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UFC to be sold?


METAL ON METAL

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I'm still thinking they are planning to sell a percentage like they did before, only one that will get them the Chinese market, or at least a window into it, with perhaps some Chinese government help.

 

One of the potential buyers has a stake in Man City & The Chinese Super League, this will probably involve several fight camps and top notch trainers and fighters, working with up and coming Chinese fighters for big money, over at least 10 years to try and bring through champions from China.

 

They are doing it in Football now, they've been doing it at the Olympics for a good while.

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Lots of Twitter rumblings that the UFC sale is done and that an announcement is coming within the next day or so.

 

Dave Meltzer just tweeted:

 

 

One of the most important news stories we'll ever cover may be breaking shortly.

 

Hmmm.

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According to Meltzer, it is likely that Dana will stay as the company's frontman. Most - if not all - of the potential bidders want to keep him on board. 

 

Fucking hell. Hopefully he's just a frontman and has zero actual input into how shit is handled.

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Apparently the price is around the $4B mark.

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On Rogan, if you listen to his podcast you'll notice he seems progressively a bit more miffed with some of UFC's decisions. Although a wee part of me reckons he's playing the game, as the new owners will surely throw more money to keep such a big part of the production.

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Apparently the price is around the $4B mark.

1461234234235235206.jpg

 

On Rogan, if you listen to his podcast you'll notice he seems progressively a bit more miffed with some of UFC's decisions. Although a wee part of me reckons he's playing the game, as the new owners will surely throw more money to keep such a big part of the production.

 

I dunno, I think he wants to spend more time with his family and focus everything on his stand up and podcasts, but you could be right.

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Who's to know. I guess with Rogan he's got more notes than coins, so maybe he's being honest when he says he prefers the idea of doing his Fight Companion shows rather than working for the UFC. I just think if he's playing the game, he's doing a good job thus far.

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According to Meltzer, it is likely that Dana will stay as the company's frontman. Most - if not all - of the potential bidders want to keep him on board. 

 

Fucking hell. Hopefully he's just a frontman and has zero actual input into how shit is handled.

 

You and others have twisted my arm into thinking that removing Dana and the boys is a good thing.

 

I'm holding you responsible if it goes tits up  ;)

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Joe Rogan seems pretty happy the last few times I've seen him, him and Goldberg talking about this is the greatest job in the world, I can't believe I get paid for this etc

 

He's also mostly PPV & Fox shows, so he's hardly touring the world.

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If history is any indication I think there's a far, far greater chance of new owners fucking it up than there is of them being equal or more successfull than Dana and the Fertittas have been.

 

There's no denying they have their bad points, a lot of which were highlighted last week in how they dealt with Ariel, but there's also no denying that they're the only ones to make a proper, long-term success of it. At least in the American and Global sense.

 

History is filled with many others thinking they could promote MMA, thinking they understood the business, and then discovering it's nothing like they imagined. All of these promoters came in with the same attitude as the majority of hardcore fans, thinking good fights between good fighters equalled success and that couldn't be further from the truth. Imagine if Mighty Mouse was put on pay per view cards with no support? They'd be washouts.

 

The very reason they're able to accept offers as high as 4 billion today is due to the pay per view success of last year. And last year's buyrates were almost entirely thanks to their eye for mass appeal and star power that they recognised in Conor and Ronda a year or two before. Obviously it was a gamble with both of them and it wouldn't have worked if they hadn't kept winning, but do we not remember what the majority reaction was from hardcore fans when those two first came on the scene? People were up in arms that Ronda was headlining a show ahead of Dan Henderson and Lyoto Machida. Remember when people were planning on turning the show off before the Ronda fight?! Hilarious. And for how fucking long did people cry that Conor was being protected and pushed too much? That's where the UFC has always succeeded. They understand what appeals to the causal fan and are willing to ignore the clueless dickheads on sherdog.

 

The new owners may possess a similar business and mass appeal understanding as the previous lot did, but there's hardly many examples of that being the norm, is there?

 

This could go the way of Affliction very quickly indeed.

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I think a soft takeover is likely. Reading Meltzer's article, I get the impression that Dana's influence will be fizzled out, albeit on a voluntary basis. However, before he dons the pipe and slippers, the new owners will get see him and his crew in action firsthand, and hopefully pick up their good traits (and ignore his bad traits). They should get a grasp of what works, and what doesn't.

 

Coker is the only other example of a North American MMA promoter knowing what they are doing. However, the washouts didn't really have any guidelines to work from, and some of them were complete cowboys anyway. 

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Coker is definitely second best, but he still fell into the same trap Affliction did with Fedor. Paying him millions when he was unable to bring them any return was the main factor in Strikeforce eventually being sold, if I'm not mistaken.

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They won't change much about the presentation a change here and there but they aren't going to change things completely, at least in the first year.

 

They may be more open to allow an association but the association would have to know the game, newcomers don't bring anything, PPV stars do and the money should be distributed that way.

 

If it's a Chinese company, expect to see the best coaches and some of the best fighters moving there for big money, with the aim of having at least one champion within 10 years and many more in the pipeline.

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