A UFC Monopoly Is Good For MMA

The Ultimate Fighting Championship, better known as the UFC has come a long way since the inaugural tournament took place at the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver, Colorado on November 12, 1993. That tournament, which allowed groin strikes, hair pulling, strikes to the back of the head, and even eye gouging; was won by Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighter, Royce Gracie.

Between 1993 and now, there were dozens of promotions jockeying for position as the premiere mixed martial arts promotion. There was much conversation between fans, fighters, and promoters alike, about which promotion featured the best fighters. Over time the UFC and Pride Fighting Championships eventually emerged as the two primary promotions. Other notable promotions like Strikeforce, EliteXC, M-1 Global, WEC, DREAM, and Bellator Fighting Championship emerged as well. However, none were able to match the UFC's ability to sign some of the best fighters in the business and slowly become accepted by most state athletic commissions in the United States. Slowly, as the UFC brand continued to grow, MMA became synonymous with the UFC.

As the UFC rose in popularity,  it began to absorb other promotions. Its first conquest was of its closest competitor, Pride; which featured some of the best fighters in the world. This acquisition swelled the ranks of the UFC. But not just with fresh bodies. It increased the UFC claim of, "The best fighters fight here." By April of 2011, the UFC had absorbed WEC and Strikeforce, each bringing a new slew of big named fighters. The WEC merger brought the UFC fighters in the lower weight classes like Jose Aldo and Dominic Cruz. While the acquisition of Strikeforce brought more top tier fighters in the higher weight classes and the two biggest names in female MMA; Chris "Cyborg" Santos and Gina Carano.

Today the UFC boasts a reality television show called The Ultimate Fighter, which began in 2005 on Spike TV. The show has turned out a number of UFC champions and title contenders, but more importantly it helped continue to push the UFC into the mainstream. Now with a 7 year deal inked with Fox, there will be even more UFC events on prime time television. UFC programs air on Fuel TV and FX.

The word monopoly in the United States either takes the mind to the popular board game Monopoly or to its original roots when a "specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity." Thus most governments looks to eliminate monopoly, because fair play and business competition is good for the consumer. I wont argue that, but the UFC isn't a monopoly in a true sense. There are other promotions out there still carrying out and putting on fights. However, the casual fan likely never sees them and is only aware of the UFC. Ultimately, the UFC won a bidding war and a war of attrition. They put on a great show, signed the best fighters, worked faster with athletic commissions, and of course the good old quality marketing and advertising. The truth is, most promotions that could compete, ended up going bankrupt. Those who sold or merged did so because the UFC was a better brand that would actually improve their brand and give bigger pay days to their fighters.

Some would argue that a UFC monopoly will force the price of pay per views up, increase the number of pay per view events, and ultimately hurt the consumers. Yet, today, more than 50% of UFC fights take place on television stations for no extra dollar, other than the cable or satellite bill you already pay. And if we're all being honest, the fights are good fights. Even the UFC heavyweight championship was aired on Fox for free when Junior Dos Santos knocked out then champion Cain Velasquez in the first round. For those who'd say, "only that fight aired on Fox," we say, "the 9 preliminary fights took place on Facebook for free." Then furthering that defense, we'd say that the prelims for the last UFC light heavyweight championship fight were also aired for free on Facebook when Jon "Bones" Jones defended his title against Rashad Evans. And even more free fights will take place tomorrow night on The Ultimate Fighter.

The UFC is unlike boxing because the fighters have to fight who's put in front of them. Light heavyweight champion Jon Jones' last 4 fights have been against 4 of the last 5 light heavyweight champions. He doesn't get to pick and choose. President of the UFC Dana White puts his champions in against the biggest most deserving bad ass 9 out of 10 times. When you're a champion in the UFC, there's no ducking. The guy coming is more often than not the hungriest son of a bitch you don't want to be locked in a cage with. And if UFC fights only took place on pay per view, people would still pay. There are few people who could honestly say that they've purchased a UFC event and thought there money was wasted. Often times the prelims are just as big as the main event.

In boxing you don't have this truth. Fighters get to pick and choose. A Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather fight should have happened at least 3 years ago. It shouldn't have taken 17 years for a rematch between Roy Jones Jr. and Bernard Hopkins. How did Riddick Bowe get away with dumping the WBC title belt in a trash can on national television rather than fighting #1 contender and eventual undisputed heavyweight champion of the world Lennox Lewis? When Chael Sonnen pushed UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva to the brink of defeat for the first time in 4 years. Chael gets another shot after the two win two fights in a row respectively. There's no begging. Chael deserves it, he gets it. Two others guys already had a chance to do what he nearly did and failed. Silva escaped with a last minute submission to retain his title.

The reason people pay for the UFC is because the promotion puts on the fights that people want to see. There's no begging and clamoring for dreams fights. Dream fights happen in the UFC. There's no begging for drug tests, it's already in place. The fighters in the promotion are paid well and most there aren't fighting for money. There aren't individual promoters unwilling to risk their fighters against the best competition or having the need to build a new stadium to make the big fights happen. We've already got enough stadiums around the world. The only fights that don't happen in the UFC anymore are cross-divisional matches. We'd love to see Jones vs Silva, but somebody's gotta move up or down. But the likelihood that that fight will happen in the UFC is a lot more likely than Pacquiao-Mayweather. Just read here how that fight would have already been made in the UFC.

Do you think a UFC monopoly is good for the sport. Or do you think otherwise.

Until next write..

Comment and check out my debut novel, The Virgin Surgeon

Jones vs Evans: Prediction

On April 21, 2012 in Atlanta, Georgia, UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, Jon "Bones" Jones defends his title against former champion "Suga" Rashad Evans. The most compelling fact about this match up is that Jones and Evans were once training partners. Jones and Evans both trained under Greg Jackson at Jackson's Submission Fighting and MMA. While both were light heavyweight competitors, they both asserted that they would not fight because they were on the same team. At the time, Jones was a rising star and Evans was already an established former champion and winner of the heavyweight division on The Ultimate Fighter 2. How did this fight come to be when the two were so adamant about leaving competition between the two in the training gym, outside of the octagon? 

A Little Background

After Lyoto Machida's controversial title defense over Mauricio "Shogun" Rua in their first fight; Evans was matched against Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. The winner of the fight was to face the winner of Machida vs Rua 2. Evans gained a decision victory over Jackson, and Rua knocked Machida out to win the title. Evans' match against Rua was postponed due to a knee injury suffered in his fight with Machida. In ironic fashion, when the fight was on again, Evans blew out his own knee in training and couldn't compete. So UFC president Dana White, in good old fight making fashion, not wanting to lose the night, all the prep work, and money spent promoting, inserts the hot prospect Jon "Bones" Jones. In that fight, Jones gave Rua the worst beating of his life, forcing a stoppage in the third round. And while Jones was being interviewed by Joe Rogan, in walks Rashad Evans, informing Jones that he's coming for the title. From then, Evans broke away from his trainer Greg Jackson and hasn't spoken to him in over a year, while Jones is still trained by Jackson. A bit of bad blood has been brewing and the fight has become all the more intriguing.

Jones' Keys To Victory
Jones stands tall at 6'4, towering five inches over the 5'11 Evans. So it would be smart for him to use his reach to keep Evans at bay with jabs and leg kicks while their standing. Evans has been susceptible to legs kicks in the past and once mentioned it as a weakness he needs to work on. Distance will also be important for Jones since Evans is a pretty good striker in his own right. Jones will need to work the sprawl if Evans shoots for a takedown and deliver his excellent Muay Thai knees that were so devastating against Rua in their fight. He might also look to submit Evans by a guillotine choke as he employed against Machida if he's able to force Evans back into the cage. Jones has got an all around game and an unorthodox style that has worked well thus far. He'll need to apply all his technique and exploit the weaknesses he's seen in Evans in their training sessions in the past.

Evans' Keys To Victory

Going into the fight, Evans has an advantage that no other fighter has had against Jones. He's fought him before. Albeit in the training gym, but he knows how he moves and what he likes to do. Evans should exploit whatever weaknesses he feels Jones has. There hasn't been a great deal of fights where Jones has had to defend on the ground, since his usually on top of his opponents. Evans should look to cut the distance, nullifying Jones' reach and look to take him to the ground where he should have the advantage with his excellent wrestling ability. Evans needs to watch the spinning elbow and employ some of the same defensive footwork that Machida used at the beginning of his fight with Jones to make Jones a less effective striker. Trying to fight him on the inside may also be a good tactic, eliminating the reach advantage, while setting up an opportunity for a takedown. He'll just need to watch the knees inside.

The Prediction

Ring & Cage Winner: Jon "Bones" Jones in 4. Barring any spectacular knockout by either side in the first two rounds, I see them doing a lot of feeling out in the first round and working a chess match in two and three. While they know each other from training, its not the same as fighting someone who's trying to take your head off. Jones has a height advantage and reach advantage, and Evans has had problems in the past with taller fighters. Jones has taken out three former light heavyweight champions in one year, beating Rua, Jackson, and Machida in the span of 10 months in 2011 by TKO or submission. This guy Jones is no joke, and the problems he poses for Evans are going to very hard to solve. As I said, Evans has the best shot of any fighter who's come before him having trained with Jones. But like the odds-makers, I don't think it he'll prove me wrong come April 21st. Look for the fight results and review on the night of the fight.

Until next write...

Comment and check out my debut novel, The Virgin Surgeon