is a UFC monopoly good for the sport? (long read)

[monaroCountry]

Saw this post from Dionysian discussing a UFC monopoly and its effects on the sport of MMA and fighters.

From: Dionysian



We hear the same arguments for why the UFC should be the only business in town. Some of the points very much have merit. Basically they usually sound like:
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A. If there was only one org then all the best fighters would be in one place, so we could see Brock vs Fedor, Overeem vs JDS, Mo vs Rashad, Aoki vs Maynard, etc. Instead we get SF screwing things up and competing with the UFC.
B. Boxing has a bunch of titles and that makes it hard to know who is ranked #1, the UFC is the NHL/NFL of MMA, etc etc.
C. Most of all, UFC helps to grow the sport. If it wasn’t for the UFC MMA would be a fringe sport with no mainstream success. They are even opening up new markets.
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I agree with some of the reasoning here. In particular we will see benefits like opening up new markets and more top fighters facing off against each other. These benefits we will see in the ‘monopolizing phase’ as UFC tries to gain more of the market and pushes others out of business. What about after that? Let’s say the UFC achieves total monopoly status by 2015 (just picking a year). Will we really be better off? I see a few worrying trends:

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1. The more monopolistic, the worse it gets for fighters:
Here are the salaries for 115, where the best fight the best and yet get paid the worst:
- UFC 115 PAYS $1.285 MILLION IN FIGHTER SALARIES- MMA WEEKLY - Mixed Martial Arts & UFC News, Photos, Rankings & more
Why is Pat Barry making 11K in the co-main event? Why was Carwin making 40K fighting for the title? More importantly, do you think salaries would go UP or DOWN in a world where the fighters have no option but to fight for the UFC? Why not pay Pat minimum wage and Carwin 20K? After all, both those figures are more than 0K which is how much they’d make if the UFC was the only game in town and you either “fight UFC” as a career or you are unemployed.


2. The more monopolistic, the harder it is for the sport to crack into the mainstream:
First off, I agree that the MONOPOLIZING phase is good for expanding the sport. This is different from the MONOPOLY phase. What happens when the markets are opened, competition is crushed, and fighters are locked? What happens then is the superprofits stage. That is accomplished by pushing salaries as low as they go on the fighter side (since the fighters will have no alternative) and by pushing profits as high as they can on the consumer side (since the MMA fan can either pay whatever they ask or go watch golf instead). When people go to jail for trying to show MMA for free (http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f2/ufc...reads-1285707/), when you can’t find a youtube HL to save your life, and when any possibility of MMA being on network/cable TV (remember that NHL, NFL and the NBA are ON NETWORK TV) how do you think the sport will expand? It will go back towards FRINGE status with the same 1 million people shelling out $600 a year to watch a sport they love. How many of you got into MMA through the internet or through videos? I won’t lie and say I saw UFC 1 on PPV. Do you think it will be a good thing that new fans will be unable to get into the sport the same way you did?? Would you spend 50 on a sport without knowing ANYTHING about it first?

3. The more monopolistic, the shadier the sport will get:
Do you think these stories will be more common or less common the more power DW has over the sport?
Dana White Strikes Fedor by Forcing Tapout To Submit | Bleacher Report
The more the UFC controls the more shady practices will be done to ensure that control is never broken.

Remember company-man Chael’s interview where he said he wouldn’t buy Machida-Shogun 2?
Fight Week: Chael Sonnen (check out the 6-minute mark)
This is the prevalent logic behind the new trend in the sport. Nobody wants to see two guys respecting each other, people want to see soap operas and WWE-matchmaking-style. You’re wrong if you think Brock mouthing off is the closest the sport has gotten to the WWE… the entire promotional layout is becoming more geared towards it. While I don’t think we’re close to the sport transcending into the realm of fight-fixing anytime soon, I do think it hurts the sport when all narratives, fighters, and fights are geared for ENTERTAINMENT (in the WWE-style) rather than competition in the atmosphere of an elite SPORT. I am one guy that paid the money for 113 and is not for 117. I do this because I value FIGHTS over drama enactments/entertainment. Those of you who masturbate to trash talk can listen to Sonnen for FREE via youtube by the way. During 117 you'll only be seeing the pesky fight, so there's no need to watch.
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The only thing a monopoly will give us is

I. Less great fighters relative to what we could have (since there is less motivation to start a career in MMA since there is no financial incentive to do so... why should Pat Barry and those like him get punched in the face for a living when you can make more doing a basic construction job?)

II. Relegation of MMA to being a PPV-only sport in order to line the pockets for a handful of guys at the very top of the UFC pyramid

III. Less objectivity in journalism and media as the UFC muscles out any dissenting voice and a bandwagon effect sets in (You think Fedor getting cut off the top 10 P4P after losing ONE fight in 10 years is bad? Or Edgar and Serra going to #1 while Werdum is not even considered for beating the previous #1? That will look like nothing when we hit the monopoly phase!)

IV. More transition to WWE-entertainment rather than MMA-as-sport


Is this really what we want when we say we hope the UFC becomes a monopoly??

[$Bullsfam$]

Think about it this way, if it wasn't monopolized by the UFC, it would turn into the train wreck that boxing is with greedy promoters and the best fighters not fighting each other.

I do agree with the fighters that don't make **** and they need to be paid better. Like contenders like the Michael Bisping, Chris Leben's of the world should get at least 100,000K. Contenders like Vitor Belfort and Rich Franklin that have had title reigns and have been in big title fights should be at like 500,000 K. Title Challengers should at least be getting 500,000K at a minimum but probably up at like 750,000. With champions making a million+.

But for the most part I like that we still get the best fighters fighting each other.

[Rudyo]

I don't think a full monopoly would be good for the sport, I think there needs to be at least one competitive org like Strikforce for the competiton so they both keep their product content high. I think the size UFC is at now is almost perfect, the fighters will get paid more eventually when they realize the windfalls the UFC makes off them. Only a matter of time, imo.

[monaroCountry]

Top fighters in MMA are not fighting each other, its actually worse than boxing in this regard. The UFC is full of fighters that havent proven themselves in outside organisations and against non Zuffa fighters. The thing is that Zuffa fighters are well known and are ranked highly....simply because they are in the UFC.

The best method would be to have multiple promotions with a one governing body that regulates ranking according to actual fight records, regulates the rules and mediates between promotions to make fights happen.

[Rabbit ♠]

Think about it this way, if it wasn't monopolized by the UFC, it would turn into the train wreck that boxing is with greedy promoters and the best fighters not fighting each other.

I do agree with the fighters that don't make **** and they need to be paid better. Like contenders like the Michael Bisping, Chris Leben's of the world should get at least 100,000K. Contenders like Vitor Belfort and Rich Franklin that have had title reigns and have been in big title fights should be at like 500,000 K. Title Challengers should at least be getting 500,000K at a minimum but probably up at like 750,000. With champions making a million+.

But for the most part I like that we still get the best fighters fighting each other.

It already is that bro. The greedy promoter being White. We don't get to see the best vs the best. We get to see the best marketed vs the best marketed.

Ex: Instead of seeing Nick Diaz vs GSP, we were stuck with Dan Hardy vs GSP. We didn't get to see Fedor vs Brock. We didn't see Chuck vs Wandy in their prime. The list goes on. It's hard to tell if UFC really does have superb athletes or if they're just better marketed.

Look at Hendo. The guy was arguably the second best MW in the world next to Silva and what happened in his first Strikeforce fight? He gets dominated.

UFC is a great product don't get me wrong, but there's a downside to them having so much power. I'd like to think they do have the best fighters in the world so hopefully we're seeing the best fights possible. We'll never really know for sure though unless they cross-promote.