by Brian Sandoval »
Fight Opinion Radio: The Mastodon of Verbosity, Mauro Ranallo, on the future of big fights on PPV
By Zach Arnold | March 17, 2014

Download the show
The second episode of the Fight Opinion Radio 2014 campaign can be downloaded right here (http://www.fightopinion.com/podcasts/foradio-3-17-2014.mp3). To automatically subscribe to the Fight Opinion Radio podcast, use this RSS link: http://feeds.feedburner.com/fightopinionradio. This link should work for all RSS programs and podcatching programs. You’ll never miss any of our new shows.
Time length of this week’s show: 36 minutes (17 MB MP3)
Interact with us at Fight Opinion Radio
The best way to support us is with a financial contribution. All money contributed pays for show & site-related expenses. http://www.fightopinion.com/donations is the magic link.
Reach Mr. Whaledog on Twitter @whaledog & Mr. Arnold on Twitter @fightopinion. Send us feedback on the shows either in the comments section or via e-mail at [email protected]. Mailbag questions can be sent to that e-mail address as well, just make sure to include the word “mailbag” in the e-mail title.
Show theme: A loaded combat sports event schedule over the next three months
Three UFC shows within the last three weeks and it’s not slowing down. There are at least 10 more shows over the next 4 months. If you live & breathe combat sports 24/7, it’s great. If you’re a casual fan or burnt out, you’re waving the white flag. When Nikita Krylov is fighting on a main card of a PPV, you know the matchmaking is stretched thin.
For many years, The Ultimate Fighter has acted as the UFC’s quasi-minor league system. Then they decided to sign all the talented free agents and left the cupboard bare for TUF (on the men’s side). Is it time for the UFC to create their own official minor league system?
Special guest: “Zach Arnold guy” Mauro Ranallo
He was recently on The (Jim) Ross Report and the boss of Fight Opinion decided it was time for an interrogation of a man, myth, and legend that we created. For the first time in years, we sat down with Showtime boxing & GLORY kickboxing play-by-play man Mauro Ranallo. You can reach Mauro on Twitter @mauroranallo or via e-mail at [email protected].
A sample of some of the questions asked during the interrogation:
- What was it like during the fall of PRIDE with the yakuza scandal? Why were so many people kept in the dark about the impending collapse?
- What would have happened if PRIDE had made the jump to the United States before Spike TV & WWE helped launch the Ultimate Fighter boom?
- Playing revisionist history: What if PRIDE had sold their assets to Ed Fishman instead of the UFC?
- With the push for both UFC’s Fight Pass and WWE Network, what does the future of PPV look like for combat sports?
- Remember the sports media types who said that MMA’s success would become the death of boxing around the time of Chuck vs. Rampage?
- How difficult it is for hardcore fight fans to keep up with an oversaturated MMA event schedule
- What Mauro Ranallo would like to be remembered for the most after his days as a play-by-play announcer are over
- The differences/similarities between UFC buying out Strikeforce & PRIDE assets versus WWE buying out the assets of WCW and the impact it had on combat sports
Special thanks
To Zack Nelson for past & present support of Fight Opinion Radio with music. We hope to work extensively with him and other bands in the future for a step-up in production values for Fight Opinion Radio.
Topics: Fight Opinion Radio, Jeff Thaler, Media, MMA, podcasts, PRIDE, UFC, Zach Arnold | 6 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Thanks for putting this together Zach
The idea of a minor league for the UFC is a great idea, but it won’t happen.
Take the Shogun vs. Henderson 2 card. Half of that talent should be in the UFC Minor League. But if they do that, then that minor league card will get less money at the gate and FOX Sports wouldn’t want it.
They are purposely spreading themselves thin in order to milk the consumer for ever penny. Short sighted really as they are burning out their fanbase.
But I agree. The UFC should really be for the Top 20 to 25 fighters in each weight class.
For some–the majority of the pie is not enough.
Agree with Mauro 100% – PPV is about big stars. It’s not about a bunch of “good” fights (we can see that for free) it’s about the big cahunas. These stars have to attract eyeballs and more importantly, casuals who will turn their heads for the main event. Right now, the UFC has 0 major draws.
Jon Bones Jones is their biggest draw right now but it’s hard to see him pulling 500k + for his fight with Glover. If you look at the UFCs current roster, they will be lucky to get a 400k buyrate.
hey dick, i posted this on another forum the ufc right now has no big draws at all. i dont think they have one person on the roster right now thatcan pull in over 500 k in sales.
Turd,
Predictions on what the biggest PPV of the year will be? Aside from a GSP/Silva comeback, I’m thinking the rematch of Gustaffson/Jones.
Nick Diaz can hype a fight, and it would be a slap in the face to the sport, but I’d say Diaz/Hendricks would be up there too.