MMANEWSLEAK Exclusive:
There have been a lot of changes in the sport of mixed martial arts in the past 10 years. Most notably, the dominance of The Ultimate Fighting Championship. Other promoters, seeing the sport in its infancy and thinking that they could profit off of the ground work laid by the UFC, thought that they could carve out a niche. Unfortunately for the likes of Elite XC and Affliction, the dominance exhibited by the UFC showed that there is only room for one at the top – all others are relegated to second tier status.
Recently, the UFC announced that the WEC would “merge” into the UFC. That’s kind of an interesting transaction since both the UFC and the WEC are owned by Zuffa, LLC. Anyway, with the “merger” of the WEC with the UFC, there leaves a void in the landscape, and with one less promoter, it becomes more important for a fighter to capitalize on each opportunity.
The sport of mixed martial arts has never been a road that led to large paydays for the fighter. As most fighters will tell you, there are very few, very few fighters who have made enough money to never have to work again. For every Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz, there are a thousand journeymen fighters who are putting their health on the line for mere pocket change.
So what can new fighters today learn from the likes of Randy, Chuck and Tito, or were these guys just lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time?
Talent is a key ingredient in the equation of building a fighter’s brand, but let’s remember that a guy who is fighting in the UFC has some talent and if he’s won a couple of fights, he probably has a lot of talent.
It is naïve for a fighter to think that their only job is to fight and to do a little promotional work for their fight. The key to success, for the both the promoter and the fighter is marketing, creating a “brand”.
There are some fighters that think that a “bad boy” image will make them “marketable”. Diego Sanchez went that route for a while and it culminated when he almost pushed Josh Koscheck off the stage during the weigh in at UFC 69. That stunt got Sanchez fined by the Texas Athletic Commission and a tongue lashing from the UFC for jeopardizing the co-main event of the night. It also cost Sanchez a huge following of loyal fans.
Nate Diaz and his brother Nick Diaz are another example of how the “bad boy” image isn’t marketable. While the Diaz brothers would be able to probably kick my a$$ (well, not probably, they could), they are some of the most talented fighters in MMA today but nobody cares.
Another area where a fighter miscalculates his role in promoting or building a brand is that they think that they have something to offer the UFC; that by joining forces, jointly promoting each other, both will benefit. Apparently, these fighters have either been hit in the head too many times or been choked out too many times such that they have lost too much gray matter – did they not realize that the UFC is making money – they are the promoter? The fighter needs the UFC more than the UFC needs the fighter.
Yeah, some of you meatheads will say that without a fighter there is no UFC – well, there are 10,000 guys who would gladly step in and be a fighter (are we not watching on Wednesday nights? The Ultimate Fighter?). The UFC is the machine and the only reason why a fighter is relevant is that he’s fighting in the UFC – Randy and Tito learned that lesson the hard way.
Cain Velazquez is following in the mold of other humble and reluctant fighter/champions such as Lyoto Machida. While these guys are “clean cut” guys and appear to be marketable, for whatever reason, be it language barrier or whatever, they don’t want to get out in front.
Some of the new fighters that come to mind that are successfully building their “brand” are Georges St. Pierre, Rashad Evans and Kenny Florian. These fighters are branching out beyond MMA and MMA t-shirts. But what these fighters have learned is that it is there job to capitalize on the opportunity that fighting in the UFC will provide to them. But building a fighter’s brand is something that the fighter has to capitalize on himself and not sit back and wait for the UFC to do for them.
UFC President Dana White is constantly talking about how signing a contract to fight in the UFC can change a fighter’s life. What the fighters don’t understand is that the UFC contract is just the ticket to get in to the “game” – what he does to capitalize on the opportunity is the difference between fighting for purses and making serious money.
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