AT A TIME when the sheen is rapidly coming off the bejeweled security blanket that protects the Indian cricket team, the opportunity to leverage a development that is mind-boggling yet timely for emerging sports in India may just have found a customer-base.
With Vijender Singh being ranked number one middleweight boxer in the world by the International Boxing Association., and Indian wrestlers managing to medal at the showcase global events, there may just be an opportunity for the marketing wizards at the helm of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), the billion dollar Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) promoters and developers to make their foray into India.
What makes MMA a potentially successful initiative in India is the fact that Indian audiences have a strong affinity to professional wrestling events such as the WWE and TNA, and in fact Indians have always had a presence in such events, as participants, with the Great Khali the most famous and successful WWE representative. Keeping in mind the attention that boxing and wrestling are likely to get in the media, the penchant for professional wrestling (although scripted and staged), and the fast-paced growth in popularity that MMA has witnessed, it’s only a matter of time before Indian audiences will acclimate themselves with it, and perhaps embrace it.
MMA has become extremely popular globally, with many experts feeling (and fearing) that it has eroded the customer and fan-base that professional boxing had become accustomed to, and relied upon. MMA is a relatively recent phenomenon in North America and Europe, although it’s antecedents span its glory days in Japan, where the erstwhile successful but now defunct promotion – Pride, created household names out of Gracie, Cro Cop, Liddell, Rampage, and Wanderlei Silva, to name a few. While these names may not ring a bell for Indian audiences, today MMA has become a force to be reckoned with, taking place across North America, Europe, and South/Central America, as well as Asia.
UFC has recently been valued at $ 1 billion, making it more successful than even Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy promotions, which represents many of the top Professional boxers in the US and Mexico. Incidentally, Golden Boy has been trying to acquire, or otherwise partner numerous MMA promotions, to try and find a harmonious blend between boxing and MMA.
MMA is an amalgamation of numerous traditional as well as unorthodox fighting skills and techniques. It has become the melting pot and forum for all varieties and combinations of fighting skills, with clearly defined and systematic rules that aim to optimize individual ability, yet provide all the competitors with a somewhat level playing field. It combines Boxing, Grappling, Greco-Roman and Freestyle Wrestling, Muay Thai, Kickboxing, Brazilian Jujitsu, Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Judo, and the old-fashioned ‘backyard brawling’, to name a few. UFC, the most successful promotion by a mile, presently has signed fighters in its various divisions who hail from Japan, Germany, England, Italy, Canada, Brazil, Croatia, Korea, Mexico and of course the US, among others. It routinely hosts 8-10 events a year, and has had numerous international forays. It also has a made for television reality show called ‘The Ultimate Fighter’, on network television, which the UFC feels is what has made the promotion as successful as it is today.
Simply put, it is well-funded, brilliantly marketed, and it has emerged from the days when former Presidential candidate John McCain derided it as ‘human cock-fighting’, and numerous states in the US categorically banned it. Today, it is a legitimate sport, with licenses having been given to it in various countries, let alone states within the US, and the average American contact sports fan would be able to name more UFC fighters than the number of boxers, wrestlers, or karate champions combined.
Two recent developments are likely to help the UFC and MMA over time. First of all, the concept of the ‘Contender’ series with Vijender hosting it, could be a master move by Percept and Mark Burnett (its creator), to bank and leverage Vijender’s appeal, popularity, and the future of boxing with the World Series and other events in the pipeline as well, provided IOS doesn’t put a spanner in the works.
With the focus on reality sports shows, MMA could also enter this space. Secondly, the launch of Sports Illustrated, which will also feature US sports content, could be an ideal launch-pad for UFC to at least be introduced to Indian audiences. Publications such as SI are great outlets for the insulated Indian Sports Fan to learn about and have access to global sports and developments. This helps the Indian audience to move beyond the limited scope and scale of the few sports that it typically is exposed to, and follows. The UFC should be able to at least get a back-door entry into the realm of thoughts, if it is featured in occasional stories in magazines such as SI.
There is another reason why the UFC is likely to succeed in India if broadcasted, marketed, promoted, and ‘Indianized’ to a certain extent. Its revenue model for events depends on Pay Per View purchases in the US, as well as sponsorships, signage, and branding, as opposed to merely ticket sales: a concept relatively alien to Indian events due to the number of complimentary passes demanded at each venue. The stars of the promotion aren’t paid prohibitive appearance fees as compared to boxing: a fight between Pacquiao and Mayweather would cost its promoters $ 45 million as the joint purse for prize and appearance money, whereas the headliners for a UFC event would be lucky to get $ 1 million between them, without bonuses.
With shows such as the Contender, the eventual realization by broadcasters that MMA might turn out to be a relatively inexpensive yet bankable segment on TV, as well as the entry of publications such as Sports Illustrated containing a certain degree of US content now available to the average Indian sports fan, UFC might have a bright future in India.
The planets are aligning themselves just at the right time for Dana White, the UFC mastermind, to step in and blow the Indian spectator base away. The synchronizing of entertainment with skill-based sport could be just the option that the Indian fan craves, and this market and the clear-cut opportunity ready-made and served with Indian garnishes is for the UFC to lose: by knockout or submission.
The author is a Sports Attorney with J. Sagar Associates.
