- « UFC 82: Ready To Rock And A Reality Check To Boot
- Anderson Silva vs Roy Jones Jr / Fedor The Free »
The sport of Mixed Martial Arts has taken another big leap over the past week or so and is now undeniably on the cusp of true main stream appeal. If you take a look at each one of the stories I will showcase below, you will notice that the sport is slowly but surely cementing its foundation on not only North American Pop Culture, but also in the legitimate sporting world.
UFC Announces Deal with Anheuser Busch- Reaction to this deal has been 50/50 but if one does the math, this deal is huge for the UFC. Aligning itself with Anheuser Busch’s ‘BUD LIGHT’ brand is a massive sponsorship for Zuffa LLC. If you think the UFC is to MMA as the NFL is to Football, or Kleenex is to Tissues, this deal will further enhance that image for the UFC brand. Every time you walk into a beer store, you will see the UFC logo alongside Bud Light. Same goes for TV, Radio, Print…etc. One respected sports business analyst stated this: May 24: The Date The UFC Finally Becomes The Next Boxing
MMA gets 1st major TV network deal with CBS as Elite XC joins the cable giant and will showcase a variety of live MMA events. This is the organization that has Kimbo Slice on their roster, as well as numerous other high calibre fighters. There are also recent rumours that have Tito Ortiz jumping ship and joining Elite XC to not only bolster their product, but also garner a piece of the ownership pie.
HBO Partnership: It also looks like the popular clothing line, Affliction and Golden Boy Promotions (Oscar De La Hoya’s Promotion company) may be teaming up, and entering the MMA world. This relationship may just put the sport of MMA onto HBO as well has their first big name in Matt Lindland, who recently left Bodog Fight.
Nike To Rampage - Just Do It: UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson is heading down to Los Angeles to film a Nike commercial entitled ‘Human Chain’, with other big names like Lebron James. This is just another big name, blue chip company that sees the reality and potential that MMA has.
While there are still many main stream outlets, broadcasters and people that just don’t get it, they can hide behind their vale of ignorance, keep making themselves sound as ignorant as they always do, while MMA simply continues to prove to the world that it is real, it is here to stay, and like it or not, it isn’t going anywhere.
