With the report that the UFC would be banning sponsors related to guns, knives, hunting and ammunition effective Jan. 23, a number of questions surround the motivation behind the decision.
At first glance, the promotion’s new broadcast agreement with the Fox family of networks appears to be the biggest factor, but there is more to it than that.
While the UFC and mixed martial arts have legions of die-hard fans, many of whom are the target audience of newly-restricted companies like The Gun Store and Ammotogo.com, the promotion’s reach has extended beyond that loyal audience.
Although those that follow the sport on a daily basis would be the last to admit it, until recently, MMA has largely remained a niche sport. With the Fox deal, it can now capture the attention of casual fans that have grown up watching mainstream sports like football, baseball, basketball and hockey.
Sponsors like Bud Light, Dodge and Harley-Davidson are globally accepted, while others may prevent the sport from gaining further approval. As such, the UFC, which has led the charge toward global acceptance, must take steps to ensure that stereotypes and misconceptions are erased. Certainly misinformed labels like “human cockfighting” have been long dismissed, but other misnomers remain about the sport.
Take the fact that MMA is still banned in the state of New York. While the ban is purely political at this point in time, the opposition has looked for any reason it can find to slander the sport and the UFC.
By banning weapons sponsors from inside the Octagon, the UFC has taken away something that the uninformed can link to the sport. The directive prevents politically motivated critics from distorting the truth and claiming the promotion condones violence beyond the regulated competition that takes place within its cage.
The promotion has always had a strong stance toward anything that paints the sport in the negative light, swiftly eliminating controversial clothing company Hoelzer Reich, as well as Condom Depot from sponsoring its fighters.
Unfortunately for the fighters, they have lost a potential source of income, but they must understand the promotion had their best interests in mind by eliminating the weapons sponsors. For the sport to become truly mainstream, decisions like this are essential to overcoming the boundaries that may be in place.
Rob Tatum is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA. You can also find Rob’s work at TheMMACorner.com. For anything related to MMA, Follow @RobTatumMMA.
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