The MMA Minute – A Brief History of the UFC, Part 2

Last week we covered much of the history of the UFC leading up the purchase by Zuffa. As usual, I want to direct you to the article on Wikipedia, which is where most of this information came from, I simply merged a few articles together and added my two cents for entertainment purposes.

So the UFC was floundering, it was up against government bans and was hemorrhaging money, unable to keep up without the income from the pay per views. After making some widespread changes to the rules and equipment allowed, they were able to secure U.S. sanctioning, but were on the edge of bankruptcy.

The UFC slowly, but steadily, rose in popularity after the Zuffa purchase, due partly to greater advertising, corporate sponsorship, the return to cable pay-per-view and subsequent home video and DVD releases. With larger live gates at casino venues like the Trump Taj Mahal and the MGM Grand Garden Arena, and pay-per-view buys beginning to return to levels enjoyed by the UFC prior to the political backlash in 1997, the UFC secured its first television deal with Fox Sports Net. The Best Damn Sports Show Period aired the first mixed martial arts match on American cable television in June 2002, as well as the main event showcasing Chuck Liddell vs. Vitor Belfort at UFC 37.5.

UFC 40 proved to be the most critical event to date in the Zuffa era. The event sold out the MGM Grand Arena and sold 150,000 pay per view buys, a rate over three times larger than the previous Zuffa events. The event featured a card headlined by a highly anticipated championship grudge match between current UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Tito Ortiz and former UFC champion Ken Shamrock, who had previously defected to professional wrestling in the WWF before returning to MMA. It was the first time the UFC hit such a high mark since being forced “underground” in 1997. UFC 40 also garnered mainstream attention from massive media outlets such as ESPN and USA Today, something that was unfathomable for mixed martial arts at that point in time.

The success of UFC 40 provided a glimmer of hope for the UFC and kept alive the hope that mixed martial artscould become big. Despite the success of UFC 40, the UFC was still experiencing financial deficits. By 2004, Zuffa had $34 million of losses since they purchased the UFC. Faced with the prospect of folding, the UFC stepped outside the bounds of pay-per-view and made a foray into television. The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) – a reality television show featuring up-and-coming MMA fighters in competition for a six-figure UFC contract, with fighters eliminated from competition via exhibition mixed martial arts matches – was pitched to several networks, each one rejecting the idea outright. Not until they approached Spike TV, with an offer to pay the $10 million production costs themselves, did they find an outlet.

In January 2005, Spike TV launched TUF in the timeslot following WWE Raw. The show became an instant success, culminating with a notable season finale brawl featuring finalists Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar going toe-to-toe for the right to earn the six-figure contract, an event that Dana White credits for saving the UFC. On the heels of the Griffin/Bonnar finale, a second season of The Ultimate Fighter launched in August 2005, and two more seasons appeared in 2006. Spike and the UFC continue to create and air new seasons.

With increased visibility, the UFC’s pay-per-view buy numbers exploded. UFC 52, the first event after the first season of The Ultimate Fighter which featured eventual-UFC Hall of Famer Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell avenging his defeat to fellow future Hall of Famer Randy Couture, drew a pay-per-view audience of 300,000, doubling its previous benchmark of 150,000 set at UFC 40. Following the second season of The Ultimate Fighter, the UFC’s much-hyped rubber match between Liddell and Couture drew an estimated 410,000 pay-per-view buys at UFC 57.

For the rest of 2006, pay-per-view buy rates continued to skyrocket, with 620,000 buys for UFC 60: Hughes vs. Gracie—featuring Royce Gracie‘s first UFC fight in 11 years—and 775,000 buys for UFC 61 featuring the rematch between Ken Shamrock and Tito Ortiz, the coaches of The Ultimate Fighter 3. The organization hit a milestone with UFC 66, pitting Ortiz against Liddell with over 1 million buys.

In December 2006, Zuffa acquired the northern California-based promotion World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) in order to stop the International Fight League (IFL)from making a deal with Versus. At the time, the UFC had an exclusive deal with Spike, so the purchase of the WEC allowed Zuffa to block the IFL from Versus without violating their contract.

On March 27, 2007, the UFC and their Japan-based rival the Pride Fighting Championships announced an agreement in which the majority owners of the UFC, Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, would purchase the Pride brand. The acquisition of Pride was perceived by UFC officials as a watershed moment for mixed martial arts. “This is really going to change the face of MMA,” Lorenzo Fertitta declared. “Literally creating a sport that could be as big around the world as football. I liken it somewhat to when the NFC and AFC came together to create the NFL.”

That pretty much brings us up to it’s current standing. The popularity of the UFC continues to skyrocket, along with the popularity comes bigger sponsorships, larger payouts to the athletes (which allows more elite athletes to look at MMA as a legitimate sport instead of a hobby), and wider audiences. Next week, we have 2 events to cover, so we’ll take some time off from this series, but we’ll be back on the 13th of August to cover the 3 remaining major MMA organizations.