The Savage Truth - Bull Riding vs MMA
Jun 18, 2003
By Greg Savage
So here I am sitting around watching ESPN’s Outside the Lines and they are talking about the success of the PBR. For those readers fortunate enough not to know what PBR stands for, it’s Professional Bull Rider’s Association. What a coincidence, I was just watching some of this stuff in the bar at The Orleans after the King of the Cage show about a month ago. Larry Landless and I were there rooting for the bulls to lay a beat down on the crazy rednecks trying to ride them.
What does this have to do with MMA? Not much I guess other than the
fact that they have been successful where MMA has failed. This is a
sport—and yes I use that term loosely—that is truly on the verge of
breaking into the mainstream. You don’t think so? Try these numbers
on for size:
Back in 1995, while the UFC was in it’s hey day, PBR was pulling in a paltry $350,000 a year in sponsorship money. As of 2003 that figure has jumped to an estimated $14 million.
Rodeo will be on television an estimated 211 hours in 2003.
The top competitor on the PBR tour will pull down over $1 million this year.
And to top it all off, last years winner is dating Jewel. I am sure she is not everyone’s cup of tea but I have had a thing for that little snaggle-toothed hottie for a while.
The key figure has got to be the network television exposure. Every sponsor interviewed made reference to all the airtime Rodeo is bringing their products. And we aren’t talking about Black Ice and Nitro kids; sponsors for the Rodeos include Ford, Anheuser-Busch, Jack Daniel’s, and Las Vegas itself.
I am sure the UFC gets this as evidenced by their forays into TV in Canada and down in Florida not to mention their history with Fox’s Best Damn Sports Show but it’s time to step it up a notch and land a TV deal that will increase their exposure beyond regional markets. The sport has to be in the public eye as often as possible and will only suffer when it is not a la this summer’s blackout by Zuffa.
How about that prize money? I am sure most fighters would be happy with an income in the seven figures. Don’t you? That’s what happens when you can pull in the fans and the corporate sponsors.
Have any fighters pulled any celebrities yet? Heard some Ricco Rodriguez and Carmen Electra rumors but she was never A-list by any stretch of the imagination. Nope, I guess not yet.
So to wrap it up for y’all, for the UFC and MMA as a whole for that matter to succeed, they will need to get big-time sponsors, a national TV deal, pay their athletes huge dollars, and have them bang some hot celebrities. Seems easy enough.
Now that I solved that little problem I have a question for everyone, did any of you get the feeling we were being bamboozled after “The Natural” Randy Couture turned back the clock and beat Chuck Liddell like he owed him money?
I, for one, had my heart set on seeing “The Iceman” square off with UFC regular champion, Tito Ortiz. I couldn’t help leaving the arena that night without feeling like I had been cheated and Tito was let off the hook.
In a perfect world these guys would eventually meet to put an end to all the questions and hoopla but who knows. There was this other guy who fought last week named Vitor Belfort and he may have something to say about what happens in this division.
If he had truly rededicated himself, as it looks to be, the rest of the guys in that division may be fighting for second best. Vitor’s abilities have never been questioned—he commands what is arguably the best set of tools of any fighter in the game—his head on the other hand has been his downfall in the past.
In closing, I thought I would leave you with a little prediction. Unless Quinton “Rampage” Jackson makes a trip back across the Pacific and decides to fight in the UFC, Vitor Belfort and Rich Franklin will be the class of the division. These guys do it all and I feel those two and “Rampage” will be the top three guys in that division for the near future.
That is not to take anything away from Tito, Chuck, or Randy as they are very gifted fighters but they are lacking in one area or another whereas Belfort, Franklin, and Jackson can take it to their opponents anyhow and anywhere. And for those of you that think I forgot about Vanderlei, “Rampage” will put an end to his hopes of being the top dog at 205 in the PRIDE Grand Prix.
Greg Savage ([email protected]), an avid PBR fan, is a self-proclaimed "cow-chip-groupie," which is the only way to get the inside bull-riding scoop.
So here I am sitting around watching ESPN’s Outside the Lines and they are talking about the success of the PBR. For those readers fortunate enough not to know what PBR stands for, it’s Professional Bull Rider’s Association. What a coincidence, I was just watching some of this stuff in the bar at The Orleans after the King of the Cage show about a month ago. Larry Landless and I were there rooting for the bulls to lay a beat down on the crazy rednecks trying to ride them.
Advertisement
Back in 1995, while the UFC was in it’s hey day, PBR was pulling in a paltry $350,000 a year in sponsorship money. As of 2003 that figure has jumped to an estimated $14 million.
PBR sells out the Thomas and Mack Center—where the UFC just played
to less than 10,000 fans—for their end of the year four day event
no less while other Rodeo tours pack the house throughout the year
as well.
Rodeo will be on television an estimated 211 hours in 2003.
The top competitor on the PBR tour will pull down over $1 million this year.
And to top it all off, last years winner is dating Jewel. I am sure she is not everyone’s cup of tea but I have had a thing for that little snaggle-toothed hottie for a while.
The key figure has got to be the network television exposure. Every sponsor interviewed made reference to all the airtime Rodeo is bringing their products. And we aren’t talking about Black Ice and Nitro kids; sponsors for the Rodeos include Ford, Anheuser-Busch, Jack Daniel’s, and Las Vegas itself.
I am sure the UFC gets this as evidenced by their forays into TV in Canada and down in Florida not to mention their history with Fox’s Best Damn Sports Show but it’s time to step it up a notch and land a TV deal that will increase their exposure beyond regional markets. The sport has to be in the public eye as often as possible and will only suffer when it is not a la this summer’s blackout by Zuffa.
How about that prize money? I am sure most fighters would be happy with an income in the seven figures. Don’t you? That’s what happens when you can pull in the fans and the corporate sponsors.
Have any fighters pulled any celebrities yet? Heard some Ricco Rodriguez and Carmen Electra rumors but she was never A-list by any stretch of the imagination. Nope, I guess not yet.
So to wrap it up for y’all, for the UFC and MMA as a whole for that matter to succeed, they will need to get big-time sponsors, a national TV deal, pay their athletes huge dollars, and have them bang some hot celebrities. Seems easy enough.
Now that I solved that little problem I have a question for everyone, did any of you get the feeling we were being bamboozled after “The Natural” Randy Couture turned back the clock and beat Chuck Liddell like he owed him money?
I, for one, had my heart set on seeing “The Iceman” square off with UFC regular champion, Tito Ortiz. I couldn’t help leaving the arena that night without feeling like I had been cheated and Tito was let off the hook.
In a perfect world these guys would eventually meet to put an end to all the questions and hoopla but who knows. There was this other guy who fought last week named Vitor Belfort and he may have something to say about what happens in this division.
If he had truly rededicated himself, as it looks to be, the rest of the guys in that division may be fighting for second best. Vitor’s abilities have never been questioned—he commands what is arguably the best set of tools of any fighter in the game—his head on the other hand has been his downfall in the past.
In closing, I thought I would leave you with a little prediction. Unless Quinton “Rampage” Jackson makes a trip back across the Pacific and decides to fight in the UFC, Vitor Belfort and Rich Franklin will be the class of the division. These guys do it all and I feel those two and “Rampage” will be the top three guys in that division for the near future.
That is not to take anything away from Tito, Chuck, or Randy as they are very gifted fighters but they are lacking in one area or another whereas Belfort, Franklin, and Jackson can take it to their opponents anyhow and anywhere. And for those of you that think I forgot about Vanderlei, “Rampage” will put an end to his hopes of being the top dog at 205 in the PRIDE Grand Prix.
Greg Savage ([email protected]), an avid PBR fan, is a self-proclaimed "cow-chip-groupie," which is the only way to get the inside bull-riding scoop.
