It was almost surreal watching Dana White and the Zuffa crew on the same stage as upper echelon members of Fox News, announcing a historic deal to bring the UFC to broadcast television. In a year filled with big stories, including Strikeforce’s sale to Zuffa, this is easily the biggest. Getting onto Fox and FX, both of which features some heavily lauded programming, is poised to grow MMA and the UFC by leaps and bounds. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the winners and losers of this move.
Winner: Zuffa and the UFC
Only someone with a decidedly anti-Zuffa mindset could think the UFC lost anything today. They go from being on a network whose other high profile shows are such classics as “Manswers”, “Bar Rescue” and second tier pro wrestling to sharing time slot space with “Glee”, “Justified”, “Archer”, “The League”, “Louie”, “House, M.D” and both the NFL and Major League Baseball. The perception of the UFC has just gotten 100 times better because now they’re surrounded with top tier shows as opposed to cable TV schlock. And it also means we’re going to get a better presentation from them, too.
The UFC is going to have to look better now because they have better programming around them.
It’s like the pretty girl who surrounds herself with less attractive women; she’s going to look hotter by comparison. The UFC was the pretty girl on Spike, with lots of horrible looking programming surrounding them. You compare “The Ultimate Fighter” to a show like “Blue Mountain State” and the UFC looks remarkably more professional, etc. Only way to go from any number of shows involving people going after auctions is up for something like “UFC Unleashed” or any number of the “Primetime” shows. Compare it to a mid-season NFL game and they look like a pro wrestling show. To continue the metaphor, now they’re the ugly girl surrounded by pretty ones.
With Fox willing and eager to help them tweak the production into something better, including dumping the “gladiator” opener that has been a staple of the UFC for years, it’ll be interesting to see how the UFC changes to accommodate Fox’s top tier level approach. They established the way the NFL is presented for the better, inventing the way pro football looks on television. That has to count for more than being surrounded by production people aiming to top “1000 Ways to Die” in terms of increasing production value.
Loser: Spike
Spike will go on but their relationship with the UFC was one of the ones that established themselves in the ratings and with viewers. Spike’s programming was very UFC centric for a while and now they have massive gaps in their lineup. Losing the UFC and picking up Bellator gives them MMA programming but it’s akin to having the NFL leave and replacing it with the UFL; no matter what you do the perception is going to be that you have an inferior replacement.
Winner: Bellator
With Spike and the UFC severing ties, and Bellator being in the same network group as Spike TV, one imagines that it’d be an easy sell to move Bellator from MTV2 to Spike to fill the gap. Considering Bellator commercials have already been airing on Spike, one imagines the deal is done and yet to be formally announced.
Loser: Jason “Mayhem” Miller, Michael Bisping and the “Ultimate Fighter” Season 14 cast
Spike’s got the equivalent of a lame duck right now with this version of Spike’s signature show. They won’t be able to capitalize on the next season because right now the show is going to change formats and be completely revamped on FX. So right now they have a show that’ll get them good ratings and be entertaining but comes complete with the notion that this is the end.
Winner: M-1
They may not have much remaining in terms of leverage for Fedor, but they have a contract with Showtime. With Strikeforce going away in its current form, and Bellator most likely moving to Spike TV, M-1 now becomes Showtime’s go-to for MMA.
Loser: Strikeforce
Any shot at thinking that Strikeforce would survive once the final part of the 2012 contract expired in anything near its current form died with this deal. Look for the company to be shuttled or turned into the minor leagues of fighting for the UFC.
Winner: Joe Rogan
What a difference a day can make for the “Fear Factor” host and stand-up comedian. Looking at him yesterday for his podcast, Rogan dressed like a standup comedian talking about life with his friends. Which is what he is when he isn’t in his other job as UFC color commentaror.
Clad a suit and acting like a total professional, Rogan looked and acted like the sort of announcer that would be on a Fox Sports show. Whether this translates to him cleaning his personal act up, including his documented instances of going after MMA reporters on internet forums, remains to be seen as a long term image change. However for now he came out looking like the way you’d think the voice of the UFC would look.
Loser: Brock Lesnar
On a day he announces he’s 100% healthy and ready to fight, rumored to be any number of opponents from Alistair Overeem to Frank Mir this winter (The New Year’s Eve Show has been bandied about as well), the UFC announces they’re going on Fox and it’s totally overlooked. But then again, that might’ve been the plan as Lesnar is notoriously press averse and not as many people will want to know about Lesnar’s plans with the biggest story in MMA occurring.
