SB Nation User Blog: indie#1

UFC in the UK (the truth)

indie#1 — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 02:43:06 -0000

Picture via bleacherreport.com

So you are an American fighting TV show, You want to expand into new business territories, The UK is a good place to start? The British speak English, they like fighting!

The majority of the uninitiated masses see Cage fighting as an underground (illegal) sport too brutal for most British sensibilities, the press hate it, Few have heard of it, those who have...hate it! Yes it has followers, but is it so popular that they will pay for it?

In the UK, the television landscape is very different from most other countries. Unlike the rest of the world you need a license to own a television, and until the early 1990s there was basically only four terrestrial television channels in the United kingdom (Two of which are essentially government run). Fortunately the United Kingdom now has digital and satellite television, for which you pay extra, on top of the existing license fee. The British public can potentially have access to hundreds of channels, but take a guess at the most frequently watched channels...you guessed it those original four! In 1997 an extra channel, imaginatively named channel 5 was added to the terrestrial channels. Everything else you needed to pay extra for, and in order of popularity you have freeview, Sky television, cable television and BT vision. The last three offer more channels at extra cost, sport and movies...cost extra (the most popular being sky sport and sky movies).

Now getting back to the UFC, you have an unpopular sport, which is far too brutal for most of the sensitive British public, So no chance of getting on those first four channels, not even that extra fifth one, never on the most popular channels, on those extra services. One channel thinks the UFC is right up there street. Bravo, for men in their 20s, nude girls, drinking, partying and fighting. The best bit is, the channel is not too obscure. Good place for the UFC? Well for a few years yes, but by the time UFC 70 takes place, The brains at UFC headquarters decide they have it all figured out "we are really popular in the U.K." so they broadcast all British held events on Setanta, A new, very obscure, irish run sports channel, so new is this channel, few British people can pronounce the name, infact few have ever heard of it! Will they pay for this channel on top of PPV? Remember, the British can only handle four channels!

In 2003 UFC 38 came to the UK, financially its a disaster, five years down the line back to the U.K. for UFC 70. This time round it is bound to be a success, loads more fans, plenty of advertising, Michael Bisping is a British Fighter famous throughout the UK, it will be great right? Wrong!

In reality no-one except UFC fans have ever heard of Michael Bisping, that advertising that is supposedly plastered everywhere is non existent. Television ads are only seen on this new sports channel airing the UFC (during UFC ad breaks), not on any of the more popular channels! Print ads are in martial arts magazines, not in the national press. Billboards are largely only put up in Manchester (the city holding the event). If you only advertise to existing fans, where does the growth come from?

Well, this series of advertising blunders replicates itself for all the British held events, the UFC are scratching their heads, asking themselves "Why aren't these events making as much money as we thought!", "We are the fastest growing sport, why aren't we more popular in the UK?" apart from the poor fight match-ups, mainly due to non European fighters having trouble getting work permits, the majority of fans don't want to pay for a TV channel they have never heard of!

What will the UFC do next? The European shows will certainly expand, Growth is slower than originally thought, they bring in moderate amounts of cash, although nowhere near what was expected. Bringing in new fans looks increasingly unlikely, merely from a complete lack of judgement, regarding the perception of Cage fighting within the United Kingdom.

Remember the old saying "Britain and America are two countries separated by a common language".

Dana White...don't assume you know your business within the United Kingdom!

Matt Hughes, with racist T-shirt.

indie#1 — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 18:43:05 -0000

EDITOR'S NOTE FROM LUKE THOMAS: THIS IS A FAN POST WRITTEN BY A READER OF BLOODYELBOW, NOT THE STAFF.

As already stated by the editors, I (the author of this article) am not or ever have been a member of bloody elbow staff. I am a Fan of MMA, with a interest in writing, and certainly not a "big dog" journalist, Through the medium of bloody elbow I have diseminated this information. Within my article I have shown both the picture and source, with no interest to gain readers or listeners, when bringing this picture to the fore. The picture in question has been available to the entire internet waiting to be found. I have directed peoples attention to a website, given a balanced view, then opened debate within a public arena. Whoever happend to fumble upon it first is irrelevant, Those looking to gain kudos and glory as if the photo were taken by themselves, are mistaken into believing this knowledge is theirs for the taking.

UPDATE [from Luke Thomas]: Matt Hughes' webmaster says this is not a big deal:

This photo was taken on April 5th, 2008, when Matt did an appearance at Dale’s Harley-Davidson, in Mt. Vernon, IL. I run Matt’s website and I was there taking pictures of the event. This photo was from early on in the day and some guy brought the shirt to Matt, asked him to sign it and take a picture with it. Matt was on his way to the autograph table, so he signed it and took the picture on the move and I doubt he even looked at the shirt any longer than it took to find a blank space to sign his name. The only reason I remember it so well was I noticed the "SS" symbol and thought to myself, "Uh-oh, this could be a problem." It was a busy day, so I never brought it up and it seemed like such a small issue as the months went by.

Again, Matt has absolutely no affiliation with this group, he was just asked by a fan to sign the shirt and take the photo and he did. Matt has no connections whatsoever with white supremacist groups.

For more photos from that event, you can see his blog entry about it below:
http://www.matt-hughes.com/blog/2008/04/07/dales-harley-davidson/

He’s clearly wearing the same shirt in this photo as he was at that event. If you want to confirm my identity, you can email me at nathan@matt-hughes.com

Nathan Rosario
Webmaster, Matt-Hughes.com

Thanks for the explanation, Nathan, but the racist website is still using Matt's likeness. Surely he wants that removed.

UPDATE 2 [by Luke Thomas]: And that's exactly what they intend to do:

We are also aware that the photo is being used by this group on their website as an endorsement of this shirt. We are trying to contact them to remove it immediately and if they do not comply then we will pursue legal action against them.

Not only do we completely disagree with everything they stand for, but this "endorsement" was not obtained in a legal manner, because they are using Matt’s image without permission.

Nathan Rosario
Webmaster, Matt-Hughes.com

UPDATE 3 [by Kid Nate]:

Apparently the story was originally broken by the D&D Show on Tuesday. Audio here.

After a late night conversation with friends, matters turned to gossip and rumour (as they invariably do) some rumours alluded to a former UFC champion having white supremacist links, Without naming names but dropping subtle hints, I guessed at the possible identity of the aforementioned ex champion.

After getting in touch with a number of contacts. I found out that there was a number of pictures out there that evidenced this fact.

After an extensive search through cyber space, I stumbled upon a rather unsavoury "white boy" racist supremacy type website. Which included a picture that clearly showed former two time world UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes, with a t-shirt emblazoned with racist logos across the front and back which include the words "white boy" and "speak english mother****** on the reverse, in a pose that almost seemed to endorse the product.

Now, giving The ex champ the benefit of the doubt, He could easily not of read the words on the shirt before autographing it, holding it up, posing to camera and letting someone take his photo.

Really though, in this media savvy day and age, can anyone in the public eye, on the international stage have such a serious lapse in judgement to show himself with white supremacist paraphernalia, can ignorance really be an excuse, would we tolerate our politicians, movie stars or highest profile sports stars making such a mistake.

Although his star within MMA is now dwindling, Matt Hughes was a great champion, but does he really want to leave his career with this picture possibly hanging around, following his legacy.

via img78.imageshack.us