Posted by Remco

Managing the sport MMA

You may dislike all sports relating to fighting or not, but it is a fact that the fighting sport has been practiced since the ancient time of the gladiators in Rome. Most of us know fighting legends as Mohammed Ali, Bruce Lee, Mike Tyson and Hulk Hogan. Do you however know the name Fedor Emelianko (Russia) or Anderson Silva (Brazil)?

These two athletes are fighters in the world of MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) and were recently the center of the attention after having won (Silva) and lost (Emelianko) their highly promoted fights. MMA is spreading these last years like a virus and it would be interesting to analyze the management of this sport.

Initially the sport freefight was born in about 1993, as a result of the question “which martial arts is the most effective?”. The fights which had a minimum of rules began standing, but ended most of the time in a ground fight. The first reaction on this sport was very negative. The American senator John McCain even made a reference to cock fights. The press boycotted the fights and there was no TV station interested in broadcasting the competitions.

Since that time however a couple strategic decisions were made, which included more rules and the change of name to “Mixed Martial Arts” (MMA). This blueprint was then sold for $2 million dollars to two casino millionaires, who then organized the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) Tournaments only in Las Vegas. The start of the reality TV show “Ultimate Fighter” was a boost for spreading this sport on a higher level, and broadcasters are getting more and more interested. Nowadays UFC is an international brand, with even an office in London. The tournament is being broadcasted in at least 135 countries to 400 million people. It also has its competing leagues like Pride and Strikeforce with similar worldwide attention.

You may wonder whether MMA is a real sport, or just some barbaric hobby? In my opinion it definitely is a sport. As in boxing or any other fighting sport, the competitors (male and female!) know very well what risks are involved. They train very hard and disciplined, and fortunately are not pumped with steroids as you see in the Wrestling shows. I agree with the ones saying that it has a lot of aggression, but I doubt if the soccer fans show less aggression in the stadiums. Most of the MMA fighters have an enormous discipline and show deep respect for their opponent, which is important to have as a rolemodel in sports.

The international growth of the MMA sport is one to be followed closely. My bet is that within the next five years, most of the countries have their national competitions and the sponsors will be fighting eachother to get a piece of this sports marketing pie.

I am interested to know your opinion, do you think MMA is a sport or not? Leave your comment below.