UFC’s Many Controversies Are Welcomed Marketing Tools To Sell Fight Show Product
By Cassandra Cousineau of LVSportsBiz.com
Controversy sells and there’s no sport organization generating more of it than Las Vegas-based Ultimate Fighting Championship.
It’s undeniable. Beefs, banter, and race-baiting politics outside of the cage have resulted in multiple high-performing Pay-Per-Views in 2020.
Even as the promotion’s decisions made to stay open for business in the face of a novel coronavirus pandemic this year have garnered significant criticism, the marketing of fights have not suffered in the slightest.
UFC President Dana White doesn’t shy away from touching the rails of offensive speech and behavior.
“One of the things that we’ve never done here at UFC is stop people from expressing how they feel about certain things, inside and outside of the Octagon, even if it’s me or about me. Who’s more about free speech than we are?”
In the era of “Shut up and dribble,” White and UFC seem impervious to any politically incorrect words and often cross political lines drawn in the sand.
The promotion’s historic embrace of racially-charged rhetoric going back to the Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor spectacle fight event, and religious insults hurled by McGregor during the promotion of his fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov run opposite of the approach of ESPN, UFC’s broadcast partner.
Most recently, UFC’s athletes have been invited to the White House and attend rallies with the current president. White himself has been a featured speaker at multiple rallies for Donald Trump, most recently at the Republican National Convention. Only a month ago, White visited the White House to see Trump.
Saturday night’s grudge match between former welterweight champion, Tyron Woodley, and number one contender Colby Covington was no different.
Throughout the lead-up to the fight. the two were on opposite ends of the political spectrum.
Woodley, a native of Ferguson, Missouri, answered every question asked of him during Friday’s press conference saying nothing more than “Black Lives Matter” in some form.
Conversely, Covington, is a firmly entrenched supporter of Trump, and wore a red “Keep America Great Again” trucker hat.
After his fourth-round submission of Woodley, the soon to be 33-year-old received a congratulatory call from Trump.
”The president is my biggest fan. As much as I support him he supports me.” Covington said. After calling Woodley a communist multiple times during his post-fight press conference, he let it slip out, “Tyron gets to decide what’s next for him. He was a great champion.”
White’s support of Trump is more genuine. By now, it’s not a secret he’s a close personal friend of the president. Their well-chronicled friendship dates back to the early days when he was trying to get his promotion off the ground, and Trump agreed to give him a big break by hosting events at his casino property in Atlantic City. White’s alignment with Trump isn’t an act. It’s built upon a business opportunity turned into a friendship over the course of decades.
Looking at two of the most recent main events, UFC 251, held on July 12, and UFC 252 Aug. 15, UFC has pulled in nearly 2,000,000 Pay-Per-View buys. UFC 251 , headlined by welterweight champion Kamaru Usman and his fight against Jorge Masvidal, christened Fight Island on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi and is currently the highest selling Pay-Per-View in 2020.
Bright and early Sunday morning UFC staff will head back to Abu Dhabi for six weeks of international fights.
