From Fighting Legend to Business Executive

It's official...Liddell's fighting career is over. To many of us hardcore MMA fans, and even those who began their MMA journey with the original season of The Ultimate Fighter reality series, this news is bitter-sweet. Liddell was an amazing talent, one of the most recognizable stars in the sport, and perhaps the greatest Light Heavyweight champion of all-time. But, as good as he looked early on in his final fight against Rich Franklin, the end result was an increasingly common and down-right disturbing sight of the 'Ice Man' unconscious on the octagon floor. It was time.

But as one career ends, another begins. Dana White announced in a press conference (video after the jump) that Chuck Liddell has accepted a position as the new UFC executive vice president of business development. It's hard to say what this means in terms of job responsibility, but I would argue that these details really don't matter very much. I love this move for a number of reasons, none of which depend on Chuck's roles and responsibilities. 

First, this ensures that the Hall of Famer ends his career in the UFC. The same cannot be said for other legends of the Octagon like Ken Shamrock and Jens Pulver.  Instead, they waste away on lackluster cards of small-time promotions, fighting, one gets the feeling, because they have to. From a business perspective, keeping Liddell's name off of the main event of a competing promotion is also important. The UFC already suffers a bit from being the "Kleenex" of MMA and releasing The Iceman  - their most recognizable star - to go elsewhere would just add to the confusion.

Second, it sets a strong precedent that successful UFC fighters can have a future with the organization after their fighting days are over. This sport is unique in that it is so young that many of the original stars are still active as fighters; many of them because they simply did not make the kind of money in the early days of the sport that they can make fighting now. The UFC needs to step up where ever possible and find ways to reward these fighters who helped to make this sport what it is today.

Lastly, Chuck is a great guy and an excellent spokesman for the sport. He is college educated, has a background in traditional martial arts, and has successfully crossed over into mainstream popularity with his unique look and laid back personality. He will represent the UFC well.

Check out a short article by Ariel Helwani and a video of the press conference after the jump.

UFC to absorb WEC

"UFC absorbs WEC, adds lighter weight classes"
Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press

Looking to expand its brand, the UFC is absorbing its sister World Extreme Cagefighting circuit.

The consolidation immediately gives the mixed martial arts juggernaut two more weight classes — featherweight (145 pounds) and bantamweight (135 pounds) — while the WEC lightweights will be rolled into the UFC's existing 155-pound division.

The merger adds some 60 to 70 new fighters to the UFC ranks, swelling the roster to 260.

Those extra resources will help make it easier for the UFC to continue spreading its tentacles round the globe. And given the UFC has bigger name value than the WEC, it will get more bang for its buck from the WEC fighting alumni.

Authentic Brands Group Acquires TAPOUT and Silver Star Casting Company

Big news for major brands in Mixed Martial Arts today as Authentic Brands Group, LLC announces the acquistion of TapouT and Silver Star with the press release below.

Personally, I see this as a move that TapouT had to make in order to reach that next level of acceptance into the mainstream retail market, especially after the passing of their emotional leader Charles "Mask" Lewis, who truly defined the brand for most hardcore MMA fans.  However, it will be interesting to see if there will be any backlash from these hardcore fans.  Much of the appeal of TapouT was the grassroots nature of their creation, from selling t-shirts out of the back of their car to a television show on the Versus Network about being crazy fans of the sport of Mixed Martial Arts.

  

Interestingly, as a hardcore fan myself, I've never personally identified with the "in your face" style of most MMA brands. But, I've always digged the message that "Mask" and TapouT represents, which to me has been this notion that they don't seek out champions to represent their brand, and they wouldn't even cut a fighter for losing 10 straight fights.  Rather, it's a recognition of the incredible courage, determination, and willingess to put it all on the line as an athlete competing in this sport of MMA...win or lose.  Let's hope the Authentic Brands Group can keep that original message alive.   

NY/LA/Toronto – September 6, 2010 – Authentic Brands Group, LLC, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, and Toronto, is proud to announce the acquisition of TapouT and Silver Star Casting Company (Silver Star), two of the biggest names in the mixed martial arts (MMA) industry. MMA is the world's fastest growing sport with billions of dollars in annual revenue and global appeal. Authentic Brands Group acquired TapouT and Silver Star as part of its multi-branded distribution strategy designed to protect brand integrity.

Authentic Brands Group has global brand building experience in apparel, action sports, consumer electronics, home and celebrity brands. The company's innovative marketing strategies include traditional and social media, and securing partnerships with high profile athletes and celebrities.

Authentic Brands Group's Chairman & CEO Jamie Salter said, "This sport is still in its infancy. We strategically chose these acquisitions as our first big move because we're getting into the right business at the right time. We're looking forward to working with the best brands and the best athletes in the world as we transition these two companies into global lifestyle brands with our retail and licensing partners."

With the acquisition of TapouT, Authentic Brands Group now owns the number one MMA lifestyle brand in the world, a brand name that has become synonymous with the sport itself. TapouT has global brand awareness that has grown alongside the MMA over the last 15 years by staying focused on the athletes and the fans. Built by three impassioned men who trained in MMA, the late Charles "Mask" Lewis, Dan "Punkass" Caldwell and Timm "Skyskrape" Katz, TapouT has maintained its authenticity through its rapid growth by staying deeply rooted in the MMA culture.

The rest of the official press release after the jump.

Ratner Earns Another Victory; Ontario Sanctions Mixed Martial Arts

UFC Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, Marc Ratner (Sherdog.com)

Not enough has been written about the importance of Marc Ratner's role with the UFC.  He is a man with a mission - an ambassador for the sport worldwide.  The interesting thing about Ratner's efforts is that they do not exclusively benefit the UFC.  In fact, it is more common for the first event in a newly sanctioned city to be from a competing promotion.  But, the UFC shouldn't want it any other way.  I have heard many making the argument that the WEC should be repurposed as a "farm system" for the UFC.  I couldn't disagree more.  The UFC has farm systems all around them.  While some may view these promotions as the Competition, in a 5 Cs Marketing analysis, I would define them as Collaborators.  The Competition is all the other things that fans can do with their Saturday night besides buying a UFC pay per view.  Maybe I'll develop these ideas futher in a separate post...I'm getting off track.

My point about Ratner is that he fights a battle for Mixed Martial Arts, not just the Ultimate Fighting Championship.  The genius of this is the UFC's realization that they don't have to play within the constraints they've been given.  So much of strategy in business is about analyzing and disecting industries with tools like Porter's 5-Forces framework.  Afterwards, we step back and make judgments about the relative attractiveness of said industry.  In a similar way, we might size the market opportunity and decide whether an investment is warranted.  I'm not saying the UFC hasn't done a similar analysis of the industry and market potential, I'm sure that they have; they just view this information as a starting point from which to build.  If you don't like the size of the pie, just make it bigger.  Of course, as the opportunties get bigger, so too does the list of promotions eager to collect on the fruits of their labor.  But these promotions bring with them more opportunities for first time trial/viewing of the sport by new audiences, new practice grounds for the develpment of talent, and the want of something more from the fans in attendance...for the world class version: The UFC.        

Joe Myers with Sherdog.com explains the details of Ratners victory in Canada:

The sport of mixed martial arts has taken another step towards legitimacy, as the Canadian province of Ontario announced it will sanction MMA beginning in 2011. “We’re thrilled [MMA is being sanctioned],” said UFC Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Marc Ratner. “Ontario and Toronto, in particular, are hotbeds for MMA and not to have it there didn’t make sense. In the past, it wasn’t that the government was against sanctioning MMA; it’s just that it wasn’t the right time for it. Now, it’s the right time, and we're excited about it.”

Ratner has said previously that Toronto is one of the UFC’s top markets in terms of pay-per-view buys and viewers on a per-capita basis. The UFC’s Canadian office, which opened about three months ago, is based in Toronto. At that time of the opening, UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta said Canada was the promotion’s second biggest market outside of the United States, accounting for 17 percent of its overall business.

Sophia Aggelonitis, the Minister of Consumer Affairs for Ontario, said the decision to sanction MMA in the province was one that has been a long time in coming.

Full article after the jump.

The UFC "Brand Molecule"

 

Case Western Reserve University includes an introductory Marketing course as part of its core curriculum in the full-time MBA program. The class is taught by Professor Gary Hunter who stresses the importance, as a Marketer, of understanding your brand in very high-level conceptual ways.  Its very easy to get caught up in the daily hustle, putting out fires, and swimming in details.  But, if you let these daily occurrences dictate your decisions around the brand, then you really have no strategy at all. One method of brand conceptualization which we examined in detail was the Brand Molecule.  The idea of this method is to create a graphical representation of the relationships your central brand has with its surrounding environment. Some of these relationships will influence the purchasing decision favorably and others negatively.  The trick is to understand the current situation and then make a conscious decision to shift these relationships in deliberate and strategic ways.  Below is my attempt at a UFC Brand Molecule:       



Learn more about the concept of Brand Molecules

MMA Rankings by Weightclass (August 2010)

While the main purpose of this blog is to explore business concepts as they relate to the MMA Industry, I'm still a hugely opinionated MMA fan who rarely agrees with published rankings.  One format that I do respect, is the US Today Consensus rankings.  Here is a quote from Bloodyelbow.com which further explains the Consensus methodology: 

"We collect and average the rankings of the top MMA websites to produce our consensus rankings. We compile the top MMA rankings from each of our sources and award 25 points for a first place ranking, 16 for a 10th place ranking, 1 for a 25th place ranking. A formula is used to “normalize” the data so all fighters are awarded points from those lists that do not include a full 25 fighters. This formula ensures that each ranking site awards the same number of total points regardless of how many fighters they choose to rank. Each fighter’s total is divided by the number of possible points to determine their standing in the Consensus Rankings."

I really like this method because it pulls from reputable sources and does a great job of smoothing out the results without too much reliance on any one person's opinion. Therefore, I've decided to use these rankings as a starting point each month with a few adjustments based on head-to-head match-ups, record against the top 25, and a little bit of common sense.  My stance regarding rankings is that, rather than awarding points for past achievements, they should capture a moment in time in which every fighter ranked above another would be favored to win in a match taking place on that very day.

I will update these rankings at least once per month and will always welcome a healthy debate.  Complete rankings by weight class after the jump.