Bob Arum: "The Future Success of the UFC Is Limited"

Birdofthad wrote:

at the end of 2007 MMA demographics were said to be

75.8 % Caucasian

9.6 African American

6.4 Hispanic

ya Bob Arum doesnt have a point at all

No one denied that, what we're denying is that MMA will have future limited success because of it, when everything we're seeing over the years, even since those stats were complied says otherwise.

ahha this is almost as funny as your "Rua got a lucky punch" claim haha

no what im arguieng is your original posts were wrong and its fun to see you go in instant backtrack mode

Birdofthad wrote:

so LA is basically saying he wont admit hes wrong cause of course he doesnt believe hes wrong even when respected writers in MMA ADMIT ARUM HAS A POINT

I get what your saying LA ya young fans become old fans, what you dont get is old fans dont go to the bar, dont go buy the DVDs, dont go SPEND ALL THEIR HARD EARNED MOENY , thats what a demographic is all about, showing people with a product, who is watching what and knowing where to advertise.

UFC can yell "Mexican Heavyweight Champ" all they want, they still are no where close to stealing the mexican demo from boxing (which fuels boxing)

the thought that oh well whites have more money so UFC is fine is retarded. Boxing fights generate over 100's of millions of dollars and the majority comes from hard working hispanic boxing fans.

Bob Arum said the UFC has leveled off becausse they cater to one demographic AND HE IS RIGHT

Leveled off? All we're seeing is growth

It took the UFC less then 10 years (since being purchased) to become a Billion dollar company with just a limited demographic, it's just going to tail off now?

And you always market towards a certain age range, but that's still older fans, staying fans, do the old Boxing fans spend money? you bet they do.

And whites having the most money is actually valid here, did Twilight become one of the highest grossing movie series ever because black chicks were buying tickets?

Birdofthad wrote:

no what im arguieng is your original posts were wrong and its fun to see you go in instant backtrack mode

Find them Slim Shady? where have I backtracked at all?

I love when Bird comes off like he can't read, well now and know.....

LA wrote:

Actually I know how, you're a Boxing fan who is in denial at what's happening.

Hahahaha

Like Bird said UFC's target demo is the same one, and right now that is all they are left with

Im not dissing MMA, just pointing out what Arum is looking to do.

Watch Arum sell Pavlik's comeback on the under card of Pac - Mosley, thats another thing that I can see being a big push.

gomez1012 wrote:

LA wrote:

Actually I know how, you're a Boxing fan who is in denial at what's happening.

Hahahaha

Like Bird said UFC's target demo is the same one, and right now that is all they are left

Im not dissing MMA, just pointing out what Arum is looking to do.

Watch Arum sell Pavlik's comeback on the under card of Pac - Mosley, thats another thing that I can see being a big push.

They've had so much failure with that demographic, it'll all come crashing down even though they seem to grow every fucking year.

That's the demographic you want for Christ's sake.

UFC bought for 2 million back in early 2000's

Now a Billion dollar company.....

LA wrote:

They've had so much failure with that demographic, it'll all come crashing down even though they seem to grow every fucking year.

That's the demographic you want for Christ's sake.

UFC bought for 2 million back in early 2000's

Now a Billion dollar company.....

Completely missing the point

gomez1012 wrote:

LA wrote:

They've had so much failure with that demographic, it'll all come crashing down even though they seem to grow every fucking year.

That's the demographic you want for Christ's sake.

UFC bought for 2 million back in early 2000's

Now a Billion dollar company.....

Completely missing the point

Not at all

Go back to sucking off Kobe, maybe you can keep his finger from falling off!

gomez1012 wrote:

Go back to sucking off Kobe, maybe you can keep his finger from falling off!

Didn't you go to that other board? Boxing fans need to stick together while they can.

Back to Back Baby!!!

If you read the full interview (conducted by Segio Non...) you can see how Arum is trying to really downgrade MMA while Championing Boxing, it's starts when Sergio says this "UFC just sold 50,000 tickets in Toronto, while boxing's been having some trouble selling tickets lately -- only 6,000 sold in Detroit for the Devon Alexander fight. What can boxing take marketing-wise from an up-and-coming combat sport like MMA? The motivation to say something like this is obvious to me, but whateves, "The Hispanics don't care anything for it. Most African-Americans don't watch it. Hey, this country is becoming more and more Hispanic, and it's growing African-American (in the) audience. So the future success of UFC is limited.

I honestly don't care too much what Arum has to say though, like I said before I'm not going to put too much in what a guy who said MMA fighters "roll around like homosexuals" has to say about MMA.

Here's my email, since I doubt we'll be posting together then, 10, 20 years down the line shoot me an email on the state of MMA.

spauldingblitz@yahoo.com

We'll see what happens..

LA look at your first post , your missing the entire point your rambling has gone from "Im so pompous I roll my eyes at Bob Arum ...to MMA needs young white fans to get old....to UFC just needs white demo"

If anyone missed the entire purpose of what Bob Arum said and just heard what they wanted to, its you.

He said they dont have very good demo numbers in hispanic and african americans at the peak age you want

All you have piss and moaned about was that UFC doesnt need them....ya that looks like more growth to me.

Whats Bob Arum's hard on for bringing up race regarding EVERYTHING?

probably cause playing off race and knowing how to attract different races to fights has made him millions and millions of dollars.

Who could forget the Uncivil War of 1994

jumping in late here but.

Even if Arum is correct(though he is flawed in assuming that MMA can not reach those other audiences), the white male audience is the most desired audience, by far.

Sure the hispanic audience is growing, and yeah I guess the black audience yet another peice of the pie, but the white malen audience is the one advertisers want.

Birdofthad wrote:

LA look at your first post , your missing the entire point your rambling has gone from "Im so pompous I roll my eyes at Bob Arum ...to MMA needs young white fans to get old....to UFC just needs white demo"

If anyone missed the entire purpose of what Bob Arum said and just heard what they wanted to, its you.

He said they dont have very good demo numbers in hispanic and african americans at the peak age you want

All you have piss and moaned about was that UFC doesnt need them....ya that looks like more growth to me.

My first post was rolling my eyes at Arum who often comments moronically on MMA, that still holds. The young to old fans was just a simple point about MMA's future. It's the natural cycle where young fans get old, new fans come in, but they won't lose the old fans and growth is constant, going along with Arum saying the UFC/MMA has limited future success. And I never said they just need the white demographic, I said that's the most lucrative demographic.

The whole thing is a backhanded compliment, same thing as Dana saying "Strikeforce, yeah I like those guys, then... we need a feeder Organization". Arum responds after asked, "UFC just sold 50,000 tickets in Toronto, while boxing's been having some trouble selling tickets lately -- only 6,000 sold in Detroit for the Devon Alexander fight. What can boxing take marketing-wise from an up-and-coming combat sport like MMA? It's easy to read into his reaction after this, especially with shit he's said in the past about MMA. When I read the interview, I see Arum coming off as defensive after MMA was brought up as a topic, he almost seems like he's trying to convince himself what he says.

Read the interview not the Title


Non: UFC just sold 50,000 tickets in Toronto, while boxing's been having some trouble selling tickets lately -- only 6,000 sold in Detroit for the Devon Alexander fight. What can boxing take marketing-wise from an up-and-coming combat sport like MMA?

Arum: Understand, nothing sells like a major boxing match. I can sell for a Manny Pacquiao fight, 100,000 seats easily, if I price them right.

We put this fight in Las Vegas, but the gate in Las Vegas will be one-and-a-half times more than it was in Texas, when he fought Clottey and we had 50,000 people. So the number of people that come to the match is not necessarily indicative of anything.

Comparing the event in Detroit, where (Timothy) Bradley fought Alexander, is really indicative of the fact that the event didn't belong in Detroit. Neither fighter came from Detroit. Neither fighter was that well known. It was put in a building that has long functioned as a normal sporting arena.

In boxing, typically, fights not on the magnitude of big title fights with Pacquiao or Mayweather, generally draw 4,000 to 5,000 people. This goes back to the '70s and '80s.

When Sugar Ray Leonard won his world title from Wilfred Benitez, that was fight was fought in The Pavilion at Caesar's Palace, which seated 4,200 people. And on the undercard was Marvin Hagler and Vito Antuofermo. When Norton and Holmes fought for the WBC title, it also was in that arena in Caesar's. When Leon Spinks beat Muhammad Ali, that fight took place at the Hilton, for 4,500 people.

So particularly when fights are shown free on television, premium television, network television, there isn't that much of an incentive to go to the event. People watch it on television.

I don't want to demean UFC, because they've done a marvelous job of marketing. But it's the same audience over and over. It's white males, and they have never been able to expand their demographic.

Non: So am I an outlier?

Arum: The Hispanics don't care anything for it. Most African-Americans don't watch it. Hey, this country is becoming more and more Hispanic, and it's growing African-American (in the) audience.

So the future success of UFC is limited. The success of boxing is not, because boxing reaches those groups. The only demographic that boxing has lost is the white, young males, period.

Zucker: We opened this up by you saying you want to get back on network TV…

Arum: Absolutely.

Zucker: … and what is the demographic that the networks are all after? It's the 18-to-25, white, male market, right?

Arum: Male market, but it now includes Hispanics and it includes African-Americans. We believe if we're back on network television, and the product doesn't cost people money to watch, either by a subscription or by buying a particular fight, that that audience will watch and come back.

Remember, that male demographic, of a certain age, because of its very nature, involves different people. Those people in that demographic get older, and younger come in to fill it up. So it is required that we get back on network television so we can again build that demographic into the audience.

I calling it on this thread though, I take Arum's words differently taken in correct context. The whole thing starts when UFC's Toronto success is brought up.

If anything good wasting time Bird

It is this simple kiddies. When I was growing up, blacks and to a lesser extent Latinos, didn't go boating like us cracker's. Now when I hit the lake, everyone is out there. I host several UFC parties a year. We bar-b-q, drink sangria and beer, then the fights come on. I have black and white people at my parties and the only real issues I have to deal with are keeping kids entertained (not difficult) and keeping women entertained (very difficult).

Besides LA made a very good point. Unless you have name power, boxing is screwed at this point. They have less name power than Strikeforce at this point, though they have two or three big names bigger than SFs biggest guys. When I go to work, someone always ask me if I watched the fights, they are never asking about boxing when they do.