written by Muhammad Najmi Mafaza Hasan, student of 34 jakarta public high school
Let’s
turn back our clock shall we, to 2018. Exactly 2 years prior to us being stuck
at home and wondering about what Netflix show should we binge next. Back then you could walk around the streets
minus a mask without others glaring at you. You could head over to a restaurant and grab
lunch without bothering whether you’re 3 feet apart from the guy next to you.
And most importantly, (at least for me) they held huge sports events that
brought together fans from across the globe without any hesitation. One particular event that stood out that year
was the UFC 229 card, featuring a couple of their biggest stars, Conor McGregor
and Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Their
conflict prior to the fight was well
documented throughout all the mainstream media platforms that you could think
of. The hype heading up to it was beyond
anything we’ve ever seen. And
thankfully, it delivered, pulling in 2.4 MILLION pay-per view buys and 20.000
people who watched it live in Madison Square Garden. Plus it made the UFC $17 MILLION richer from
the total revenue. So you might be
wondering (or not), “How did this single event create that much money?”, “What
actually is the UFC?”, “Who is the mastermind behind all this?”. To answer all these questions I made up
myself, let’s dive deeper into the UFC’s history.
Back
in 1993, Southern Californian businessman and entrepreneur, Art Davie had a
crazy idea. He wanted to single out the
most effective martial arts discipline by inviting the best practitioners from
multiple branches of martial arts, such as boxing, muay thai, jiu-jitsu,
karate, wrestling, and many others to prove that theirs was the best. Two men, fighting in a cage, with a referee
who back then only stopped the fight when you’re in a bloody mess, and without
any proper regulation. Looking back, it
was basically a real life version of the movie Fight Club (great movie by the way), minus Brad Pitt.
To
turn it into reality, he called up jiu-jitsu Grand Master, Rorion Gracie and TV
producer John Milius, and said “Hey, you guys want to create a place where
people could beat up others?”. Well, at
least that’s what I imagined him saying.
And, they actually did like the idea.
So in May, the trio partnered up with entertainment company SEG. It was decided to name the new joint venture
promotion UFC(Ultimate Fighting Championship), so automatically the first event
that was held on 12 November 1993 in Michigan was called UFC 1.
Sweet
and simple. It featured kickboxers
Patrick Smith and Kevin Rosier, savate fighter Gerard Gordeau, karate expert
Zane Frazier, shootfighter Ken Shamrock, sumo wrestler Teila Tui, boxer Art
Jimmerson, and since it was an open weight tournament, 175lb jiu-jitsu black
belt Royce Gracie, who had more than 50lb deficit to his opponents. And for those of you wondering, yes, it’s the
same Gracie family name as co-founder Rorion.
In fact Rorion himself selected Royce, his younger brother, to represent
the family and bring home glory for jiu-jitsu. And bring home glory he did, surprisingly
his jiu-jitsu skills worked well, he was able to control his bigger opponents
on the ground, and after submitting Shamrock, Jimmerson, and Gordeau, he was
declared tournament winner and the first
ever UFC Tournament champion. The show also proved to be extremely successful for
the promoters, with 86,592 television subscribers on pay-per-view.
With fresh information, recently fans have been wondering whether
the promoters intended to run the UFC Tournament as a one off show or did they
planned for it to be a stepping stone for future martial arts bout. Traditionally an individual will only hone
his skill in a single martial arts, but after watching tiny (compared to his
opponents) Royce Gracie destroy 250lb Ken Shamrock, people thought it might
actually be pretty cool if you could be a master in multiple martial arts. Plus, it would definitely be useful in a
fight against opponents who only have a single strong suit. Unintentionally, with their first ever event,
people were inspired by the UFC’s fight’s and from there on a new sport was
born, simply called MMA (Mix Martial Arts).
Early MMA bouts such as the one’s in the UFC, was not
sanctioned by any commission and did not follow a certain set of official
regulation. Resulting in MMA fights that
were deeply violent, quickly making a name for itself in between government
officials and parents whose sons wanted to recreate those nasty fights they saw
on TV. This branding of the sport made
it seem as though MMA was just human cockfighting. Nothing more than just 2 guys trying to kill
each other. Slowly, multiple states
banned MMA competitions in their vicinity and TV cables stopped broadcasting
fights due to the complaints of their viewers.
Unpleased by these actions,
UFC decided to send their commissioner Jeff Blatnick and referee “Big”
John McCarthy as a representative to work together with state athletic
commissions. Finally a set of official
MMA regulations were created thanks to them, most of which are still applied in
present MMA bouts. And whilst creating
these regulations, Blatnick and McCarthy traveled across the country to educate
other regulators and helped change the perception of a sport that was thought
to be bloodthirsty and inhumane. Thanks
to the new regulations, UFC fights were less violent and helped open the
public’s eyes for future bouts.
Now, with the backing of government officials and public
alike, the future for MMA and the UFC looked bright. With more tournaments ran, so too did its
field of competitors evolved. Big names
such as Mark Coleman, Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz, and Matt Hughes
came to compete for them. It was all
going well, up until 2001, when parent company and partner, SEG was on the
verge of bankruptcy. The reason? It
turns out that SEG was losing money hand over fist with each UFC tournaments.
So, with their main promoters out of the game, the UFC brand
was up for sale. And much to their fans
relieve, a savior came in the shape of Dana White and the Fertitta brothers. They came and bought the UFC for a sum of
$2.1 million, even though Lorenzo Fertitta’s lawyer advised him not to. Little did they know, with that purchase they
were being handed over a future multi-billion dollar company.
From there, the events continued, and their growth was slow
but steady. Then
came UFC 40, their most significant event to date. It sold 150.000 pay-per view
buys and nearly sold out the MGM Grand Arena with over 13.000 in attendance to
watch Tito Ortiz fight Ken Shamrock. ESPN and USA Today paid attention. Before
this, shows were averaging 45k buys, so many consider that it was UFC 40 that
saved the UFC from bankruptcy and was the turning point for the future. Another reason the UFC was able to get
through these tough times was the Ultimate
Fighter. A reality TV show devised
by Dana, it starred multiple fighters who
were put in a house together, and competed in MMA bouts. The finals winner of said bouts would be
gifted a UFC contract. Spike TV took it
on when many other networks wouldn’t. The season 1 finale was a fight between
Forrest Griffin and Stephen Bonnar. The fight did so well (with a 1.9 rating)
and was so entertaining that both fighters earned contracts, and Dana credits
it with saving the UFC.
In 2011 the UFC’s hard work payed of, as
they signed a seven year deal with entertainment giant Fox. As it was getting popular with mainstream
media, MMA became more than just a
sport. It more of a culture, capturing the hearts of people around the
world, as they watched their favorite fighter walk inside the ring ready for
battle. The next year, in 2012, marked a
pivotal moment in UFC history, as they created their first women’s division,
and signed Strikeforce champion Ronda Rousey.
She went on to become the company’s biggest star to date, winning
fights in a matter of seconds and drawing in a huge viewership every time she
did. The same year she debuted,
another fighter by the name of Conor McGregor brought what felt like the whole
of Ireland with him when he fought in the UFC for the first time against Diego
Brandão, finishing him in the first round. His run at 145lbs was like no other,
and along the way, he beat future champion Max Holloway, future interim champion
Dustin Poirier and knocked out then-champion José Aldo in just 13 seconds.
That brings us to the present,
a time where the UFC has already become one of the biggest sports
organizations in the world. Back in
2001, the company was worth $2.1 million when sold to Dana White, but in 2016
it was announced that WWE-IMG bought the company for a whopping $4.025 BILLION
(yes you read that right), with Dana now taking the seat of commissioner. It was clear how much have changed since
those early days, and the UFC shows no sign of stopping. When the deal with Fox ended, they signed with ESPN,
which has already been taking things to another level in terms of the
production of content and the public perception.
There has also been a deal with Reebok over the last few years, which ended last year and move over to Venom, a less popular brand but one that has already been focused on MMA for years. And even with the pandemic, they haven’t stopped arranging big fights following Covid-19 protocols. So, for those who are a new fan to this sport, welcome, you couldn’t have come over at a better time.
