This column is typically dedicated to weekly notables in the business of mixed martial arts, but in this special end-of-year edition, we’re counting down the top 10 MMA Biz stories of 2016.
From fighters associations to free agency to a certain $4 billion transaction, the last 12 months in and out of the cage marked some of the biggest happenings in the sport’s young history. Though the UFC obviously dominated headlines, a few other organizations were also able to crack this year’s list.
Here they are from 10 to one, starting with the event that ended 2016 with a bang.
10) Ronda Rousey Returns
Ronda Rousey kept a low profile for most of the year, but the intrigue surrounding her eventual return never waned.
The sport’s most marketable star looked untouchable during her UFC women’s bantamweight title reign, stopping six-straight opponents, five of them in the first round four of them in a combined 2 minutes and 10 seconds. That all changed when Holly Holm delivered the head kick heard around the world last November, sending Rousey into obscurity with many questioning when she would ever fight again.
Dana White put an end to all of the speculation in October, announcing Rousey’s return against Amanda Nunes at UFC 207. After a self-imposed media blackout, Rousey would fall short in her quest to reclaim UFC gold, losing by knockout yet again as Nunes closed the show in less than a minute.
As for what’s next, retirement would seem to be the most logical move, but Rousey may give it one more go-around (perhaps in the UFC’s newly formed women’s featherweight division?) to improve her stock in the eyes of WWE, Hollywood and other potential employers.
9) Rizin Rises Up
While the Western MMA world was transfixed on Ronda Rousey’s long-awaited comeback, the sport’s resurgence in Japan — the sport's global hub before the UFC took over in the mid-2000s — continued with a pair of year-end events put on by Nobuyuki Sakakibara’s modern-day Pride FC reboot: Rizin FF.
Over a three-day span, 42-year-old Mirko “Cro Cop” bested three opponents to win the promotion’s second annual Openweight Grand-Prix, Kron Gracie continued his undefeated run on behalf of Brazilian jiu-jitsu’s first family, and kickboxing prodigy Tenshin Nasukawa successfully transitioned to MMA with a pair of stoppage victories.
The Dec. 31 card had a record attendance of over 19,000, while ratings were comparable to last year’s NYE showcase headlined by Fedor Emelianeno. Rizin’s Grand-Prix opener in September pulled in over 10 million Japanese viewers, though, which shows that the promotion has the potential to establish a following comparable to Pride, which drew 15-25 million viewers per telecast.
8) ONE Continues Asian Expansion
While Rizin boasts a more hardcore global audience, there is no debating which MMA promotion has cornered the market throughout Asia.
In 2016, ONE Championship continued to expand throughout the continent, putting on the first ever fight card by a major MMA organization in Thailand and two new Chinese cities (Changha and Anhui). ONE’s quest to conquer China — arguably the world’s largest untapped market for MMA — is set to continue in 2017, as a significant investment from Singaporean wealth fund Temasek Holdings has helped the promotion schedule future events in Macau, Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzen.
ONE also hired the former CEO of Haier Asia to lead its push into Japan, while revealing plans to expand into South Korea and Vietnam as well.
7) Bellator Makes Waves In Free Agency
Scott Coker has done a lot for the Bellator brand since taking over for Bjorn Rebney in mid-2014, drawing big ratings with tentpole events and helping the promotion push into international territories. But where the Bellator President really shined in 2016 was signing big-name talent that would have defaulted to the UFC in the past.
Former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson, UFC title challengers Rory MacDonald and Chael Sonnen, and MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko all joined Coker's promotion in 2016. Those last two are particularly notable, as Sonnen and Fedor have the type of drawing power that could help Bellator get into the pay-per-view business — an arena the UFC has dominated domestically. “The American Gangster” is also the second biggest mouthpiece in the sport behind Conor McGregor, giving Bellator a hybrid prizefighter and promoter.
No matter what platforms Coker features his ex-UFC talent, it’s clear that his new influx of established names — along with a stable of young American wrestlers — has set up Bellator’s roster for sustainable mainstream success.
6) Fighters Associations Gain Traction
The MMA Fighters Association has been around for years, but 2016 marked the arrival of two new organizations also striving to level the playing field between promoters and athletes — but in the UFC, specifically. Estimates on the percentage of UFC revenue going toward compensating fighters have ranged from 8% (MMAAA) to PFA (15%), with all athletes being paid as independent contractors, meaning no comprehensive health insurance or pension plan.
The Professional Fighters Association, led by longtime baseball agent Jeff Borris, made a bold entrance back in August. The PFA seemed to have the leadership and mainstream sports support to spark some real change, but the loss of key members and the inability to get enough fighters on board is already threatening to shut down Borris’ operations.
The MMA Athletes Association, led by former Bellator President Bjorn Rebney, entered the fray in November with the backing of big-name fighters including Georges St-Pierre, Cain Velasquez, T.J. Dillashaw, Tim Kennedy and Donald Cerrone. Given Rebney’s questionable history as a fight promoter, many have already questioned the MMAAA’s motives, including members of the MMAFA involved in an anti-trust lawsuit with the UFC. Cerrone has also backtracked on his involvement.
Meanwhile, the MMAFA’s fight to extend boxing’s Muhammad Ali Act to include all combat sports rages on, with the amended bill recently being proposed to Congress.
Unfortunately for the fighters, improving their wages and working conditions will remain a pipe dream unless one of these entities is able to get the vast majority of athletes on board. And they will have to do so relatively quickly, as UFC contractors stand to lose hundreds of millions of dollars if collective bargaining hasn’t been established before the UFC signs its next TV deal in 2018.
5) UFC Stars Square Off With The Brass
2016 wasn’t the first year the UFC has faced tough opposition at the negotiation tables, but contract spats between the brass and the promotion’s top fighters has never been nearly this prevalent.
Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey both challenged the UFC’s pre-fight media obligations, with the former being pulled from UFC 200 and the latter getting her way for UFC 207. McGregor ultimately came to terms with the UFC, however, with a lighter media schedule leading up to his rematch with Nate Diaz at UFC 202. He also leveraged his employer’s lack of options to get a rare shot at a second championship belt, as well as another massive payday, at UFC 205.
Diaz, meanwhile, would agree to the McGregor rematch only after the UFC met his demand for a significant raise. The TUF Season 5 winner ended up with a $2 million disclosed purse ($1 million less than McGregor), with pay-per-view points likely earning him several million more. Both he and older brother Nick seem content to sit out until the right “money fight” comes along.
Several other big names have challenged the powers that be with less fruitful results. Jose Aldo threatened to retire when he could not land a rematch with McGregor, but has since backtracked. Tony Ferguson is taking the Diaz route, demanding equal pay to his next opponent, but Dana White is not having it. Georges St-Pierre remains at a contract impasse after declaring himself a free agent. Mark Hunt is also in limbo as he explores a potential lawsuit against the UFC over his opponents’ performance-enhancing drug usage. Fabricio Werdum lost his analyst job for speaking out against the company’s controversial Reebok deal.
The list goes on. Clearly, fighter unrest is a growing trend, and will continue to be until a real effort to unionize comes together.
4) New York Legalizes MMA
The last major barrier halting the UFC’s push into the mainstream finally came down in 2016, as professional MMA was finally legalized in New York after a near 20-year ban. The state assembly passed the bill in March, and Governor Andrew Cuomo signed it into law in April.
It’s hard to fathom that the sport was once illegal not just in New York, but 36 states, following an anti-MMA crusade by John McCain and other politicians in the 1990s. That number slowly dwindled as Dana White and the Fertitta brothers cleaned up the sport in the 2000s, but the Big Apple stayed firm on their ban due to dirty politics (more on that here).
It wasn’t until the speaker of the state assembly was arrested on corruption charges in 2015 that things really began to look up for the UFC and other promotions. Fittingly, one of the UFC’s original founders was the first to hold a major MMA event in the state, but UFC 205 in Madison Square Garden was obviously the record-setting showcase fight fans in New York had been waiting for. The UFC has also booked fight cards in Brooklyn and Albany, while The World Series of Fighting held a New Years Eve event at The Theater in MSG.
Though Vegas will remain the UFC’s unofficial home for the foreseeable future, there’s no doubt that New York has the potential to be the promotion’s second most prominent domestic market.
3) Conor McGregor Becomes Money-Weight King
There's no question that 2016 was The Year of McGregor. Rather than run down his historic achievements chronologically, his impressive records — and massive paydays — are best broken down by the numbers:
1: Million dollars in disclosed earnings for McGregor’s first fight of the year at UFC 196 — a record at the time. McGregor tripled that figure for UFC 202 ($3 million) and likely took away even more for UFC 205 (the New York State Athletic Commission does not release disclosed fight purses like other states).
2: UFC title belts McGregor held simultaneously after defeating Alvarez — the only fighter to do so in the promotion’s history.
4: Million pay-per-view buys — a floor estimate for combined PPV sales on cards McGregor headlined (UFC 196, 202 and 205). The UFC’s 10 other pay-per-views this year will total roughly the same amount of buys.
33.5: Million dollars the UFC made in live gate receipts (ticket sales) on the three cards McGregor headlined. UFC 205 broke the company record for domestic gate ($17.7 million) and attendance (20,427).
40: Million dollars McGregor claims to have made this year — a feasible approximation if he is totaling fight pay and endorsements before taxes. Forbes estimates that the fighter made $22 million from June 2015-June 2016 using the same measures.
100: Million dollars that McGregor-headlined pay-per-views added to the UFC’s annual EBITDA, going off the floor estimate of 4 million buys.
Oh, and he was also the first UFC fighter to ever demand an equity stake in the company that employs him — an unthinkable request if it were anyone but McGregor.
2) USADA Cracks Down On Doping
No shortage of UFC fighters are deserving of the UFC Fighter of the Year award, but was the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency 2016’s pound-for-pound champion?
Over the past year, USADA — the UFC’s drug testing partner as of July 2015 — has taken out light heavyweight kingpin Jon Jones, former UFC champions Brock Lesnar, Frank Mir, B.J. Penn and Lyoto Machida, top female fighter Cris “Cyborg” and countless others.
Jones and Lesnar were the most notable of the bunch, being that they are both big-name draws. The former was pulled from UFC 200 after testing positive and the latter received a special exemption from the UFC which allowed him to compete at the same event before his results came in. Both UFC stars were subsequently given a one-year ban by both USADA and the Nevada Athletic Commission, with Lesnar receiving a record $250,000 fine as well (10% of his $2.5 million fight purse).
In a sport where advantages gained from performance-enhancing drugs carry serious health consequences for both the users and their opponents, the UFC deserves credit for implementing the strictest testing regimen out there. Former federal agent Jeff Novitzky, hired by the UFC to lead the USADA partnership, has undoubtedly accomplished a lot over the past 18 months.
With that said, there are still some obvious deficiencies. In addition to the Lesnar loophole and a few issues I covered back in August — in short, consistency, efficiency and fairness — it’s also important to note that being drug-tested around the clock would seem to indicate that UFC fighter are full-time employees, which they are not.
1) UFC Sold For $4 Billion And Change
After months of rumors that UFC ownership was changing hands, news of a historic $4.025 billion sale to a group of investors led by talent agency WME-IMG was confirmed in July before officially going through in August. At the time, it was the largest transaction in the history of professional sports.
The biggest immediate change was the exit of chairman and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta, who together with his brother Frank had a combined 81% stake in the company. The Station Casinos owners had effectively made a 2,000-times return on their $2 million investment — the UFC’s purchase price when the promotion was on the brink of shutting down back in 2001.
To fill the void left by Lorenzo, Dana White has picked up extra responsibilities, and it appears WME-IMG Co-CEO Ari Emanuel has taken on an active leadership role as well. But Emanuel, fellow Co-CEO Patrick Whitesell and the agency’s other stakeholders have not spoken publicly since the transaction, leading many to question what direction the MMA leader is headed.
One thing that's been made clear: the new ownership is cutting costs wherever possible, and parting ways with preexisting employees is their primary method of doing so.
Not long after it was announced that head matchmaker Joe Silva and PR man Dave Sholler were on the outs, the bulk of several international UFC offices were cut loose, including a handful of high-ranking executives. More recently, UFC Hall of Famers Chuck Liddell and Matt Hughes were relieved of their duties, along with long-tenured play-by-play man Mike Goldberg.
Going forward, it has been rumored that more money fights and bigger pay-per-view cards are what WME-IMG envisions for their new company — a trend we’re already seeing a lesser emphasis on the UFC’s rankings system and the introduction of more interim titles. This entertainment over sport philosophy may seem misguided for MMA’s long-term prospects as a major professional sport, but for now, it is a necessary evil so the company can set itself up for a marquee TV deal in 2018.
How White, Emanuel and Whitesell proceed at that point will be telling of where the sport is really headed.
