Sports mean a lot to the world at large, whether they be a family or cultural tradition, a way out of poverty, or the fuel for a competitive heart. In the modern world though, sports are a business first and foremost, and despite how we fans try to ignore this fact sometimes, it occasionally punches us right in the face. As an MMA analyst, I have to look into the business side of the sport, as understanding which fighters are marketable, which have a chance of snatching a title, or which are just there to put on a show can greatly effect their match-making and position in the hierarchy of a division. What I've noticed lately is a new angle in the UFC's trends in acquiring talent that I'd like to share with you. Let me tell a story:
Several months ago, news spread across the MMA forums that Seth Petruzelli would be making his return to the UFC as a replacement for Steve Cantwell, so as I always do, I opened up his wikipedia file to see exactly what the Silver Back had been up to in the two years. Oddly enough, since he shocked the world against Kimbo Slice, I found he'd been up to.....basically nothing. Having fought one fight per year for the last four years, Petruzelli had only been in two bouts since becoming the Kimbo Slayer, and taken on two fighters I'd never heard of in those outings. This struck me as atypical of the UFC, as they don't often go for fighters so inactive, especially considering the stigma surrounding Petruzelli following Kimbo-gate. None-the-less, I watched his match with Ricardo Romero and thought nothing of this signing for awhile, until other familiar faces started showing up, and this parade of old faces has continued, fairly steadily, for months.
While this isn't exactly a new occurrence, it seemed the UFC wasn't just taking back stellar fights who fell on hard times, but guys who were let go with good reason. Before I knew it, Tim Boetsch, Yves Edwards, Forrest Petz and several more familiar faces were showing up on future fight cards, as well as an odd influx of new faces that were almost more disturbing. While the UFC has always picked up hot prospects, some of the names popping up on the cards were far from battle-tested, or already established journeymen, making for some less-than-exciting signings. Guys like Todd Brown and Christian Morecraft came into the UFC with highlight reels that looked like bad TUF audition tapes, while fighters like Anthony Waldburger and Mark Hunt will be making their debut having lost the majority of their fights to UFC cast-offs, putting them at the bottom of the barrel with little chance of getting far into the ultra-competitive ranks. Once again though, MMA is a business, and after a little thought while reading up on the MMA weekend news, it became apparent what the new business tactic was: Hording.
While major sports will often have league-enforced caps on the amount of money spent and amount of players under contract with sports teams, MMA has no such league and no such rules. While that freedom is nice for some, like when Affliction came in and threw mountains of money at every fighter they could find, and put on two of the best PPVs in recent years, this lack of regulation also has a darker side. What it seems what the UFC is doing is buying up every single "undefeated prospect", "former UFC fighter", or "TUF castmember" that's ever sold a show for TFC, MFC, Impact, or any other upstart promotion. Is this a sound business tactic? Let's look:
An issue of quality
There's a reason I drop $55 an event every single time the UFC puts on a PPV. There's also a reason I've never in my life paid money for a boxing PPV, despite being a life-long fan. It's because every time the UFC puts on a show, I know I'm getting a show. The structure of the event allows for a decent number of fights, and provided a few get the job done ahead of time, they're more than happy to throw on the best fights from the undercards, which often rival the main event cards for their entertainment and skill level. Boxing, unfortunately, doesn't subscribe to this concept, putting on either long and drawn out mandatory challenger fights, pushing a rising fighter against someone who may or may not even know how to box, and ending the night with a main event that often falls flat. While I don't think the UFC will be changing their PPV set-up anytime soon, having these lackluster fighters populate the bottom of the card leads to lackluster fights. While it won Fight Of The Night and was vaguely entertaining, UFC 111's Jared Hamman vs. Rodney Wallace was NOT what I'd call a UFC-quality fight, with it's ridiculous transitions, wild punching and lack of endurance in either fighter. While this kind of fight is good from time to time, these are not elite level fighters, and can't hope to put on elite level fights.
An issue of quantity
As a big-time foodie, I'd love to be rich and have a kitchen full of chefs making me all manner of inspired dishes day in and day out, but I run into a real problem. There's only so many meals a day. This becomes an issue in MMA as well, as while the UFC has swelled its ranks over the years, the number of fights and number of shows stays roughly the same. In 2009, the UFC brought in 69 new fighters; including prospects, TUF castmembers and signing fighters who had been released and subsequently returned, and put on 20 shows. In 2010, the number of signee's will be up into the low 80's come the end of the year, and the UFC has 24 shows for the year. The thing is, a good number of those new fighters from 2009 are still within the folds of the company, along with a low turn-over rate of established fighters, meaning less fights per year, per fighter, which leads me into:
An issue of employment
While it is rare, there are those that feel being under contract with the UFC is worse than having no contract with anyone, as those two things can seem remarkably similar. With too many fighters to comfortably seed into the action, and the bigger name guys having an option of when and how often they fight, where does that leave those guys toward the bottom of the division? When you only have a pay day every time you fight, having even one less fight a year can make a huge difference financially. Fighters like Kalib Starnes, Evan Tanner and Pat Barry have been very open with their financial issues while being UFC fighters, and this number may continue to grow if the UFC continues on this trend of rapid signings. In this, it becomes irresponsible to hire on more fighters than you can use, as it's their mouths that are empty for lack of action in the cage.
An issue of employability
Records mean a lot in sports, and particularly combat sports. In boxing, if you lose a 4 round fight, your career is basically over, and even loses to top level fighters can put you on the path of a journeyman in no time flat. While MMA isn't so flooded with talent to have that be such an issue, having an undefeated record can mean a big difference in pay grade and marketability for a fighter in MMA. Match-making also plays a huge part in this, as increasing a fighter's level of opposition rapidly gives them no room to iron out small mistakes in their game, which can become gaping holes against stiff competition. While guys like Jason Reinhardt where all too happy to sell out their 18-0 record to the UFC to give Joe Lauzon an easy win, it's the guys just getting their career started that worry me. It does a fighter's career little good to be 6-0 against regional competition, get thrown into a shark tank, and climb out 6-2 after half a year. This doesn't happen in boxing because boxers have management teams before they ever set foot into their first pro fight, but MMA doesn't have this same attitude. Oftentimes, these fighters blissfully throw out their career to be in the big show, and while the blame does lay with them for signing, the company that offered the contract is no less guilty, armed with the knowledge they're chewing up this fighter, simply to spit them out.
An issue of competitiveness
I've been very vocal in the past of my disdain for Japanese MMA, to the point where I rarely, if ever, cover events under those banners. Years back, I wrote an article about the fall of Pride, and outlined exactly why Pride fighters were falling apart outside of the promotion, with my number one reason being the competitiveness of the organization. As a fighter, it's not the fights themselves that make you better in most cases, but the training camps leading up to them, and in Pride, the majority of their top names never needed to train for their lackluster opponents. While I don't think the UFC will ever shift to running non-title fights or stage as many gimmie bouts as Pride did in its day, having a flood of non-UFC level fighters means that the over-all skill level of the division goes down, and the top-fighters of the divisions are rarely tested. I feel the main issue with the UFC isn't that they need more lower-tier fighters, but they don't have enough top level fighters, which leads to:
An issue of finances
If you were a collector of cars, what would you rather have? One or two unique, highly sought after and precision machines, or ten unremarkable yet reliable cars? As the premier MMA organization, the UFC can afford to pick up any fighter they care to by virtue of money-bombing them until they sign. They did this recently with Jake Shields, but they made it fairly obviously it was for the sake of stealing him away from Strikeforce, rather than filling their own ranks with top-contenders. While the UFC does have a great deal of capital, it isn't infinite, and every time they pick up a four-fight deal with 4-0 Joe Fighter, that's money they can't put towards a Robbie Lawler, Alistair Overeem or Eddie Alvarez. Even though you're taking a marquee fight from Maximum Fighting Championships by grabbing up a Canadian journeyman, that means you're spending money to do it, and getting something below the level of your current roster. It's also a poor investment, as no one will buy a UFC card because Joe Doerksen is fighting on the undercard, while having Eddie Alvarez vs. Diego Sanchez or Alistair Overeem vs. Shane Carwin will get you some buys.
An issue of integrity
Lastly, we're seeing a shift in the UFC's attitude towards a few key fighters, whom the fans and the company long ago decided they'd rather not see around. The infamous Gabe Ruediger, who has been the punchline of half a million cake jokes since leaving the set of TUF as a welterweight during a Lightweight season, suddenly found himself back in the UFC opposite cast mate Joe Lauzon, whom took all of a minute to break his six-fight win streak. The most alarming signing occurred just a few days ago, when Karo "The Heat" Parisyan was given a chance to return to the UFC, despite a life-time ban as a result of a failed drug test and having no-showed two main event fights for various reasons. This is a fighter who made headlines outside of the UFC for his behavior, there-by adding another story to the negative image of MMA, and shafted fight fans on two occasions by bailing on important fights. What makes me angry is that he found himself inside the cage again, not on the laurels of his work, but because upstart promotion Impact FC headlined an event with him, just as Gabe Ruediger found himself in the UFC again, not because of a great win over top competition, but because he just won the TFC Lightweight title. This brings into question how long guys like Renato "Babalu" Sobral and Paul Daley will be outside the UFC, as both have been "banned for life", yet a particularly strong draw in another promotion may find the UFC knocking on their doors once again.
Winning the battle, but losing the war
In closing, I'd say this new tactic by the UFC will do them some good at first, as the little shows struggle to put asses in the seats and put them years behind catching up to the UFC in popularity. Ultimately though, it's not huge names that draw people to watch Strikeforce or any of the other North American MMA promotions, but the fights themselves. Strikeforce has proven time and again that it's match-making, not name-dropping, that makes their promotion a success, as any fighter can put on a show if given the proper foil. Rather than taking back Gabe Ruediger, a TUF 5 rematch between Lauzon and Cole Miller would have done the same thing; given Lauzon a beatable opponent in his home town. Rather than bringing Karo Parisyan back to fight Dennis Hallman, why not give Matt Hughes a chance to finally put a beating on the man whose beaten him twice. These are both better and more marketable fights using the resources at hand, rather than dumbing down the division with men who can't compete at this level anymore.
Much like a chef can make a great meal with limited ingredients, while a novice cook couldn't make anything with a stocked pantry, it's about using what you have to its fullest that makes you a success. Less people mailing out contracts to mid-level talent, and more people think-tanking matches is what will keep the UFC as the top organization in the world.
