UFC brings back biff … and bucks

 

Roar Guru

By Steve Kaless, 19 Feb 2010 Steve Kaless is a Roar Guru

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 Frank Fertitta, UFC, UFC 110, Ultimate Fighting Championship

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Ultimate Fighting Championship in action - image via www.ufc.com

Australia’s football codes have all waged war on violence over recent years keen to win over mums and girlfriends and grow their markets. Left behind have been many male fans who miss the old days of rough and tumble on the pitch or a less sanitized experience in the stands. Step forward the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

UFC is here to hand men back their most primal form of entertainment and at the same time break all forms of sales records with the ease that the football codes could probably only dream of.

In 2001 Las Vegas casino moguls (now that’s a job description) Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta bought the rights to the UFC for just over $2 million. In a little over eight years their investment has grown to be worth more than $1 billion.

Okay, it’s a US company and is in country that packs out stadiums to professional wrestling and monster trucks, but the figures in Australia are just as impressive.

UFC 110, which will be held in Sydney on Feb 21, sold out in hours, in fact it was the second fastest sell out in UFC history.

It will post a new revenue record for a sporting event held at the Acer Arena, and will join the elite of revenue raisers at the indoor centre.

All this when at the time, not a single fighter had been announced on an undercard and not a single dollar had been spent on advertising.

The night’s program will also be shown live on free to air channel One HD, underlining its drive to get mainstream appeal.

Maybe mainstream might be asking a bit much, and you wonder whether their claims that they aim to become the biggest sport in the world aren’t just part of the slick show, but the appeal to the male demographic of 18-35 is clear.

Like rock music, it’s sure to stir up the talkback shows and there will no doubt be calls to have it banned. But this will probably be music to the promoters’ ears.

It’s a long, long way from my cup of tea, but I’ll be watching to see if it is the next big thing or if it disappears quietly … taking with it a shed load of our money and whether it should give the bosses of the various codes food for thought.

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