Is there really any way for a Non-UFC promotion to get success?

[biomed190]

No not really. The UFC runs almost every weekend. If they had a regular season maybe another Org could creep in as an off season fill in but that opportunity doesn't exist. The UFC doesn't even need stars either. Just generic fighters to fight, and they get people watching.

 

[Doctor Grudge]

I think again it depends how you measure success. I think you can absolutely have more successful regional shows like KSW who do very well in their market but I doubt anyone challenges UFC on a global scale.

I think it'll be like basketball which is a pretty popular sport with a lot of leagues but most people only really care about the NBA.

Basketball and MMA hardly have anything in common.

I was thinking exactly that. "Most people here probably think sports are similar to basketball". The NBA is largely based in America because it is an American sport and only until recently most of the best players were American (by a gigantic margin). The NBA also consist of 30 different companies (franchises) that are funded by 30 different billionaires who can help consolidate both the talent and the regional demographics (which bring in the overwhelming majority of their money). That isn't applicable to MMA, the only thing they have in common is that they are growing sports (and coincidentally or not, more and more basketball leagues are becoming viable places to go too, albeit they are "KSWish" I suppose).

But while on the topic of the NBA - to give a hint of how much in its infancy MMA is. The NBA had been around as the premier league for 20-30 years before the ABA came out. The ABA very much was a viable competitor to the NBA and the only thing holding it back was a TV deal which was harder to get back then (the NBA barely had one in itself). There hasn't been an "ABA" equivalent yet in MMA.

Soccer, Tennis, Golf, Rugby, Motor Sports, Cricket, Pro Wrestling and quite a few more sports all have major promoters or pro motions that span across different countries or even continents. Other combat sports have promoters and promotions from all over the world. I don't see MMA being that different, certainly not in the realm of "it is impossible".

If MMA's potential is "the sport where every country that cares about martial arts cares about MMA" then a league that is bigger than KSW is inevitable. It isn't for one promotion to consolidate global demand like that.

The reason why the UFC is the biggest show in town is simply because MMA is small. If MMA became bigger (globally) there would be another big show.

If enough people cared about it and people in suits were convinced they absolutely would create another league that could be seen as a major competitor. That's what happened with WCW and AEW. That's basically what happened with the leagues that eventually merged into the NBA, NFL, MLB (MMA in its modern incarnation hasn't been around long enough for this to happen yet). That's still what is happening with Rugby, Cricket and to an extent Motor Sports (F1 is the biggest by a lot but to say the other leagues are like Bellator is pushing it a bit).

 

[Hellowhosthat]

Basketball and MMA hardly have anything in common.

I was thinking exactly that. "Most people here probably think sports are similar to basketball". The NBA is largely based in America because it is an American sport and only until recently most of the best players were American. (by a gigantic margin). The NBA also consist of 30 different companies (franchises) that are funded by 30 different billionaires who can help consolidate both the talent and the regional demographics. That isn't applicable to MMA.

But while on the topic of the NBA - to give a hint of how much in its infancy MMA is. The NBA had been around as the premier league for 20-30 years before the ABA came out. The ABA very much was a viable competitor to the NBA and the only thing holding it back was a TV deal which was harder to get back then (the NBA barely had one in itself). There hasn't been an "ABA" equivalent yet in MMA.

Soccer, Tennis, Golf, Rugby, Motor Sports, Cricket, Pro Wrestling and quite a few more sports all have major leagues that span across different countries or even continents. Other combat sports have promoters all over the world.

If MMA's potential is "the sport where every country that cares about martial arts cares about MMA" then a league that is bigger than KSW is inevitable. It isn't for one promotion to consolidate global demand like that.

The reason why the UFC is the biggest show in town is simply because MMA is small. If MMA became bigger (globally) there would be another big show.

I think it's very similar to sports like Basketball or Tennis. You will absolutely get solid B tiers where fighters can make a living, but people only tend to want to watch so much televised sport a week. The UFC provides 5 or 6 hours of live MMA a week (more on DWCS weeks) which will satiate most people's desire for televised MMA.

Of course there's people going to live shows, which is where I think the regional leagues can make money.

 

[Doctor Grudge]

I think it's very similar to sports like Basketball or Tennis. You will absolutely get solid B tiers where fighters can make a living, but people only tend to want to watch so much televised sport a week. The UFC provides 5 or 6 hours of live MMA a week (more on DWCS weeks) which will satiate most people's desire for televised MMA.

Of course there's people going to live shows, which is where I think the regional leagues can make money.

I edited in a bit more detail in my other posts.


Yes, you are correct but you're still assuming the demand for it is static and that the UFC's relatively low quality fight night shows can meet the demand of a future audience.

The Fight Night shows are not well promoted at all and we're at a point where even regular watchers of the UFC do not know who are on those cards. The UFC doesn't have the man power to make those shows feel important. What is going to happen if the sport explodes to comparable popularity in Indonesia or Nigeria? You're greatly overestimating how hard it would be to promote those shows to those markets.

Tennis has different promoters and has 4 major events of roughly equal importance, in 4 different countries in 3 different continents. That is way different from how basketball at its highest level works (the NBA). Tennis and MMA have a lot more in common and Tennis is not ran by one promotion.


MMA I also think is special because fundamentally at its root it has to be international. It's viable for countries all over the world to generate top tier MMA talent relatively quickly (we've already seen that just with a little bit of commercial exposure a bunch of fighters are coming out of places unknown where before almost every fighter worth a salt was from 3-4 countries). That makes it really different from how basketball has developed.

To use wrestling as an analogy as UFC is based largely off of how wrestling promotions work. There was a point when Wrestling = WWF. WWE was only doing a 3.0 for a while. WCW is bought out by Ted Turner and given a huge budget as well as the resources of major broadcasting of its era (cable TV).

WWE and WCW did not split that "3.0". What happened was WCW and WWE both had 5.0s. They both grew their own markets. When WCW collapsed the WWE didn't start putting out 10s on the ratings. What happened was that some people simply stopped watching wrestling since they were WCW fans not just wrestling fans.

IE, people did not think there was enough demand to feed that many hours of wrestling in a month. But a brand new product grew the market share. People then thought that naturally WWE would cannibalize WCW's market share when it went out of business but those consumers simply went onto other hobbies. This is all just within the domestic market of USA and Canada.

It's very possible that world wide we can get something that is at least marginally popular. Pepsi isn't as popular as Coke but it isn't chop liver. We're not at a point where the UFC is so impossibly big that the idea of there being a second org is out there.



Much, much, much bigger companies have came and gone than the UFC.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

I edited in a bit more detail in my other posts.


Yes, you are correct but you're still assuming the demand for it is static and that the UFC's relatively low quality fight night shows can meet the demand of a future audience.

The Fight Night shows are not well promoted at all and we're at a point where even regular watchers of the UFC do not know who are on those cards. The UFC doesn't have the man power to make those shows feel important. What is going to happen if the sport explodes to comparable popularity in Indonesia or Nigeria? You're greatly overestimating how hard it would be to promote those shows to those markets.

Tennis has different promoters and has 4 major events of roughly equal importance, in 4 different countries in 3 different continents. That is way different from how basketball at its highest level works (the NBA). Tennis and MMA have a lot more in common and Tennis is not ran by one promotion.


MMA I also think is special because fundamentally at its root it has to be international. It's viable for countries all over the world to generate top tier MMA talent relatively quickly (we've already seen that just with a little bit of commercial exposure a bunch of fighters are coming out of places unknown where before almost every fighter worth a salt was from 3-4 countries). That makes it really different from how basketball has developed.

To use wrestling as an analogy as UFC is based largely off of how wrestling promotions work. There was a point when Wrestling = WWF. WWE was only doing a 3.0 for a while. WCW is bought out by Ted Turner and given a huge budget as well as the resources of major broadcasting of its era (cable TV).

WWE and WCW did not split that "3.0". What happened was WCW and WWE both had 5.0s. They both grew their own markets. When WCW collapsed the WWE didn't start putting out 10s on the ratings. What happened was that some people simply stopped watching wrestling since they were WCW fans not just wrestling fans.

IE, people did not think there was enough demand to feed that many hours of wrestling in a month. But a brand new product grew the market share. People then thought that naturally WWE would cannibalize WCW's market share when it went out of business but those consumers simply went onto other hobbies. This is all just within the domestic market of USA and Canada.

It's very possible that world wide we can get something that is at least marginally popular. Pepsi isn't as popular as Coke but it isn't chop liver. We're not at a point where the UFC is so impossibly big that the idea of there being a second org is out there.



Much, much, much bigger companies have came and gone than the UFC.

With tennis it's all under the ATP tour banner though. There are tournaments outside that tour but they don't draw as many viewers. If we're analogy making then the ATP tour events are basically UFC fight nights and the grand slam events are the big PPVs.

Are people really watching non ATP or WTA tour events?

 

[Doctor Grudge]

With tennis it's all under the ATP tour banner though. There are tournaments outside that tour but they don't draw as many viewers. If we're analogy making then the ATP tour events are basically UFC fight nights and the grand slam events are the big PPVs.

Are people really watching non ATP or WTA tour events?

The UFC isn't analogous to the ATP or WTA. ATP is like FIFA (or boxing if it didn't have multiple governoring bodies of roughly equal value). Tennis and Boxing can't put all their stars under one banner and promote them equally throughout the world just like the UFC can't. If MMA got that big another org would come up and take the pieces of pie the UFC can't get - that has to be bigger than just KSW.


English Premier League is the most popular org in the world but La Liga isn't chop liver either. Super Rugby and National Rugby League. WWE and AEW (or WCW to use a more popular predecessor). There are a lot of popular sports that have multiple major leagues or promoters.


I get your point about how The Grand Slams are PPVs. But you have to realize the reason why that works is because those tournaments are Open or the top guys are invited. There isn't exclusive rights to the players for Tennis. If ATP was a promotion they wouldn't be able to do that most likely. At the end of the day all ATP really does is have a leader board that people follow.

What if there were 5 fighters as popular as Connor McGregor? What if a couple of them were majorly popular in very different markets? The UFC wouldn't be able to control them in their current incarnation (they probably wouldn't be able to do it if they were all American even).

 

[Hellowhosthat]

The UFC isn't analogous to the ATP or WTA. ATP is like FIFA (or boxing if it didn't have multiple governoring bodies of roughly equal value). Tennis and Boxing can't put all their stars under one banner and promote them equally throughout the world just like the UFC can't. If MMA got that big another org would come up and take the pieces of pie the UFC can't get - that has to be bigger than just KSW.


English Premier League is the most popular org in the world but La Liga isn't chop liver either. Super Rugby and National Rugby League. WWE and AEW (or WCW to use a more popular predecessor). There are a lot of popular sports that have multiple major leagues or promoters.


I get your point about how The Grand Slams are PPVs. But you have to realize the reason why that works is because those tournaments are Open or the top guys are invited. There isn't exclusive rights to the players for Tennis. If ATP was a promotion they wouldn't be able to do that most likely. At the end of the day all ATP really does is have a leader board that people follow.

What if there were 5 fighters as popular as Connor McGregor? What if a couple of them were majorly popular in very different markets? The UFC wouldn't be able to control them in their current incarnation (they probably wouldn't be able to do it if they were all American even).

Tbh I think team sports are a different kettle of fish. There's more of the tribal element of picking a team and supporting them every week that you don't get in MMA.

MMA is also never going to be a tenth as popular as soccer is.

If there were 5 fighters as popular as Conor then I think if anything it would go the way of boxing where they don't fight for promotions as such they fight for belts and promoters become something that promotes around them rather than having promotions as we know it now.

 

[leto1776]

You guys are busy comparing mma to sports leagues and associations, while ignoring that it’s built on the pro wrestling model. It’s the WWE of mma. They’re the big league in town, they’re everywhere, have their own streaming network, etc.

Other promotions can have success, but it’s up to them how they define success. They need to do things differently from the UFC, offer an entertainment alternative. ONE and PFL both offer real alternatives, like AEW does for pro wrestling, but they have to figure out to to make their models profitable.

KSW is the equivalent of NJPW in its hey day: huge in its own country, and that’s all they need to succeed.

 

[TeenageMutantLesnarTurtle]

There will most likely be a challenger to the UFC at some point in the next 20 years or so. Its a young sport. 20 years ago Pride and K1 were bigger.

Even now theres promotions that have had success as long as your benchmark for success isnt beating the UFC.

UFC isn't even that big anymore I would say it peaked around mid to late 2000s

In terms of actual financial value the UFC is much, much bigger now. Back then it was mostly a novelty fad thing for American college kids, running 10-20 shows a year, Now its a legit international sports league thats firmly entrenched into the sporting landscape, gets normal coverage like any other sport and has cards most weekends.

 

[STAY GOLD]

You guys are busy comparing mma to sports leagues and associations, while ignoring that it’s built on the pro wrestling model. It’s the WWE of mma. They’re the big league in town, they’re everywhere, have their own streaming network, etc.

Other promotions can have success, but it’s up to them how they define success. They need to do things differently from the UFC, offer an entertainment alternative. ONE and PFL both offer real alternatives, like AEW does for pro wrestling, but they have to figure out to to make their models profitable.

KSW is the equivalent of NJPW in its hey day: huge in its own country, and that’s all they need to succeed.

This. Basically when none hardcore wrestling fans hear wrestling, the first thing they bring up is WWE. Same with MMA. Plus more folks will know what the UFC than MMA itself. The shows (WWE and UFC) are so big that it’s the first thing casual fans think of when you name the sport.

 

[skylolow]

Yes. Absolutely.

MMA is nowhere NEAR fully saturated. Tthere will never be another major MMA promotion is a tad short sighted.

It's of course possible. Are any of the major promotions today going to be that secondary promotion? No, probably not, none are designed in a way to do that.

As the poster above me said, there are a lot of TNA's right now. The UFC has a lot of blind spots and all it takes is a couple of crossover stars from social media to get people to at least try out other products.

Think of it like this, the WWE was the biggest promotion for decades and THEN in the 80s became way more popular than the UFC ever was (Hulk Hogan in the 80s dwarfs McGregor and Rousey) - yet years in WCW, which was as popular as Bellator became a viable commercial alternative and was even more popular than the WWE for a couple of years.

So yes, if someone rich enough wanted to make a promotion to challenge the UFC they absolutely could do it. Or it's entirely possible that an org in another region that has good capital grows their brand globally adjacent to the UFC. Even a place like France just opened up with in the last year or two. A LOT can change between now and 2032.


It's actually more likely than not there is going to be a second major MMA promotion. If MMA does become more popular world wide the UFC doesn't have the infrastructure or reach to consolidate all of that.

If MMA's popularity becomes insanely large in a timezone that is not friendly to American audiences think about how easy it would be to capture that market with the right finance and marketing. The only way this doesn't happen is simply if MMA's fan base never grows from this point forward.

The difference when comparing pro wrestling is fans are drawn to the in the ring action just as much as the story lines. Maybe even more so the story lines and that is what allows some these orgs to pop up. Also keep in mind many of these TNA/AEW's of the world pump a lot of money into the product and very few have shown staying power at the end of the day. They were able to sign some key guys. But if they can come up with very interesting story lines its easy to get pro wrestling fans to at least check you out.

In MMA the UFC can afford to pay anyone they want and well beyond what any other org in the world could've even reasonably offer. The UFC is basically in one month is doing more revenue than Bellator or ONE does yearly. That is hard to make up anyway, shape, or form. UFC fans look at the UFC as a sport more so than sports entertainment like pro wrestling even though the UFC model is pretty close to a pro wrestling business model. They aren't seeking out what they perceive as a lesser version of the UFC. Hardcores will, but we are a small amount in the big picture. UFC brand just holds so much power in the MMA world. We've seen what happens when you blow your wad on a couple events (build it they will come theory) ie: Afflication, and it tanks in the end for various reasons. Even Bodog holding an event headline by Fedor completely tanked. Fans of the UFC(because of how the UFC has marketed themselves from day one) are focused on the UFC brand and fighters are secondary. Fans rarely follow fighters in any sort of numbers that matter when they leave the UFC.


MMA at the end of the day(even the UFC) is a niche sport in the world and probably always will be. There will never be a little pocket anywhere in the world that will ever reach the level of the UFC. All your going to see the KSW's of world. Even if somewhere in the world has a massive spike in interest in MMA the UFC will be plowing into that market immediately and if these people are fans of MMA they will seek out what is perceived as best the sport has to offer, UFC. The war is over for dominance in MMA, little battles is all that is left. Fans I think are the ones that try to paint some of these orgs in unfair light.

 

[leto1776]

The difference when comparing pro wrestling is fans are drawn to the in the ring action just as much as the story lines. Maybe even more so the story lines and that is what allows some these orgs to pop up. Also keep in mind many of these TNA/AEW's of the world pump a lot of money into the product and very few have shown staying power at the end of the day. They were able to sign some key guys. But if they can come up with very interesting story lines its easy to get pro wrestling fans to at least check you out.

In MMA the UFC can afford to pay anyone they want and well beyond what any other org in the world could've even reasonably offer. The UFC is basically in one month is doing more revenue than Bellator or ONE does. That is hard to make up anyway, shape, or form. UFC fans look at the UFC as a sport more so than sports entertainment like pro wrestling even though the UFC model is pretty close to a pro wrestling business model. They aren't seeking out what they perceive as a lesser version of the UFC. Hardcores will, but we are a small amount in the big picture. UFC brand just holds so much power in the MMA world. We've seen what happens when you blow your wad on a couple events (build it they will come theory) ie: Afflication, and it tanks in the end for various reasons. Even Bodog holding an event headline by Fedor completely tanked. Fans of the UFC(because of how the UFC has marketed themselves from day one) are focused on the UFC brand and fighters are secondary. Fans rarely follow fighters in any sort of numbers that matter when they leave the UFC.


MMA at the end of the day(even the UFC) is a niche sport in the world and probably always will be. There will never be a little pocket anywhere in the world that will ever reach the level of the UFC. All your going to see the KSW's of world. Even if somewhere in the world has a massive spike in interest in MMA the UFC will be plowing into that market immediately and if these people are fans of MMA they will seek out what is perceived as best the sport has to offer, UFC. The war is over for dominance in MMA, little battles is all that is left. Fans I think are the ones that try to paint some of these orgs in unfair light.

UFC can’t be everywhere at a\once, they can’t have all the best fighters at once. At best, they rely on their reputation of being the best. Every year, they have to trim the roster to keep it manageable, and that’s even with putting on over 30 events/year.

All it takes is for a promotion to be a genuine alternative. Show something other than the same old, same old the UFC does week in and week out with watered down events. Especially in regions the UFC barely ever touches. I know you like to say that getting a local pop isn’t sustainable, yet it’s literally what the UFC relies on when they travel outside the U.S, because seeing local fighters indeed matters to people.

 

[Tokoloko]

The UFC turned into the 24 hr news cycle model, every week is a new event and new bouts are announced so casual MMA fans are continuously bombarded with UFC news, most promotions just don't have the roster quality to do that, be it KB, MMA, or Muay Thai. The one event you put on a month is overshadowed by the continuous new UFC drama, bouts, etc. ONE spends millions on advertising, but I would love to see if it really translates into substantial views. Just don't see how anyone can stand out in a climate with a behemoth like UFC. I would say most fans don't even know what bouts the UFC card that week have, much less the next one, but they know the routine.

Copy UFC and make ur own local stars by good media work = success, mainly if u have contacts in any TV...

 

[skylolow]

UFC can’t be everywhere at a\once, they can’t have all the best fighters at once. At best, they rely on their reputation of being the best. Every year, they have to trim the roster to keep it manageable, and that’s even with putting on over 30 events/year.

All it takes is for a promotion to be a genuine alternative. Show something other than the same old, same old the UFC does week in and week out with watered down events. Especially in regions the UFC barely ever touches. I know you like to say that getting a local pop isn’t sustainable, yet it’s literally what the UFC relies on when they travel outside the U.S, because seeing local fighters indeed matters to people.

I agree they can't be everywhere, they don't need to. It's not about who has all the best fighters it's about who is perceived by the general public as having the best and that is what is so hard to overcome for the other orgs. Strikeforce had a great roster, just ran odd like all of the Coker run promotions. Many of their best fighters became UFC champs or in the mix. But no one cared when they were in Strikeforce outside of diehards like you and I. I'm sure we all knew people who watched the UFC during that time and didn't even know Strikeforce had an event going on.

Being a niche sport to begin with there just isn't going to be some mass uprise somewhere. The best fans can hope for is KSW type org. They did basically what your talking about. The Bellator's and ONE's of the world are doing this. It's just the massive branding worldwide that the UFC holds in this niche sport that is so hard to overcome regardless of how good another org is. Unfortunately, very few places on earth have the population with the extra income to make another big worldwide MMA org matter. Many countries population don't value media rights like the US or most of Europe do(in other words pay a decent price for access to the that media which in return allows them to spend more money on securing that media). If ONE could capitalize on the media in SE Asia regions in the terms of $$$$$$$$ like the UFC can in US market then you got what your talking about with an org that compete truly with the UFC in every sense of the word. But if that was available over there you bet your ass the UFC would be spending 100's of millions in that part of the world to conquer it before anyone else could.

 

[CC27]

You guys are busy comparing mma to sports leagues and associations, while ignoring that it’s built on the pro wrestling model. It’s the WWE of mma. They’re the big league in town, they’re everywhere, have their own streaming network, etc.

Other promotions can have success, but it’s up to them how they define success. They need to do things differently from the UFC, offer an entertainment alternative. ONE and PFL both offer real alternatives, like AEW does for pro wrestling, but they have to figure out to to make their models profitable.

KSW is the equivalent of NJPW in its hey day: huge in its own country, and that’s all they need to succeed.

Pretty much this only dont think any of other orgs are what AEW is to wrestling. AEW is hot and has fans excited and is pretty damn big, not WWE but they are a strong 2. Nobody in mma space is close to that but the analogy is right, thats about as big as anyone else in mma can get is a really strong 2 and be profitable.

 

[Doctor Grudge]

There was a time when video games = Nintendo also. Video game had been around for 20 years, and the home console market was dominated by the NES for what feels like an eternity in a tech related industry.

A random company made a console called the Master System. It barely sold any units in USA but had an okay niche in Europe and Brazil (comparable to Rizin basically).

The next generation they make a sequel to the Master System called the Genesis (Megadrive in Europe). They have no original IPs Americans are familiar with but they leverage licensed based games sports and...Michael Jackson. The Genesis is more powerful than the NES. That's enough to get them in the door.

They then come up with Sonic, something incredibly in line with the trends with the time. All of a sudden "Sega vs Nintendo" is an argument.

In the 90s, even with the Genesis active and kicking ass many people still thought "nintendo = video games", yet at the same time "Sega vs Nintendo" was a real thing. Nintendo eventually made the SNES and out sold the Genesis slightly in America and a decent margin worldwide (Japan was the big difference).



My point of my incredibly boring story that maybe will get likes for nostalgia is while "MMA=UFC" to people so does "Soda = Coke", "iphone = Smart phone", "Wrestling = WWE" etc. But there are still viable, sizeable alternatives.

Can we be at a point when the world champion of the UFC and the world champion of another org are both considered "world champs"? Where at a somewhat major scale people are wondering who would win? I think so, the other org doesn't have to be as popular.

As of now that doesn't really exist. People do not really wonder if the Bellator or ONE champs are the real champions of the world. They are seen more as being king of the minor leagues, even stepping stone titles for people not familiar with the infrastructure of the sport.

WCW was never as recognizable as WWE but Hollywood Hogan was still seen as a world champion even by WWE fans to some extent.

 

[TCE]

So yes, if someone rich enough wanted to make a promotion to challenge the UFC they absolutely could do it.

PFL have extremely wealthy backers, and the PFL clearly is not challenging the UFC, and likely never will. In fact, the PFL are losing a shit ton of money, but are still being backed by very rich people who are pouring their money into the promotion.

Or it's entirely possible that an org in another region that has good capital grows their brand globally adjacent to the UFC. Even a place like France just opened up with in the last year or two. A LOT can change between now and 2032.

ONE is big in their region, and I would say in America too, for viewership.

They aren't competing with the UFC, and likely never will.

France just legalized MMA, but what's your point here? France isn't a hot bed for MMA. Simple.

UFC will dominate the MMA landscape for years to come, and unless something major happens, they will be the top dog forever, tbh.

 

[tdluxon]

I think one has the best shot even though they are losing money like crazy right now. They’ve got a different geographic market, and having a blend of different types of fights (mma, kickboxing, grappling, etc) is an interesting twist. Getting on to Amazon prime is a big step, a lot more people have Amazon prime than showtime (like bellator).

Also, they have a lot of exciting fighters and fights. Kickboxing with 4 oz gloves makes for some good action.

What we really need though is some rich saudis to come along and do an mma version of what they are doing with Liv golf… throw out some crazy huge signing bonuses and prize money (they have $50 million in prize money up for a single event and gave a bunch of guys $100 million plus signing bonuses) and there are plenty of guys that would bail on the ufc.

 

[leto1776]

I agree they can't be everywhere, they don't need to. It's not about who has all the best fighters it's about who is perceived by the general public as having the best and that is what is so hard to overcome for the other orgs. Strikeforce had a great roster, just ran odd like all of the Coker run promotions. Many of their best fighters became UFC champs or in the mix. But no one cared when they were in Strikeforce outside of diehards like you and I. I'm sure we all knew people who watched the UFC during that time and didn't even know Strikeforce had an event going on.

Being a niche sport to begin with there just isn't going to be some mass uprise somewhere. The best fans can hope for is KSW type org. They did basically what your talking about. The Bellator's and ONE's of the world are doing this. It's just the massive branding worldwide that the UFC holds in this niche sport that is so hard to overcome regardless of how good another org is. Unfortunately, very few places on earth have the population with the extra income to make another big worldwide MMA org matter. Many countries population don't value media rights like the US or most of Europe do(in other words pay a decent price for access to the that media which in return allows them to spend more money on securing that media). If ONE could capitalize on the media in SE Asia regions in the terms of $$$$$$$$ like the UFC can in US market then you got what your talking about with an org that compete truly with the UFC in every sense of the word. But if that was available over there you bet your ass the UFC would be spending 100's of millions in that part of the world to conquer it before anyone else could.

All a promotion needs to be is the AEW to the UFC’s WWE. There’s more than one way to define success

 

[David Street]

Frankly.. looks easy to have success, a few weeks ago before One got on Amazon, I could not get anyone to watch them or even admit to knowing who they are, now that they are on Amazon more people are admitting to knowing them and even saying they are ok, that is a success. Their greed might push them to self-destruct but for now they are a success.