There have always been a section of fans who hoped mixed martial arts would become a team sport. Some of those fans believe it always was. In 2015, you could be forgiven for thinking that they are right.
Just look at the American Kickboxing Academy. Their showcase fighters have been all over UFC broadcasts recently for all the right reasons.
TEAM MMA – THE SHARED SUCCESS OF AKA
When Luke Rockhold dismantled Lyoto Machida inside two rounds to position himself for a middleweight title shot, Daniel Cormier was not only providing analysis for Fox but also cornered the winner.
When Daniel Cormier beat Anthony Johnson to become the light-heavyweight champion at UFC 187, a significant portion of the build-up focused around Cormier having Cain Velasquez back as a training partner. After winning the title and calling out former champ Jon Jones, it was Luke Rockhold in the cage who was first on hand to congratulate him.
Now, with Cain Velasquez set to face Fabricio Werdum at UFC 188 for the heavyweight title, we are again reminded at every turn that Velasquez has these two great fighters to train with. The narrative has been clear, their success is shared.
Even our own Michael Hutchinson highlighted AKA’s rise to second spot in his unofficial camp rankings after Daniel Cormier beat Anthony Johnson.
It is not only the shared recent success of AKA that pays homage to the team aspect of MMA. With legitimate complaints that The Ultimate Fighter had become stale many seasons ago, the UFC revamped the format for season 21 in a hopeful attempt to draw new interest to the show.
THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER 21 – GYM vs GYM
The Ultimate Fighter: American Top Team vs Blackzilians is currently pitting two rival fight camps against each other. Unlike previous seasons there will be no individual winner of the show. Instead one gym will win braggings rights and a significant payout once the season is over.
While the changes have done nothing to improve the show’s ratings, they have altered the dynamic considerably. Instead of fighter squabbles in the house, we get to see team planning meetings where each gym second guesses the other and tries to strategically outmaneuver their opponents.
Instead of episode-ending fights with an eerie lack of atmosphere, we are now treated to in-cage action surrounded by vociferous members of both gyms. We have even seen “home gym advantage” played up as an important factor in deciding outcomes, much like home court advantage in basketball, or home field advantage in soccer.
There have also been attempts across Europe to go one step further. The Team Fighting Championship has pitted five-man groups against each other in three separate events to date. Perhaps the less said about these events the better, but they are not the only organization to promote fights between teams rather than individuals.
On the surface, each of these acts appear to be an attempt to freshen up the MMA product. When you look deeper it is easy to see why promoters are so keen to push the team aspect of the sport, not simply to diversify, but to have a greater influence over fans and in turn extract greater revenue from them. It is an entirely different sort of fandom.
LESNAR AND ROUSEY BOUGHT NEW EYES TO MMA
When it was announced in October of 2007 that Brock Lesnar had signed with the UFC, he bought a number of fans with him. UFC 100 — headlined by Lesnar — remains far and away the UFC’s largest pay per view buy rate. MMA Fighting’s Senior Editor Luke Thomas has even suggested that Lesnar’s rise to the top of the UFC, and the new eyes it focused on the sport, allowed him to make a career out of covering MMA.
Lesnar’s mixed martial arts career came to an end at UFC 141 in December of 2011 following a defeat to Alistair Overeem. Some of the fans he had drawn to the sport stuck around, but many did not.
The same could be said of current bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey. Rousey is getting mainstream attention that is previously unheard of in MMA. New fans from different demographics have taken an interest and watched as she continues to dispatch contender after contender.
Many of them will excitedly purchase Reebok kit with Rousey’s name or likeness later this year. When Rousey eventually leaves the sport, some of those fans will leave with her and the vast merchandising opportunities available will go too.
If you can convince a fan to support a team, well that is something entirely different. Teams don’t share the same reduced shelf-lives of fighters like Lesnar and Rousey. Hook a fan on a particular franchise, and you could have not just them, but their children, and their children’s children, invested in them for life. Get fans earlier and you invariably keep them longer. That is what most American sports have fed on for decades. It is also part of what has made Soccer the largest sport in the world.
It is a profitable fandom, and one that would take the sport to a whole new level. Emotional attachment leads to financial investment, and provides a greater security for anyone profiting from the sport.
COULD MMA REALLY OBTAIN THAT TYPE OF FANDOM
Imagine fans with a lifelong emotional connection to the Blackzilians that is so strong, they will buy tickets to every show that Abel Trujillo fights on because he’s one of their guys.
Fans who will open their wallets year after year for the latest Reebok branded Blackzilian team jersey to show their support.
Fans who will storm the cage in celebration when a Blackzilian fighter wins a title, and sit in their seat with tears streaming down their face when one is lost.
Fans who will become defensive when even the most marginal Blackzilian fighter is criticized, and who will cheer anyone who continues to “bring it home for the team”.
If you are struggling to imagine it, there may be a simple reason why. No matter how hard it tries, the sport of MMA — in particular the brand that is the UFC — will never attain that premiere following that comes from team sports.
That is what the International Fight League courted when they were founded in 2006. Their format, with seasons and teams and geographical representation was meant to make them feel like those other, more established, team sports. It even had some journalists rejoicing and predicting the end of the UFC because of the way fans were expected to adopt their teams and support them no matter what.
Little more than two years later the IFL was gone, a failed enterprise becoming a small footnote in the history of mixed martial arts.
With the increased emphasis the UFC puts on promoting the fight camp narrative, the current season of The Ultimate Fighter, and with the soon to launch Reebok sponsorship deal, the UFC appear to be courting the same thing.
You can wrap fighters up in generic Reebok fight kit all you like, you can promote fight camp vs fight camp feuds on television until nobody is left watching, but trying to force your way into a market that is already dominated by the NFL and NBA is a futile exercise. That sort of fandom, that will always remain reserved for those other sports.
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