UFC heads into 2009 with major steam
Published by Zach Arnold on December 28th, 2008 in Current Events

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Brock Lesnar sat at cage side and watched Frank Mir take apart Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. He looked as happy as a clam. He had good reason to be happy — Lesnar saw millions of dollar signs in his eyes as Mir took apart the aging Brazilian veteran at UFC 92.

A re-match between Lesnar and Mir is the most marketable UFC Heavyweight match-up. Could it break all-time records for a heavyweight main-event headliner? You bet. Mir barely beat Lesnar in their first contest, which just happened to be Brock’s debut in the cage. Both men are excellent talkers and it will be interesting to see who the fans treat as a babyface and who is treated as a heel. I suspect Mir will get a babyface pop and Lesnar will continue to get jeered because he’s a former professional wrestler.

UFC 92 was a remarkable event on many levels. It capped off a tremendous year for Zuffa in 2008 and the matchmaking for the first half of 2009 is on pace to set up several big-money PPV fights. Quinton Jackson disposed of arch nemesis Wanderlei Silva and Rashad Evans took care of business against UFC Light Heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin. While there certainly was plenty of money to be made between a Rampage/Griffin re-match, we will end up with a Rampage/Rashad match that be historic for many reasons. UFC and its fan base has been largely portrayed by the media as a product for ‘white America,’ and Mir/Lesnar certainly plays into that stereotype. Evans vs. Jackson, however, does not. It marks, for UFC, probably the highest profile title match involving two African-Americans that MMA will ever see.

As for Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir, this is a great match-up for Mir. If he can wear down Lesnar and pick him off for a submission attempt, he will win the fight and win the UFC Heavyweight title. In UFC re-matches, the winner of the first contest has around a 70% chance of winning the re-match. Both men are tremendous talkers and Mir has benefitted greatly from exposure as a WEC color commentator and coach on The Ultimate Fighter reality show. Lesnar is a money-making machine who draws such a strong emotional reaction from fight fans, as demonstrated by the enormous buyrate that he and Randy Couture drew last November.
And all of this talk must really bother Vince McMahon.

McMahon is probably going nuts at the prospect of Lesnar being involved in another fight that could draw close to a million PPV buys. When Lesnar was pushed in WWE circles as The Next Big Thing, the company never came close to tapping into Lesnar’s potential as a superstar the way UFC has. UFC, with significantly less effort, has figured out how to push Lesnar to the masses. WWE tried so many different things creatively with Lesnar, including sticking manager Paul Heyman with him. What Lesnar’s run in UFC has proven is that McMahon was correct in his initial assessment that Brock Lesnar was a superstar in the making, but as with a lot of young stars this past decade in WWE, the creative brain trust in Stamford managed to limit the drawing power that their young stars have while others can figure out how to maximize that potential.

With Lesnar as Heavyweight champion, UFC has positioned itself as a PPV product for older pro-wrestling fans who have ‘graduated’ from WWE fandom. UFC, despite being real and not scripted, is a new generation version of professional wrestling for alienated wrestling fans who have been completely burned by what Vince McMahon has done to wrestling. Wrestling fans want to watch two men fight each other and see a conclusive finish. It’s so simple, and yet such a daunting task for corporate officials in Stamford to really truly understand.

If the fight business is all about creating and making new stars, then UFC is severely kicking WWE’s ass right now. As McMahon ages and gets older, his perspective on what works and what doesn’t work will further be disconnected from reality. What Vince McMahon faces is the same reality that has impacted the Oakland Raiders. Raiders owner Al Davis has never strayed away from his vision of what football should be, and consequently his product on the field has enormously suffered. The same can be said for McMahon, whose vision for pro-wrestling is starting to become outdated and played out entirely for a fan base that wants something different. UFC is giving fight fans of all stripes — boxing, pro-wrestling, grappling, kickboxing — everything that they want to see in a combat sport. WWE, within the time span of a generation, could end up being about as popular as a dot matrix printer.

The golden era of American MMA is upon us. The UFC boom has just started. Enjoy the ride.

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