Tito Ortiz Vs. Pro Boxer Dana White

[zDom]

The UFC still only has a fraction of the fan base that Boxing has, and brings in less revenue ...

I'm not convinced this is true, anymore. At least not around here. In random polls, NOBODY can name ANY of the boxing title holders; nobody pays for boxing fights.

But everybody knows the title holders and top contenders in the UFC. Pride, not so much — I don't think it gets as much exposure on cable channels, although it is improving.

UFC owes Spike channel bigtime for its success. That was a nice move on Zuffa's part, and on Spike's part, too. A nice partnership.

And as far as pay per view revenue, I'd LOVE to see the figures on the last 10 boxing PPVs and the last 10 UFC PPVs.

Maybe UFC doesn't have the sponsorships that boxing has, but that surely won't last. Surely sponsors are going to get a clue and put their money where the REAL interest is: MMA.

Funny enough if you dont like Dana White check this out...some naughty mucker has edited his wiki quote page ( :

Warning Contains Filth.

http://en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Dana_White&direction=prev&oldid=397700

Er, as much as I am not a Dana White fan, I don't approve of Wiki-vandalism or libel. That's just wrong.

 

[rutherford]

Funny enough if you dont like Dana White check this out...some naughty mucker has edited his wiki quote page ( :

Warning Contains Filth.

http://en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Dana_White&direction=prev&oldid=397700

Luckily, that page was cleaned up and is now protected from future vadalism.

This is an interesting article, if a bit old and heavy on the Dana-loving:

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Jul-02-Sun-2006/sports/8275533.html


Remember folks, there is no Dana, only Zool.

 

[PictonMA]

Here is an article from about 6 months ago that talks about UFCs PPV buyrates, mostly in comparison to WWE/WWF.

http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=2359&zoneid=3

The long and the short of it is that in the lead up to UFC 61 they were getting buys in the neighbourhood of 450,000 PPV (at $34.95 - $39.95 each) we're talking $15mil plus per event.

Here is a subsequent article talking about how the UFCs 2006 PPV revenue was in excess of $200mil

http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=3520&zoneid=3

It's also interesting to note that in this article it mentions that boxing had it's second biggest year ever with a gross revenue of $177mil.

The only records the UFC hasn't broke is are the all-time individual event sales (2.0 mil buys for heavyweight and ~1.4mil for non-heavy weight)

Also interesting to note from the above article:

"The upcoming fight between Oscar de la Hoya and Floyd Mayweather, Jr. is expected to break the 1.4 million mark and perhaps even approach the 2.0 million mark."

So while the UFC may not be completely blowing boxing out of the water (yet) they are sure as hell making hundreds of millions.

All that being said, I don't begrudge Dana or the Fertatti bros any of this - they are business men and doing a damn good job of making (mixed) martial arts all the more popular again and accessible to the mainstream - in addition to this they are providing the fighters a venue to do this in and make some decent coin. Could it be more? Sure, and I bet it will continue to go up over time.

 

[Stillelman]

Could it be more? Probably, however where would the sport be if Dana and the "businessmen" did not take it over. UFC was almost finished, and now the sport is growing rapidly. The rapid growth, will cause some backlash, like any fast growing business. The elite will not suffer, and they make great money (seen Chuck's home, enough said).

Besides, you are comparing a corrupt org. like boxing to UFC. I would like MMA to stay small enough that it does not ruin the sport like boxing.

 

[Andy Moynihan]

Remember folks, there is no Dana, only Zool.

"I looked at the trap. Ray!"

 

[Odin]

I'm not convinced this is true, anymore. At least not around here. In random polls, NOBODY can name ANY of the boxing title holders; nobody pays for boxing fights.

But everybody knows the title holders and top contenders in the UFC. Pride, not so much — I don't think it gets as much exposure on cable channels, although it is improving.

UFC owes Spike channel bigtime for its success. That was a nice move on Zuffa's part, and on Spike's part, too. A nice partnership.

And as far as pay per view revenue, I'd LOVE to see the figures on the last 10 boxing PPVs and the last 10 UFC PPVs.

Maybe UFC doesn't have the sponsorships that boxing has, but that surely won't last. Surely sponsors are going to get a clue and put their money where the REAL interest is: MMA.




Er, as much as I am not a Dana White fan, I don't approve of Wiki-vandalism or libel. That's just wrong.

The thing is everyone here is judging MMA on the past year and forgetting about the past UFC history, the UFC is reaching a peak right now, there's not telling if it will stay there,I remember the days when the UFC had to travel all over america trying to get a lience to put on a show, or when the only people that watched MMA were the ones that actually trained in it, boxing has been around since the beginning of time and has millions upon millions of fans, alot of people might not know who the champs are but i bet they still follow at least one other fighter, boxing's crowd pullers are it heavyweights and of late there has been a massive drop in talent which isnt drawing any crowds, that is not a constant though and could change very soon, the UFC on the other hand have only just broken in to American and English house holds through Spike and Bravo T.V but it still remains a noverty at the moment,its something new for fight fans that are bored with boxing, but that could all change..... honeslty how many people have you heard on this forum alone state that MMA was 'just the lastest craze '' Dana is good to restrict how much he pays his fighters its stupid to give them millions now and not think about that future.

 

[Odin]

Could it be more? Probably, however where would the sport be if Dana and the "businessmen" did not take it over. UFC was almost finished, and now the sport is growing rapidly. The rapid growth, will cause some backlash, like any fast growing business. The elite will not suffer, and they make great money (seen Chuck's home, enough said).

Besides, you are comparing a corrupt org. like boxing to UFC. I would like MMA to stay small enough that it does not ruin the sport like boxing.

I agree the problem with the UFC growing the way it is that you start to cater more for the casual observer that just wants to see knockouts, more and more do i here the crowd boo when the action hits the floor....this is the problem with the ufc at the moment since constant referee 'stand ups ' annoy people who actually understand the ground game.

 

[zDom]

I agree the problem with the UFC growing the way it is that you start to cater more for the casual observer that just wants to see knockouts, more and more do i here the crowd boo when the action hits the floor....this is the problem with the ufc at the moment since constant referee 'stand ups ' annoy people who actually understand the ground game.

Some good points.

The crowds need to respect the fighters and the complexity of fighting in all ranges.

 

[zDom]

Dana is good to restrict how much he pays his fighters its stupid to give them millions now and not think about that future.

I can agree with this to a point. They shouldn't go overboard, and they should take steps to ensure longevity in the sport, make sure its not just a flash in the pan, or (to get punny ) a "spike" in revenue.

But I kind of see this sport as having a short career span for athletes, and they should be fairly compensated for putting their long-term health on the line for entertainment's sake.

I don't want a bunch of suits to walk off with all the money while the athletes make a few bucks then spend the rest of their lives crippled up.

Also, by giving athletes a more equitable share of the profits, they will be able to entice more athletes into participating and get even better fights — which may be something to think about if they are trying to keep this sport from fading away.

 

[Andrew Green]

"The upcoming fight between Oscar de la Hoya and Floyd Mayweather, Jr. is expected to break the 1.4 million mark and perhaps even approach the 2.0 million mark."

So while the UFC may not be completely blowing boxing out of the water (yet) they are sure as hell making hundreds of millions.

I think, now I could be wrong, but the UFC is more consistant.

That Oscar de la Hoya fight, I'm gonna bet that no one cares at all about the other fighters on the card, just the one fight.

UFC events generally have at least 2 big fights, and a couple other fairly big ones. This last card had a HW title fight, plus a number of "hot" fighters. Boxing events seem to put all there eggs in one basket.

Anyways, back to the topic, Tito vs Dana. I'm betting Tito wins after Jenna smacks Dana over the head with a folding chair while the ref is distracted.

 

[Sensei Tom O'Brien]

Tito Ortiz No-Shows, Bout With Dana White Never Happened

The following is from Dave Meltzer'website,WrestlingObserver.com:

Is that Tito Ortiz no-showed the weigh-in and the fight never happened.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission was not happy with this turn of events as they had officials there. Dana White was there and got weighed-in. There was no communication from Ortiz as to why he wasn't there. Ortiz did call White and leave him a messages saying that he was letting him off the hook, but White didn't think that message meant he was cancelling the match.

Spike TV was scheduled to air a 90 minute television special building up the PPV of the fight.
Post by Joe Daddy
I just think it was very unprofessional of Tito to stand him up like that. Tito is supposed to be a champion. He did not act like one. I think it was ‘no class’.
Thanks,
Sensei Tom