So I guess all the previous talk about dana not feeling like Strikeforce is a viable opponent wasn't 100% truthful? Shocking.
I honestly think dana tried to counter program and he couldn't pull it together. He's clearly affected by the even marginal successes of Strikeforce, as much as he'd love to pretend that he's not.
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Originally Posted by b0sH  I don't see why it's going to be so hideous for MMA if UFC is the super dominant organisation. |
For me, it comes down to dana. If dana were a less emotional, and had more integrity, I would be more comfortable with the UFC becoming a monopoly. I wouldn't be happy--as I don't agree with monopolies--but I'd be more comfortable, knowing the sport I care about is essentially run by someone I trust.
But dana is a reactionary bullshitter, who thinks nothing of going back on his word, of lying with a smirk on his face, and who lets emotions dictate how he runs his business. I'm completely not comfortable with him as a figure in MMA. I've said it repeatedly, I think he's holding MMA back from becoming a mainstream sport. The UFC is succeeding
despite him, not
because of him.
Note, I wouldn't put Coker at the helm of the industry either. I had great hopes for him at one point, but not right now. Although I once had great hopes for dana, too, back when he was still an advocate of copromotion. Quote:
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In many other sports this is the case also but it hasn't ruined these sports as a spectacle. See NFL, EPL, NBA.
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People try to make the comparison all the time, but it doesn't apply if you look at it more closely. First, each sport has a clearly defined and accepted set of rules: MMA does not. dana has said that the UFC will never do tourneys, even though they're perfectly sanctionable in the US, for instance. But the UFC won't ever do them because he doesn't like them.
And each of the leagues you've mentioned are run by people with a legitimate great mind for business. They have an interest in the sport succeeding as well as the brand. Aside from dana's relative emotional maturity [I'm giving him credit by putting him at about 12] he focuses on the UFC above MMA--which I understand is his job, but is not great for the sport as a whole.
He's also focusing on marketing to a specific niche that is counter to the mainstream. The juvenile 18-35 demographic might enjoy the melodrama of guys eating each others semen, but that's not going to get MMA into the Olympics, is it? It's funny, some people within that demographic are pleased to be the target of his attention, in that they see dana as "keeping it real" by dropping f-bombs like a 12 year old who's parent's are out of earshot, but what they don't realize is that the behavior is still marginalized, they just see it as normalized because they're part of the clique. They also don't realize that dana doesn't really care as long as the UFC is making money, and that if the numbers went into the black, he'd turn on them quicker than Randy Couture goes through trophy wives.
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What we desperately want to avoid is how boxing has gone and have competing organisations to the point when it's very difficult to put on all the fights people want to see and there's no real distinction as to who the real Champions are.
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I agree that boxing is in shambles, but I don't think co-promotion immediately equates to the boxing model. Some people see it as a foregone conclusion, but I think thats reducing a complex field of variables into an oversimplified black-and-white issue. Again, it comes down to the egos involved and an unwillingness to simply have the best fight the best--something the UFC has already shown, even before they've secured their monopoly.
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I understand that competition can force the best out of competitors and have read various case studies as to how sales can be improved for competitors by expanding the industry as a whole rather than bashing away at each others sales and trying to cannibalise consumers (ie Coke vs Pepsi, grow Cola consumption as a whole rather than just trying to steal the oppositions market share). However this doesn't tend to work in the field of sport, one organisation tends to dominate and then focus on growing the market as a whole when they all but control it.
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I think by the time the UFC dominates, it will be too late to grow the market as a whole...unless the Fertittas finaly step in and start making moves on their own. I think the niche marketing comes at the expense of mainstream--to undeveloped minds, it's easier to define what you're
not than what you actually are--and it's just making it harder for MMA to be accepted universally in the long run.
And I certainly don't see a monopoly any better than boxing. I see the continuation of sham interim titles and undeserving contenders overhyped to have the unwashed punters accept them as viable. I see rematches as a thing of the past, unless they can sell PPVs. I see credible fighters with world-class skill sets overlooked for marginal guys who "stand and bang" and can give a good sound byte. We've already seen how
without competition the UFC is completely comfortable saturating the market with mediocre and overhyped cards in an effort to squeeze two or three more PPV's a year out of fans, but
with competition, they bring the much better, viable cards they're capable of putting on.
I just don't see good things for MMA as a sport with dana at the helm of the industry. I could see things turning for the better if Lorenzo would step in, but I think that co-promotion has just as much chance to make things better, and that it doesn't immediately need to default to the boxing model.
rh
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