The UFC; Gone Corporate

By Trevor A. Keveloh

 Well, the inevitable has happened. The UFC has gone completely corporate. Between the Rebook deal and the recent information pouring out from the UFC “fan” expo, it looks as if this July will have a lackluster attendance. Fans, former sponsors and most importantly, the fighters are pissed.

I’ve always been under the assumption that Dana White had wanted to mirror the UFC from the NFL, which now seems like a pretty terrible idea (DeflateGate, Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson, etc.) My initial reaction to the Reebok deal was, “why?” Why are you putting uniforms on fighters? It’s a one on one sport, not a team sport. Uniforms are used to decipher one team versus another team, but for some reason the grandiose idea of a uniform on fighters is somehow logical? I don’t understand, but I guess that’s why I am not the CEO of the UFC. I’ve always looked at the MMA world and how its sponsorships are handled and thought it was really mirrored more towards Nascar. A one person sport which has a number of people competing against each other. Apparently I was wrong, very wrong.

The newest black eye for the UFC is now the politics behind the “fan” Expo. Smaller companies, aka NON-sponsors (but SUPPORTERS) of the UFC are getting the boot. “Sorry buddy, this lunch table is only for the cool kids only.” I get it, I do. I understand business, I understand big business and the fact that it needs to grow and evolve into something bigger and greater. But there is a right way to do this and a wrong way to do this. The UFC shit the bed. Ten years ago when I got involved in the MMA world I didn’t think that the company I have worked with, Fight Chix, would have grown to what it is today. When that company grew and became as respected as it is, I was flattered, humbled and rather proud. Years of hard work, dedication, lugging product all over the country from expo to expo, I felt like the UFC was our friend, or our neighbor down the street with the “big house.” But that neighbor, that “friend,” was really more like the Klopek’s from the movie, “The Burbs.”

I honestly wanted to try and give the UFC the benefit of the doubt on their Reebok deal but after recently seeing the numbers come out for the fighter pay on the new tier system, I immediately felt horrible for the fighters. These men and women train so fucking hard, day and night, lose time with friends and family, rarely have anything close to an off-season and are now getting cut at the legs. And why? To fatten the pockets of the executives. $2500 for a low tier fighter? A bottle service girl makes that in a weekend in Vegas.

I have slowly distanced myself from the UFC world as it has become watered-down and overwhelming. I don’t really care how much the organization makes; I care about watching a good quality fight. The UFC became over-saturated when it teamed up with FOX and then constantly began pumping out fights. I enjoy change, but positive change is what needed to be done. As the organization grows, more and more amateur fighters want to join the UFC as a dream, a goal, whatever it is they are fighting for. I respect every fighter out there for following their dreams to become a pro-fighter, hell we’ve helped grow a number of amateur fighters and still do to this day. But is the UFC really going to be the end all be all for all these fighters? Or will someone better come along and build an organization that is truly fair to its fans, sponsors and fighters?

Maybe Bellator, WSOF, Invicta could all get together, team up and take over.