As the UFC continues to venture uncharted waters through their expansion into new foreign markets they have grown increasingly accustomed to showcasing hometown fighters in attempt to gather momentum whist breaking through cultural and sometime political barriers in fresh territory.
Fighting on Home Turf in the UFC: Advantage or Disadvantage?
A statistical breakdown looking at whether or not fighting in front of a home crowd increases a fighters chances of success.
One needs only to look at two of the UFC’s biggest stars, one past-one present, in Conor McGregor and Georges St. Pierre, to see both the cultural significance the support of a country can have in building a fighter’s star power, while also building the sport of mixed martial arts, and the UFC’s brand in a desired market.
In fact, since the beginning of 2012, the UFC, in lieu of St. Pierre’s rise to star status in Canadian sports and culture, and in seeing how it helped the UFC grow the sport in Canada has increased events that feature a hometown fighter headlining by four times; staging 48 events of a total 294, since 2012, that have featured a hometown headliner.
Obviously taking into consideration the frequency of events the UFC now stages is important in putting these numbers in perspective; however, in the prior period 2001-2011, the UFC staged just 12 events of 51 that featured a hometown headliner; St. Pierre accounting for three of those, headlining three times in Canada; twice in Montreal and once in Toronto.
Exploring the Hometown Advantage
Featuring in a main event can intensify the pressure on a fighter, so one can only think that fighting at home would only serve to elevate that intensity.
Again keeping in mind the higher frequency of fights staged in Brazil and the U.S., in all of the 60 UFC fight cards since 2011 that have featured a hometown act in the main event, 57% have experienced victory as the hometown favorite. Of those 57%, Brazilians have accounted for 33% of the victories on home soil; U.S. fighters have won 24%; Canadian fighters have won 18%; European fighters 12%; Both Asian and Aussie fighters have won 6%.
While Brazilian and U.S. fighters have featured the most in headlining slots on home turf, the most successful fighter at home is the aforementioned Canadian Georges St. Pierre; winning five out of five fights on home soil, with Anderson Silva, Jose Aldo and Vitor Belfort all winning three times while headlining a main event in Brazil.
On the contrary the most unsuccessful UFC fighters at home are Brazilian’s Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, and New Jersey native Jim Miller, who have all fought twice and failed while headlining a main event on home turf.
Though the statistics seem to be somewhat inconclusive in regards to whether possessing the hometown edge provide any kind of advantage in a fight, the UFC rely as much on cultivating a following behind foreign talent as they do their vast marketing reach to break into markets abroad. Thus, it is an undeniable benefit to both the fighter and the UFC to show up for his city, state or country as it is for his city, state and country to show up for a fighter.
In the likes of Conor McGregor and Georges St. Pierre the ability to perform with the weight of a country on their back has not only taken their names beyond the sport of MMA and into the realm of pop culture, but have also served as cornerstones in establishing the UFC brand in a foreign market.
*In the case of a main event featuring two hometown fighter’s it was excluded as to not skew the results in that it would guarantee a win
*Given the volume of fights that have taken/take place in Las Vegas, those fights were not included
*U.S. fighters were classified by state, while all other fighters were classified by country and/or in the case of Asia/Australia, continent.
*All results +/- 1%
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