Quoteworthy: UFC in India one day?
“Think about this for a second: India has 350 million men between the ages of 18 and 34, and that’s our key demographic. The magnitude of these markets is staggering.”
–Lorenzo Fertitta speaking to Yahoo Sports
o r i g i n a l M M A a p p a r e l
Available HERE
UFC’s big announcement
The big announcement from the UFC is Lorenzo Fertitta will step down as president of Station Casinos to focus on expanding the UFC internationally. Increased focus on international development in Asia will be part of the casino mogul’s strategy for worldwide penetration.
Fertittas in Forbes
Some stats from the article:
Price the Fertittas paid for UFC in 2001: $2 million
Value today: $1 billion-plus
UFC estimated 2008 sales: $250 million
UFC is estimated to control 90% of the mixed martial arts industry.
UFC pay-per-view buys in 2001: 145,000
UFC pay-per-view buys in 2007: 5.1 million
The average UFC pay-per-view event draws 3 million male viewers between 18 and 49–often the same as a big college football GAME.
UFC employs 275 fighters.
Most make more than $100,000 a year.
Superstars make millions.
The average ticket price of a live UFC event in 2007: $250
Forbes MMA Billlionaires
On Forbes latest Billionaire list, Mark Cuban came in at #446 with $2.6 billion, while Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta at #897 with $1.3 billion each.
Battle of Billionaires
With HDnet suing Zuffa and also picking up Randy Couture for their roster, it shows that with Mark Cuban at the helm, they’re willing to fight the UFC dollar for dollar. A quick examination of net worth of Cuban versus the Fertitta brother shows that Cuban is ahead over the Las Vegas casino moguls, at least according to the last Forbes Richest 400 Americans list.
Cuban #133, Net Worth $2.3 billion
Fertita Bros #380, Net Worth $1.3 billion
Fertitta Bros and Mark Cuban make Forbes 400 List
With a net worth of $1.3 billion, Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta have made the Forbes 400 richest individuals in America list at #380. Mark Cuban was #161.
Randy Couture vs UFC article in Time Magazine website
An article on Time Magazine’s website involving the battle between Randy Couture and the UFC was posted today:
Ultimate fighting, a blood sport for the video game generation, has been one of the most sensational successes of 21st century athletics. The spectacle of fighters kicking, punching, stomping, elbowing and suffocating each other into unconsciousness has successfully pulled fans away from boxing. Its champions have become household names. And the sport’s leading promoter, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), has become all that professional boxing had ceased to be: well-run, well-marketed, with fighters who are seemingly happy to sacrifice their bodies and craniums for glory and relatively low pay. Elite gladiators endure punishment for somewhere between $250,000 and $500,000 a fight, the lesser-known pugilists receiving fractions of that amount.
But the sport is now fending off a fusillade of blows from one of its biggest stars. Randy Couture, 44, a five-time champion in two weight divisions and the sport’s most public face, announced his retirement a few weeks ago. That surprised UFC aficionados and its executives, who believe he is under contract and can’t retire. But what surprised them even more was the sucker punch Couture delivered on his departure. “I’m tired of being taken advantage of, played as the nice guy and basically swimming against the current with the management of the UFC,” he said. “I have a lot of other things going on in my life that I’m doing just fine with. I don’t need the problems. I don’t feel like I get the respect I deserve from the organization.”
For those who do not follow ultimate fighting, Couture is the sport’s Babe Ruth, a classy, soft-spoken gladiator who is nicknamed “The Natural.” For fans, his endurance, toughness and proficiency embodies mixed martial arts, the technical name of the sport. Such is his fame that he is now making a foray into movies, with a lead role in Universal’s The Scorpion King: The Rise of the Akkadian.
UFC president Dana White went on the counterattack following Couture’s statements. White, an ex-boxing manager, accused Couture of having a “puke Hollywood agent” giving him bad advice. At a press conference Tuesday in which he disputed Couture’s claims, White said the fighter was paid $2.9 million last year, including a $500,000 signing bonus — even brandishing a canceled check to prove it.
White was conciliatory as well, complimenting Couture as a great champion and expressing the hope that Couture would continue to defend his belt. But the UFC president insisted that the UFC takes good care of its own fighters, often giving them bonuses over their purses for particularly good fights.
Lorenzo Fertitta, UFC co-owner, who typically shies away from the public spotlight, was also present at the press conference, claiming that Couture “misstated the facts and that his statements were meant to hurt us.” Fertitta added: “When we bought the UFC in 2001, no one cared. We were losing millions upon millions. But fighters have always gotten paid, we never bounced a check. Our goal was to pay a fighter a million dollars. Little did I know that would be the start of our problems.”
To be sure, under White and Fertitta, Ultimate Fighting has gained a lot of respect. In the 1990s, critics like Senator John McCain were deriding ultimate fighting as barbaric, and the public was aghast at the mixed martial arts bloodbaths. The sport was banned in state after state. But the Ultimate Fighting Championship organization slowly built interest among young people, filling the void left by professional boxing, cleaning up the rules and marketing itself through the reality show The Ultimate Fighter on Spike TV. The show helped humanize the fighters, managing to coax nobility out of their quests for martial arts fame. Spike TV brags that seven live UFC fights on its channel in 2007 have, on average, attracted more young men in the coveted 18-34 demographic than other sports on cable like basketball, baseball, football, hockey and NASCAR. As ultimate fighting gained legitimacy, it created stars out of Tito Ortiz, Chuck “the Iceman” Liddell and Couture.
Now that facade is beginning to crumble. Liddell, who was recognizable enough to have an episode of HBO’s Entourage focused on him, has lost two fights. Ortiz has been in an ongoing feud with White about contractual issues. (“Until Dana White is ready to fight me on a professional basis,” said Ortiz at one point, “I strongly urge him to keep his mouth shut.”) And now comes Couture’s outbursts about money and White’s counterattack. “At the end of the day we treat our fighters right,” says White. “The whole thing makes no sense. I felt like I got kicked in the throat.” This is one no-holds-barred battle that Ultimate Fighting doesn’t want.
UFC Press Conference Notes
Lorenzo Fertitta:
“I sat back and watched his press conference on TV last Thursday, and I have to be honest, I felt that the statements that he made so grossly misrepresented the facts that I felt that we needed to protect ourselves because I felt that the statements were made in a way meant to hurt us.”
“You can only sit back and be silent for so long – the facts are the facts, and we have the facts.”
Dana White:
“I try the best I can to make sure that we have a good relationship with these guys and that we keep them as happy as we can. Randy Couture, with all the things he’s accomplished in this sport and with the UFC, we looked at him as a partner of ours. He’s a guy I’ve spent a lot of time with and done a lot of personal things with, and the statements he made – financial and a million other things he stated – weren’t true. I’m not here to bait Randy or belittle him; we’re just here to clear up some of the facts.”
“I felt like I got kicked in the throat last week when this happened…I never thought I’d be here with Randy, and yeah, it hurt. Since season one of The Ultimate Fighter, I’ve had a good relationship with Randy – at least I felt I did ….so yeah, this was a shock.”
White on Promoting Couture:
“The thing that launched, not only the UFC, but mixed martial arts, was the television reality show, The Ultimate Fighter…Season one of the Ultimate Fighter, we made Randy Couture a coach. After that, we made Randy a consultant on season two to come up with all the challenges we did. Season four, he came back as a coach again. August 23rd was Randy Couture Day on Spike TV. We put together that television show of four hours of nothing but Randy Couture. And I could go on forever. The guy became a big star because we got behind him and promoted him.”
White on the Signing Bonus:
“He calls me up and tells me he wants to come back out of retirement and he wants to fight Tim Sylvia for the heavyweight title…I give him that title shot. When he says he wants to come out of retirement, he wants to renew his contract, he wants a new deal. So we do the new deal with him and he wants a half a million dollar signing bonus. Here’s a check for you to sign this agreement with us and what if Randy, at 44 years old, blows his knee, hurts his back, or anything like that happens? Are we gonna get that $250,000 back? It’s a signing bonus, and without even having to fight, he gets $250,000. He wanted half a million. We gave him 250 up front, signing bonus, and the other 250 after the fight.”
Fertitta on the Signing Bonus:
“After we shook hands and hugged, he seemed very happy with the contract that he got and signed in January that he is now apparently not happy with.”
UFC press conference on Couture tomorrow
Dana White, UFC® President and Lorenzo Fertitta, UFC® co-owner will hold a press conference Tuesday, October 30th, to address recent statements made by Randy Couture, and answer questions for the media. The press conference will be streamed live via UFC.com starting at 1pm PT/4pm ET/20:00 GMT.