Tag: Lorenzo Fertitta

UFC’s Dana White, Lorenzo Fertitta Cited Among ’50 Most Influential in Sports’

Filed under: UFC, News, Sports Business and MediaFresh off the momentum of signing the first network deal in UFC history, organizational executives Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta have been listed among the “50 Most Influential People in Sports Busines…

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Fresh off the momentum of signing the first network deal in UFC history, organizational executives Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta have been listed among the “50 Most Influential People in Sports Business” by Sports Business Journal, a leading publication among movers and shakers in the world of sports.

White and Fertitta were paired together at No. 41, sandwiched between New York Yankees general partner and co-chairman Hal Steinbrenner, and Major League Baseball Players Association executive director Michael Weiner.

The publication cited the UFC’s move to FOX-owned networks as well as expansion into South American and Asia as a “watershed year” for the promotion.

It was the first time UFC brass made the cut for the SBD list, which has been released each December since 2004.

White and Fertitta were among the many heads of major sports named to the list. Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig was first among them, followed by NFL boss Roger Goodell and NBA head man David Stern.

The pubilcation’s overall choice for No. 1 was Steve Burke, the president and CEO of NBC Universal Holdings, who heads both NBC Sports as well as Versus, which is soon to be renamed NBC Sports Network. He was cited for his winning Olympics rights bid as well as other major business moves since the recent Comcast-NBC merger.

Meanwhile, White and Fertitta’s new partners at FOX were also named among the leading powers in sports, with FOX Sports media group chairman David Hill, and co-president and COO’s Eric Shanks and Randy Freer collectively ranked at No. 5. SBD cited several FOX deals in 2011 but noted “its biggest splash might been with the UFC, which it brought to broadcast television for the first time.”

The seven-year deal between the two sides is reportedly worth about $700 million over the full term. It officially begins in January with a Jan. 20 show on FX followed by a Jan. 28 show on FOX.

 

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Hump Day Headlines with Stephanie Ann Cook

Joe Lauzon vs. Anthony Pettis (verbally) on tap for UFC 143 Super Bowl Weekend. Rory MacDonald pulls out of UFC 140 bout with Brian Ebersole. Claude Patrick to replace him. Cain Velasquez vs. Junior dos.

Joe Lauzon vs. Anthony Pettis (verbally) on tap for UFC 143 Super Bowl Weekend.

Rory MacDonald pulls out of UFC 140 bout with Brian Ebersole. Claude Patrick to replace him.

Cain Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos staredown picture for UFC on Fox 1.

In a UFC on Fox 1 press conference, it was announced UFC prelim fights will move from Facebook to Fuel TV. F***! I still don’t know what channel that is.

Zuffa is laying down $16 million for UFC on Fox 1. Lorenzo Fertitta told Sports Business Journal:

When we were on Spike TV, that was a launching pad. We look at Fox as a bigger and better platform that could elevate the brand. We’re flat out going to lose money on this fight. But that’s the investment we’re making. Those are the steps we’ve got to take to make Cain and Junior pay-per-view stars and lift up the whole thing. Maybe we think a little funny here, but that’s well worth forgoing $16 million. Take that out over the next 10 years and we get a healthy return.

Dana White admits to SI.com he is “nervous” about UFC on Fox 1. White says:

“As big as the UFC may seem, it’s not. We’re so far from mainstream still, and now we’ve been given the opportunity to do it. That’s why Saturday is so important. It feels good and I’m excited, yeah, but I’m nervous, man. I’m excited and I’m nervous, and I don’t like to be nervous.”

With all the UFC buzz in LA, some wanna be fighters got in the early swing of things and beat Avril Lavigne‘s ass last night [pic below] outside of the Roosevelt Hotel. Lavigne tweeted: ““I got attacked by 5 people last night out of nowhere. Not cool. My face is fucked.” And she’s right. That’s not cool.

Wah Wah Wee Wah!! UFC on Fox Will Cost Zuffa $16 Million


(There can only be one Baldfather around here.) 

Proving the belief that if you want to make an omelet, you gotta break a couple million eggs, Lorenzo Fertitta gave full disclosure as to exactly what the UFC’s monumental debut on Fox would be costing Zuffa in a recent interview with Sports Business Journal:

When we were on Spike TV, that was a launching pad. We look at Fox as a bigger and better platform that could elevate the brand. We’re flat out going to lose money on this fight. But that’s the investment we’re making. Those are the steps we’ve got to take to make Cain and Junior pay-per-view stars and lift up the whole thing. Maybe we think a little funny here, but that’s well worth forgoing $16 million. Take that out over the next 10 years and we get a healthy return.

Hot Damn!

Now, though it may seem like pocket change to Zuffa, Dana White has stated that he is incredibly nervous leading into the event, mainly due to this whole “Brazilian Jiu Jitsu” thing, which he feels some of the more casual fans out there may have a hard time dealing with:


(There can only be one Baldfather around here.) 

Proving the belief that if you want to make an omelet, you gotta break a couple million eggs, Lorenzo Fertitta gave full disclosure as to exactly what the UFC’s monumental debut on Fox would be costing Zuffa in a recent interview with Sports Business Journal:

When we were on Spike TV, that was a launching pad. We look at Fox as a bigger and better platform that could elevate the brand. We’re flat out going to lose money on this fight. But that’s the investment we’re making. Those are the steps we’ve got to take to make Cain and Junior pay-per-view stars and lift up the whole thing. Maybe we think a little funny here, but that’s well worth forgoing $16 million. Take that out over the next 10 years and we get a healthy return.

Hot Damn!

Now, though it may seem like pocket change to Zuffa, Dana White has stated that he is incredibly nervous leading into the event, mainly due to this whole “Brazilian Jiu Jitsu” thing, which he feels some of the more casual fans out there may have a hard time dealing with:

I’m nervous. This is the first time in a long time that I’ve been nervous. I don’t get nervous anymore. I get excited and I get pumped up for fights. But you know, I’m nervous for this fight. I’m genuinely nervous like I was at UFC 30 when we did our first one … But the way that I approached this whole coming-out party on Fox is, we live in this little bubble. I live in a world of armbars and rear-naked chokes and triangle chokes and ground-and-pound and all that stuff, but there’s millions and millions of people who have never even heard of any of that and don’t know anything about the UFC. As big as the UFC may seem, it’s not. We’re so far from mainstream still, and now we’ve been given the opportunity to do it. That’s why Saturday is so important. It feels good and I’m excited, yeah, but I’m nervous, man. I’m excited and I’m nervous, and I don’t like to be nervous.

Fret not Dana, we have you covered on that front. And considering who the main event players are, we sincerely doubt that BJJ will play a huge role in the outcome of the fight. But it’s hard to argue with DW, because no matter which way you slice it, more than just a truckload of cash is on the line come Saturday night. We’ve already laid out the keys to success for the UFC’s major network debut, but it’s a bit distressing to think that the thing possibly hindering mixed martial arts from mainstream acceptance is not the whole “extreme violence” factor, but a tactical element of the sport itself. So the question is, how do we get the common folk excited for a sport as abrasive and multi-faceted as MMA? Figure this shit out will you, Potato Nation?

-Danga 

UFC Calendar to Grow to 34 Events in 2012

Filed under: UFC, NewsHOUSTON — Saturday night’s UFC 136 marks the fourth event in four weeks for the Las Vegas-based promotion.

Get used to it.

The schedule continues to grow at an exponential rate, according to UFC president Dana White, who said t…

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HOUSTON — Saturday night’s UFC 136 marks the fourth event in four weeks for the Las Vegas-based promotion.

Get used to it.

The schedule continues to grow at an exponential rate, according to UFC president Dana White, who said that the organization has already penciled in dates on its 2012 calendar.

The final tally? Thirty-four events. That’s a serious increase from 2011, which will see 27 live events by the time Brock Lesnar and Alistair Overeem close out the UFC’s year in Las Vegas on December 30.

That increased number of shows will come as welcome news to fans in markets that have been promised events but were shut out in 2011, like Sweden and Ireland. Though no locations are yet set in stone, the increased frequency of events will at least provide additional opportunities to visit more parts of the world as the UFC continues to grow its global footprint.

White also reiterated his plan to host two events on the same day at least once next year, with their first experiment in dual productions tentatively planned for late February, with shows in Las Vegas and Japan.

In 2011, the UFC re-opened what they believe will be a huge market for them, hosting a show in Brazil to great fanfare. It was the organization’s first venture there since 1998. Afterward, UFC CEO and chairman Lorenzo Fertitta was so pleased with the reception that he voiced a hope the promotion could bring as many as four events there in 2012.

Aside from that, entering the Japanese market would be something of a coup for the UFC, which has not brought fights there under the Zuffa banner.

The expanded schedule is just one of many planned and/or official UFC initiatives and changes to roll out in 2012. Also among them, a move to network television on FOX, a departure from longtime cable home Spike, the addition of a flyweight division, and a revamping of The Ultimate Fighter to include live weekly fights.

 

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Wednesday Morning MMA Link Club

(“I’ve always wanted your autograph.” Alistair Overeem signs his new UFC contract in Lorenzo Fertitta’s office. Props: bawzzzz)

Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail [email protected] for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club…

– Alistair Overeem Was Offered Immediate Title Shot Before Accepting Brock Lesnar Fight (MMA Fighting)

– UFC 135: Matt Hughes vs Josh Koscheck official for Sept. 24 in Denver (MMA Mania)

– Top 10 Worked Shoot-Fights in Japanese Pro Wrestling (TheFightNerd)

– MMA Comedy Gold: Interviewer ‘Skippy’ (AKA Ed Bassmaster) Discusses UFC 133 Experience, Shouts Out CagePotato (BleacherReport.com/MMA)

– American Top Team Offering a Year of All-Expenses-Paid Training for Middleweights and Above (Five Ounces of Pain)

– Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto Meets Octagon Newbie Darren Uyenoyama at UFC on FOX 1 (5thRound)

– WWE Network coming in 2012 (MMA Payout)

– Dan Henderson Wants Jones vs. Rampage Winner, Says Rashad Evans Can Wait (LowKick)

– Your Cubicle Desperately Needs a Foot-Tall ‘MMA Alien’ Collectible (MiddleEasy)

– Lorenzo Fertitta on UFC Fighter Salaries: “All These Keyboard Warriors Have no Idea What They’re Talking About” (FightOpinion)

– Book Review: Stitch Duran’s ‘From the Fields to the Garden’ (MMA Convert)

– Ariel Helwani’s Official MMA Rankings (NBC Sports MMA)


(“I’ve always wanted your autograph.” Alistair Overeem signs his new UFC contract in Lorenzo Fertitta’s office. Props: bawzzzz)

Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail [email protected] for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club…

– Alistair Overeem Was Offered Immediate Title Shot Before Accepting Brock Lesnar Fight (MMA Fighting)

– UFC 135: Matt Hughes vs Josh Koscheck official for Sept. 24 in Denver (MMA Mania)

– Top 10 Worked Shoot-Fights in Japanese Pro Wrestling (TheFightNerd)

– MMA Comedy Gold: Interviewer ‘Skippy’ (AKA Ed Bassmaster) Discusses UFC 133 Experience, Shouts Out CagePotato (BleacherReport.com/MMA)

– American Top Team Offering a Year of All-Expenses-Paid Training for Middleweights and Above (Five Ounces of Pain)

– Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto Meets Octagon Newbie Darren Uyenoyama at UFC on FOX 1 (5thRound)

– WWE Network coming in 2012 (MMA Payout)

– Dan Henderson Wants Jones vs. Rampage Winner, Says Rashad Evans Can Wait (LowKick)

– Your Cubicle Desperately Needs a Foot-Tall ‘MMA Alien’ Collectible (MiddleEasy)

– Lorenzo Fertitta on UFC Fighter Salaries: “All These Keyboard Warriors Have no Idea What They’re Talking About” (FightOpinion)

– Book Review: Stitch Duran’s ‘From the Fields to the Garden’ (MMA Convert)

– Ariel Helwani’s Official MMA Rankings (NBC Sports MMA)

Culinary Union Asks FTC to Probe Zuffa for Anti-Competitive Business Practices

Source: Las Vegas Review Journal Zuffa and more notably the Fertittas have been forced into a battle with the Las Vegas Culinary Union Local 226, and oppositions have heated up as the Culinary 226 has.

Source: Las Vegas Review Journal

Zuffa and more notably the Fertittas have been forced into a battle with the Las Vegas Culinary Union Local 226, and oppositions have heated up as the Culinary 226 has sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission calling for an investigation into what they believe are violations of Anti-Trust laws on the part of Zuffa.

In the past year, we have learned that Culinary workers have protested the Fertitta owned Station Casinos (which is a non-union gaming company) in an effort to put a stop to their “anti-union campaign.” The union has openly protested that Station Casinos prevents and interferes in their employees’ rights to organize.

Already added to these troubles, Zuffa and more vocally, Dana White believes it is the culinary union [in New York] that is halting the legalization of MMA in NY. Dana had said to MMA Weekly:

“It has nothing to do with Mixed Martial Arts, of all things, it’s the Culinary Union that’s keeping us out of New York. They’re powerful guys here. The economic impact we have on a city is huge.”

“This time we got all the way up, got all the votes all the way (through various committees), but they never put us on the floor to try and get the votes. They are spending union member dues to fight the UFC from coming (to New York).”

And today in Las Vegas, in what looks like it could have been motivated by their union feud, the Director of Culinary Research, Ken Liu wrote to the FTC:

“Zuffa has preserved and strengthened this dominant market position through exclusionary conduct by refusing to co-promote events, as well as anticompetitive contractual restraints that severely limit a professional athlete’s freedom of movement,”

Yahoo! Sports sites further examples from the Culinary 226′s complaints in the letter:

– The champion’s clause, which automatically renews a contract for UFC champions.

— Merchandising rights that give Zuffa rights to a fighter’s image in perpetuity. This clause is what Jon Fitch had a problem with when he was briefly cut from the organization.

— Restraints on athlete’s mobility and pay, meaning that by buying up the marketplace. Zuffa can keep a fighter from engaging the marketplace for fair pay.

The Las Vegas Review Journal notes: The union cites a 2008 independent equities research firm report which estimates Zuffa owns 80 to 90 percent of the MMA market.

In recent months Zuffa has purchased their biggest competitor, the Strikeforce promotion, which looks to be disbanding and who’s television contract with Showtime Network will expire in 2012. Also this year, Zuffa has made a huge beneficial impact with their fighters by providing health insurance, which is not currently offered by any other MMA promotion.