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The following is an excerpt of a "Torch Talk" interview I conducted with former WCW President Eric Bischoff. In this snippet, he talks about being presented with a chance to buy UFC during a low point in UFC's history, pre-Zuffa and Dana White. Bischoff is currently working on air and behind the scenes with TNA, Spike TV's pro wrestling affiliate.
Wade Keller: Did you mention in your book that there was once an MMA project that crossed your desk or was proposed that you might have gotten involved with but passed on?
Eric Bischoff: Yeah, UFC! (laughs)
Keller: Tell me the story on that.
Bischoff: Well, there's not much to tell. I think it was back in 1998 or maybe '99. Don't pin me down on the date, but it was back in the period of time when we were rocking and rolling. Was it Art Davies who originally had UFC. He had been doing it for a while and was miserable, it wasn't working clearly.
Keller: It was off of pay-per-view, banned in several states, John McCain rallying against it.
Bischoff: Somebody brought it up to me and said, "Hey, we'll sell it to you guys for a million and a half bucks" or whatever the number was. I looked at it at the time.
Keller: You personally or Turner?
Bischoff: Me personally, as part of Turner; as president of the company it was brought to me. Wade, you know my background because I think you know I was in martial arts for a long time in Minneapolis because I think you went to the same school that I did.
Keller: Julian Durschmidt was my instructor.
Bischoff: I think Julian was one of my students at one point.
Keller: Jim Albertson took over for him.
Bischoff: Jim was definitely one of my students. I used to pound on Jim Albertson when he was a blue belt and I was a brown belt getting ready for my black belt test. I used to beat him unmercifully. Obviously because of my experience in martial arts, I had an interest in it. But at the time it had such a stench to it and there was such a stigma associated with it. I was willing to take some pretty crazy chances, but that wasn't one of them at the time.
Keller: Any regrets?
Bischoff: Nah. That's another crystal ball thing. How much money did the Fertitas lose on UFC until [The Ultimate Fighter] came along. I've had meetings with them. I had a meeting with the Fertitas going back maybe six years. I was going to do something with them at one time. It was a very superficial conversations. I met them in Las Vegas and we went out to dinner. I think at that time they were probably 40 million dollars in the hole and every time they put on a pay-per-view they were losing money. But to their credit and Dana White's credit, whom I really admire, they stuck it out and made it work. They made the changes that needed to be changed, much like I said about TNA. I'm not trying to put them over in the same way, but when you make a long-term commitment you've got the resources to figure it out, you stick with it, eventually, hopefully it'll work. That's what happened with UFC. They changed the rules, they brought in real athletes and not just tough guys. It used to drive me crazy as a guy who worked pretty hard to achieve my black belt and achieved a fair amount of success as a competitor, it used to make me crazy when I would see people come out of the UFC and go, "He's a professional pit fighter. He's got a black belt in pit fighting." What the hell is that? All these guys really were were bar room brawlers who were good for about three punches and it was horrible. The Fertitas made the decision and started attracting world class athletes, they changed the rules that would allow world class athletes to go, "Okay, I could compete in that." I watched - I sat with my son last night - as much as I say I don't watch television, my son and I sat last night and watched The Ultimate Fighter. I think we watched three hours of it. It's great stuff.
Keller: Had you watched much of the series before last night?
Bischoff: Oh yeah. I try to. I've watched bits and pieces of it because I really enjoy it. The athleticism, the personalities. There are a couple things about it that drives me crazy. Overall, I think it's one of the most entertaining things on television, other than the Pittsburgh Steelers, from a sports point of view.
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The entire five-hour interview with Bischoff discussing his role in the Monday Night War boom period for pro wrestling in the late-'90s is currently running in regular installments in the Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter and www.PWTorch.com VIP website.
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