Storyline: Boxing still rules all things that go punch in the night. It has dominant stars and is more marketable. And despite the island of money WWE-IMG spent on UFC, that price tag doesn’t equate to value. It’s simply what someone is willing to pay. Written by Johnny Woods Jr., Delaware
Courtesy: nwahomepage.com
Did we all just raise our eyebrows to the recent purchase of the UFC for $4 billion dollars by the WWE-IMG Group? Maybe it was shock or the old man in me, the guy who once held a dollar bill so tightly that you would have thought it was the nuclear sequence code.
But I immediately questioned myself: “Is UFC really worth that much?” The next question was: “Does this sale make mixed martial arts bigger than boxing?” I walked the hall pondering these questions. After walking into a door frame I came to this conclusion: “Heck, neither could be true.” Here’s why.
In sports do you really get what you pay for? Let’s take a quick look at the NBA in the most recent free agency cycle. Do we really believe that Michael Conley deserves to have the biggest contract in NBA history? What about in the NBA now? What about point guard? The answers are all a resounding no. And that’s no slight to Mr. Conley (in case he comes “looking” for me). There are just several factors working in his favor. First, there’s an expanded salary caps. Second, the Grizzlies had plenty of money to burn. Third, Memphis needs desperately to retain him as point guard.
Courtesy: bjjee.com
So what are the similar, contributing factors to the UFC sale? The WWE-IMG group represents the UFC and many of its athletes. The Fertita Brothers were looking to sell for a few months. There’s profitability of the company, but the new owners stood to lose a substantial amount of business should they not to retain the Fertita’s as a talent agency. So is the sale more about the potential of the UFC or it is buying an expensive insurance plan that will eventually pay for itself?
The bottom line is that talent is king and this is one of the weakest times in UFC history in terms of having major stars. Out of nine weight classes (including women) only two weight classes have the same champion today that entered the last calendar year.
Three of UFC’s biggest stars suffered massive losses in the past year. Ronda Rousey beat her chest all the way to the Octagon and then got beaten up badly by Holly Holm. Conor McGregor talked his way right into getting choked out by Nate Diaz. And Jon Jones has fought only once in the last two years with poor decisions and substance abuse issues.
Courtesy: FoxSports,com
It all adds up to this: the UFC is arguably at its worst point in many years in terms of having marketable, consistently winning stars. That’s just not the case in boxing where you have several undefeated, dominant, and marketable champions in Sergey Kovalev, Gennady Golovkin, Deontay Wilder, Roman Gonzalez, Terrence Crawford, Keith Thurman, Danny Garcia, etc.
The point is boxing still rules combat sports and all things that go punch in the night. With many more dominant stars, boxing is in a much better position in terms of marketability. And despite the island of money that WWE-IMG spent on the UFC, we are smart enough to know that a price tag does not equal value. It’s simply what someone is willing to pay for a product.
