ESPN Planning MMA Reality Show?
by Luke Thomas on Nov 3, 2008 5:07 PM EST
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They butchered "The Contender" with highlight reels instead of fights, so color me intrigued but concerned:
The plans appear to involve a reality show that would be taped during the spring, looking at using featherweight, lightweight and middleweight fighters. No other details of the show are available, other then a loose idea of modeling it after "The Contender," the boxing show the network recently dropped.
This would make as many as four different MMA reality shows on the drawing board for next season. Affliction and M-1 Global have announced plans for a heavyweight reality show taped in St. Petersburg, Russia, called "Fighting Fedor." World Extreme Cage Fighting has also talked of doing a reality show on the Versus network, to give the organization more of a presence on the station between live fight cards.
ESPN is interested in several fighters who were with the recently folded Elite XC. But all those fighters are still on hold, as the organization has not released fighters from their contracts. For legal reasons, EXC recently sent several fighters a form letter stating the company was planning shows in 2009.
Industry sources have stated ESPN has offered name fighters both signing bonuses and per-fight guarantees that would be above industry standards for fighters of their caliber.
The other obvious question is what is the UFC going to do about this? Wouldn't this serve as some sort of competition to "The Ultimate Fighter"? While any show would offer more visibility of the sport, the show could offer visibility of fighters not under contract to the UFC not fighting in the Octagon with no mention of the UFC. And if both shows are on at roughly similar times or on a similar seasonal schedule, how is the UFC going to handle the push from what is ostensibly the sporting news leader?
[UPDATE] by Kid Nate
BE reader who me points us to Sherdog for this clarification:
Promotional newcomer Bellator Fighting Championships has secured a broadcast deal with ESPN Deportes to begin airing MMA events as early as April 2009, numerous sources have confirmed to Sherdog.com.
Santa Brito, Communications Manager for ESPN Deportes, confirmed on Monday that the Spanish-language channel is in “the early developmental stages of an MMA program.” Brito would not divulge further information, but clarified that ESPN was currently not developing any MMA programming on its English-language networks....
American Top Team’s Jorge Masvidal and Dream standout Eddie Alvarez have been two of the better-known candidates approached to participate on the Hispanic-focused roster.
Bellator -- which translates to “warrior” in Latin -- is helmed by Bjorn Rebney, former CEO and president of Sugar Ray Leonard Boxing. Rebney and Leonard aired live boxing events on ESPN 2 the first Friday of every month under the “Friday Night Fights” moniker from 2001-2004. The relationship reportedly soured when Leonard departed to join NBC’s “The Contender” series.
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My theory: Dana is going to drop Spike like a ton of bricks and move TUF to ESPN after this next season. ESPN trying to hype up another nothing MMA organization, after witnessing how much their coverage of Kimbo and EXC helped THEM overtake the UFC, just seems too stupid for words.
i seem to be one of only a few people who actually enjoyed the contender (the first season anyway). definitely cautious about a foray into mma though, especially if they’re going after elitexc cast offs, but it could potentially be huge exposure for the sport, if they follow through it in a smart way.
“…looking at using featherweight, lightweight and middleweight fighters.”
I can’t help but think they mistakenly skipped 170 and accidentally said 145.
It seems like a strange division to add considering there is only one domestic organization with that weight class.
that may be why though..
less competition, more fighters to work with..etc.
Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.
by Brent Brookhouse on Nov 3, 2008 8:44 PM EST up reply actions
wmma??
i think they maybe trying to have women’s mma at 145………..
by theflyingtsunami on Nov 4, 2008 3:28 AM EST up reply actions
scratch that idea
i just read the sherdog article…..all men… oh well……
by theflyingtsunami on Nov 4, 2008 3:38 AM EST up reply actions
I’d love to see a show that was a little more documentary and educational about the different styles of fighting and training. More in depth about the fighters’ histories, where they came from, where they excel etc, and less coverage on the wackiness that seems to dominate tuf these days. TUF is sort of insulting to my intelligence, so I rarely watch it now, except for the final fight. I don’t care to hear or see the antics that happens when a bunch of dudes have to share rooms.
The problem with TUF is that the episodes that get the best ratings are the ones where drunk guys make asses out of themselves. I’d love to see the stuff you are talking about but it would be ratings suicide for the show, the casual fans tune into see what kind of zany antics guys like Junie are going to get into from week to week.
But one of the reasons they get great ratings is because they have so many teasers! Last year I don’t know how many times Dana said “The craziest ending in TUF history” and all that happened was a dumb jock getting drunk and making and ass of himself. I’ve seen that before.
Yep teasers of what the average SpikeTV viewers wants to see, drunken frat boy antics. TUF is much more of a reality show than it is a MMA program. You can go back and look at the ratings. If they were fighting in the house, getting drunk, breaking rules or trashing everything around them the ratings were always up in those episodes.
So true, they keep teasing Junie doing something huge when the biggest thing he did was probably cut the guy with the broken wine glass.
They teased Junie jumping into the cage a ton. One episode ends with him jumping in, the next one starts with him in it, and then he gets off scot free because Dana likes ratings. Don’t wait for Keith Kizer, Dana. Be a man and do it yourself if you think he should be booted.
ESPN should know better than to compete with Dana, he doesn’t take moves like this kindly I think this is gonna go away before it even starts.
This is actually a fairly big deal. ESPN has its way of controlling the narrative of sports in this country, and if they’re serious it will kill the UFC’s exposure on ESPN. I guess it all depends on who they sign for this show and what the format is.
Yeah. ESPN can be a bigger bully than the UFC if they so choose. How far are they willing to go with an MMA product? I think that’s the bigger question. If they’re not looking beyond a reality show, it may not be that big of a deal for the UFC. If they want to do more (i.e. fight promotion to some extent), this could get interesting.
by Cannon Jacques on Nov 3, 2008 5:51 PM EST up reply actions
If it’s just a reality show, it’s good for everyone in MMA including the UFC.
I heard months ago from a friend at ESPN the Magazine that senior people there were into this idea, not a big surprise.
Unless ESPN starts their own MMA promotion (won’t happen) this is only free publicity for whichever MMA organizations sign the fighters that gain popularity because of the show. The UFC happens to be in the best position to cherry pick whichever fighters do make an impact and gather a following.
TUF is designed to increase the marketability of fighters and provide prospects to strengthen the UFC ranks, the same effects are likely here (I believe the larger audience will be somewhat counteracted by ESPN’s lack of experience in and knowledge of MMA) without the UFC covering the overhead costs of producing the show.
There are a lot of factors here, although its probably true that if it’s just a reality show then it’s probably beneficial. We’ll have to see though, as it could be ineffectual if its repeats the mistakes of The Contender. That wouldn’t be the worst of all worlds, but it wouldn’t be a step up either.
I also think its worth considering how having a show in their schedule will affect how they cover the sport. Is this the impetus that pushes them into covering as MMA fans would reasonably expect?
It was only a matter of time...
There was no way ESPN wasn’t going to get in on this. I believe their internet show might have just been a test to see how things would go. For MMA to go to the next level they need ESPN coverage. This is a good step in the right direction.
I think CBS/EXC shows opened alot of executives’ eyes. They saw the dollar signs. Unless UFC and ESPN can come up with some agreement, ESPN will just go with someone else. EXC was lumped together with UFC because the average person doesn’t know the difference.
It sucks, but that’s the reality for the sport.
Santa Brito, Communications Manager for ESPN Deportes, confirmed on Monday that the Spanish-language channel is in "the early developmental stages of an MMA program." Brito would not divulge further information, but clarified that ESPN was currently not developing any MMA programming on its English-language networks
http://www.sherdog.com/news/news/espn-deportes-to-broadcast-mma-in-april-15032
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