Roundtables
WEDNESDAY ROUNDTABLE, pt. 5 of 6: Should UFC try to have crossover promotional fights with fighters outside of UFC?
Jan 13, 2010 - 4:52:31 PM WEDNESDAY ROUNDTABLE, pt. 5 of 6: Should UFC try to have crossover promotional fights with fighters outside of UFC?

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We have brought back the popular MMATorch Roundtable feature. Most days we will publish a question followed by several staff members' answers.

TODAY'S QUESTION:

What's the no. 1 reason Dana White should try to have crossover promotional fights? What's the no. 1 reason White should avoid that? And finally, on which side do you come down on that issue? 

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CHRIS PARK, MMATORCH SPECIALIST

So we can actually have genuine undisputed champions. Penn vs. Aoki, Lesnar vs. Fedor, just to mention a couple. It should be the case than in order to have undisputed champions Mousasi, Fedor, and Co. should all have to quit Strikeforce.

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STEVE SUTCLIFFEE, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

I suppose the top reason Dana White should try to put together crossover promotional fights is to prove that the UFC roster is by far the most dominant assemblage of mixed martial artists in the world. But don't fool yourself for a second - phrases like "he should do what's best for the sport" are meaningless when the biggest MMA promotion on the face of the planet is going to split half the profits and half the publicity with what is inevitably going to be a much smaller company.

At the end of the day, what incentive does Dana White have to co-promote besides being able to land Fedor? Is delivering fantasy matchups for the hardcore fanbase worth potentially exposing your own fighters to the potential of a losses at the hands of opponents who are much lesser known to the casual audience?

If I'm running a business, the last thing I want to do is pump millions of dollars into the coffers of my competition, and certainly that's the case when your competitors are being run by individuals who would have as much trouble with questions on business ethics as Bradley Whitford's character in "Billy Madison."

That's not to say that Dana White epitomizes the the model corporate citizen who plays nice with everybody - I swear to God one day UFC is going to air a PPV that hasn't even happened yet so it can go head-to-head against a Strikeforce show. It's just that when you think of the risk versus the reward, having crossover promotional fights doesn't make a whole lot of business sense for a dominant company like UFC.

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JAMIE PENICK, MMATORCH EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

The only reason for Dana White to even consider cross-promotion with anyone would be to put on the super fights not currently at his disposal. But even that's not reason enough for White to actually do such a thing. The number one reason he has no reason to co-promote is there is nothing in it for the UFC, as Fedor is the only seemingly "unnatainable" fighter that the UFC would really want at the moment.

They'd be giving up a lot more than they'd be getting in any co-promotion setting, and from a business perspective it would make very little sense for them to give the spotlight to any lesser organization for the sake of making a match up.

Quite simply, outside of a handful of exceptions, the best fighters are already in the UFC, and their divisions have more depth than any other promotion. There just isn't any incentive for the UFC to co-promote with anyone, as they'd essentially be paying an enormous premium (in the revenue split likely to come along with agreeing to co-promote) for one, maybe two fighters.

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Part six, the final installment of this Roundtable subject, will feature Perez, Sutcliffe, and Keller's responses. (Hey staff, if I missed anyone, let me know!)

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CHECK BACK FOR THE FOLLOWING ROUNDTABLE TOPICS THIS WEEK...

UPCOMING QUESTIONS...

Q: With so many title fights coming up, which UFC Champion is most likely to lose his title next and why?

Q: Which three fighters should be on the top of the list of potential opponents for B.J. Penn? Which fighter do you think is mostly likely to be Penn's opponent and does that match who you think SHOULD be Penn's opponent?

Q: Logistical issues aside, do you endorse UFC pricing some PPVs higher than others. The pro being that if they did a quarterly super-show they might pop much bigger buyrates from fans who can't afford every show, but need to "told" which four shows a year are the biggest and worth buying. The downside is, the lower priced shows could be defined as skippable and buyrates would go down.

Q: Who is the one fighter you'd most like to see change weight divisions for at least one fight to test himself or improve his career?

Q: Are you in favor of UFC instituting official Top Ten Challengers lists and publicizing them on their website and possible during PPVs or even their Spike TV "best of" shows?

[Dana White photo credit Wade Keller (c) MMATorch]