The Ultimate Fighting Championship

The Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2021, is one of the World’s Largest franchises in terms of its net worth and fan base although, in the 1990s it barely had a reputation when it began as a Mixed Martial Arts competition and rose from very humble beginnings. It initially had 6 founders, who made their common intention a reality, which was to pit multiple martial art forms against one another to decipher which one of these disciplines would emerge supreme. Their first event took place in 1993, in which Karate, Sumo, Boxing, Kickboxing, Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu – Jitsu and wrestling were some of the few Martial Art forms practiced by the participating fighters, who were expected to survive 5 rounds which lasted 5 minutes each.

As a mixed martial arts competition, the UFC began to catch steam amongst the local American audience although, major broadcasting services and brand sponsorships did not support this idea initially, as there were little to no rules in the competition, to the extent that groin kicks and rabbit punches were allowed alongside the tournament tagline, “there are no rules”. Therefore, in order to cater to major audiences and supplement the growth of the brand internationally, Big John McCarthy and Jeff Blatnick fathered the table of rules which were vital in determining the future of the sport. In addition, although the UFC was not ready to entertain the idea of introducing female categories into the sport, in 2012 Dana White signed Ronda Rousey who went to become the champion of her weight class.

In its early days the UFC did not practice the doctrine of weight divisions, which was a custom followed by other orthodox martial arts such as boxing and wrestling, but after the introduction of rules into the modern UFC there are currently 9 different weight classes which the fighters are permitted to participate under (ONE37 PM). These are chronological examples, as to how the UFC gradually developed as an organization as they strived to accommodate all fighters regardless of their gender and prioritised protection over entertainment during the fights.

In the early 2000s the UFC was on the brink of bankruptcy and was sold to the Fertitta brothers and Dana White for just $2.1million. With the company’s rapid increase in fame and publicity the UFC’s net worth now (2021), is estimated to be a whopping $5 Billion, making it one of the most expensive sport franchises in the world. (Daily record)

A major catalyst which boosted the rapid growth of the franchise was the company’s idea to host a reality show, ‘The Ultimate Fighter’, that put fighters in a house where the winner would ultimately win a UFC contract. ‘Spike TV’ was the only network to pick this idea while other major distributors rejected the show. The season 1 finale was a fight between Forrest Griffin and Stephen Bonnar. The fight did so well that both fighters earned contracts, and Dana credits it with saving the UFC from bankruptcy. Over the next few years, the UFC built itself up to be a magnificent brand to the extent that, FOX Network gladly entered a 7-year contract with the franchise. (ONE37 PM)

Similar to the UFC there are many fighting championships that have come up with time but the UFC has always proven to be a cut above the rest due to the quality of their fighters and the expertise Dana White has provided the franchise with as the President of the organisation, bringing billions of Dollars’ worth of deals and endorsements into the business. Nevertheless, while all things seem to be working in perfect accordance, the UFC also faces its fair share of backlash for a particular reason.

It is undeniably evident that Dana White as a president has proven to be a brilliant businessman who is passionate & understands the roots of the sport but on the other hand he has been heavily criticised over the years for restricting fighter pay. The huge disparity in certain fighter’s salaries has raised questions regarding the criteria that aids with the estimation of a certain fighter’s pay. Although information regarding this aspect of the sport has been kept under wraps, it is often found to be unfair that certain fighters get paid $20,000 for winning a fight in the UFC while fighters in sports such as boxing, get paid in between $200,000 – $2,000,000 per fight. It is heart wrenching to learn that UFC fighters risking their lives for the sake of their daily bread and the public’s entertainment, are paid meagrely but hopefully with the pressure the audience asserts over this issue, things might take a turn for the better subsequently resolving this predicament. If this article by any chance launched in you an interest to watch the UFC, I recommend that you subscribe to Sony Ten 2, Channel No. 131 on the Dialog network, which provides viewers with live telecasts of the fights.

“There is NO TALENT here. This is HARD WORK. This is an OBSESSION.” - Connor McGregor (2 time UFC World Champion)

Content By: Rtr. Adheeb Anwar ,LLB, 1st Year

Design By: Rtr. Raveen Weeraratne, BSc Economics and Finance, 1st Year