expect a war

by pr0cs on Oct 23, 2007 10:37 AM EDT Comment 4 comments

The new M1 org foray in MMA is interesting...and sort of surprising, not because they were able to sign Fedor but because the whole notion of getting into the MMA biz seems difficult these days.

As I mentioned previously brand name recognition plays so highly in casual fans minds these days. I'm confident the hardest of the hardcore, the UFC/Dana White haters will flock to being fans of this new fight company but will that be enough to keep them afloat?

A lot of their success in my mind hinges on a television deal. If they can get a number of events on mainstream TV then they will have a good chance at being successful in North America but if their business model depends entirely on PPV I really don't expect them to survive. (Look to Pride33 for advice).

Lets say they get a TV deal with decent North American exposure, I fully expect the UFC to wage a war of events against M1, to steal their thunder. I would not be surprised to see UFC put on competing events at the same date/time to put the kybosh on any momentum the M1 org seems to get. Similar to how UFC70 was held on the same day as the Cage Rage event in the UK.

The battlefield will be North America.
The weapons will be the events.
The casualties will be the companies financials (both of them).
The winner will likely be the fans. (two orgs fighting over mindshare trying to outdo one another for people's attention).

I only hope they both don't go under in the process.

The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Bloody Elbow readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bloody Elbow editors or staff.

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Re: expect a war

I've been thinking about their revenue model all morning and I've yet to come to terms with how it will actually work.

by Luke Thomas on Oct 23, 2007 11:41 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Re: expect a war

Fightlinker's current post about M-1's fishyness pretty much captures what I've felt about it all along. I'll be shocked if they ever run more than 1 show from this point forward.

by Brent Brookhouse on Oct 23, 2007 1:19 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Re: expect a war

Some interesting comments on the Sherdog forums (yeah it can actually have the occasional decent thread amid the endless fanboy/nuthuggery/trolling shit that prevails that cesspool).

How the hell are M1 going to market Fedor, the Zuffa owns all the Pride footage and if somehow Couture gets out of his contract (which will likely be easier for him to grow a new arm) how will they market him in M1 if Zuffa again owns all the footage of him recently?

It's going to be difficult enough to market Fedor to the American audiences, even worse when you don't have any footage of him competing impressively.

As was mentioned, the Pride footage almost seemed like a consolation prize when Zuffa bought them out but now it seems like it will be the dagger to the heart of any new promotion with ex-Pride fighters.

by pr0cs on Oct 23, 2007 1:24 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Re: expect a war

A side note on that Pride footage. Why the hell doesn't the UFC use more of it to promote ex-Pride fighters? I know it isn't a new question...but it just drives me crazy that they aren't using that footage more to introduce fans to these fighters.

by Brent Brookhouse on Oct 23, 2007 2:07 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs