The name “Carmelo Anthony” has permeated the New York sports scene; basketball has eclipsed the significant happenings in other sports.
The NFL Combine is being overshadowed, as is the potential lockout faced by the NFL at the start of the 2011 season.
The NHL is fighting for relevance—although, sadly, this is nothing new.
Even the massive loan given to the New York Mets by Major League Baseball has fallen to the wayside, with a frustrated “Melo” gracing today’s cover of Newsday’s sports section while a banner at the top meekly tells of the Mets' economic woes.
Being dwarfed most of all is the sport of Mixed Martial Arts.
What does the popularity of Carmelo Anthony and the media frenzy set off by his move to New York have to do with MMA? The answer is twofold.
First, it shows MMA's unfortunate lack of popularity within the main stream media and within New York State—a key market, if not the key market, for American sports.
MMA fans are quick to tout the sport's growing popularity and boast that it is “the fastest growing sport in the world” but such claims, while valid to a point, are exaggerated.
Despite the burgeoning MMA scene within New York—meaning the prevalence of MMA gyms and the emergence of fighters such as Gian Villante and Chris Weidman, who will take on Alessio Sakara at UFC on Versus 3—the UFC has not been able to pervade the minds of a majority of New York's sports watching population.
The recent “Legalize MMA” rally that took place back in February clearly failed to strike a chord with the New York State government since nothing is being done. Perhaps the UFC is appealing too much to the government’s head and not its wallet?
Second, the Carmelo Anthony situation shows what the UFC can accomplish if it can conquer the New York market.
As stated above, the acquisition of a great player on a popular team has catapulted one sport to the forefront of the sports world—specifically the New York sports world. Would there be any such captivation if Strikeforce and K-1 Champion Alistair Overeem were signed by the UFC? What if he decided to train with New York MMA staple, Team Serra-Longo? Would that get attention? The answer to both questions is a resounding “No” at least for now, but perhaps not always.
The UFC has shown that its marketing and brand recognition is like that of no other. If it can manage to get MMA legalized in New York and then hold its most epic events at Madison Square Garden—and a handful of events at Long Island’s Nassau Colosseum since it's only a stone’s throw away from one of Matt Serra’s jiu-jitsu academies—the popularity of the sport and brand would skyrocket.
This is where the traditional “ball sports” fan would counter that the growth of MMA is limited and can’t surpass the “major” sports because of the pay-per-view model. That assumption is wrong.
The UFC can still grow while still saying on pay-per-views because of two truths.
The first is that the UFC airs its prelims on Spike TV, Ion, and most importantly on Facebook. What this does is allow fans to still be captivated by the sport. They can still watch MMA for free and, if they are really interested, look up the results of the event online—the more…disingenuous fans may even stream the event. Either way, the sport gains the exposure that free television and Facebook offer.
The second is that the UFC is growing in other parts of the world such as Europe, Brazil, Abu Dhabi, Australia and China. The growth of the UFC outside of the United States will make the baseline global popularity of MMA higher than that of the other major sports with the exception of soccer.
The “fact” that the UFC/MMA can’t continue to grow on pay-per-view is a false assumption that fails to take into account the strength of UFC marketing, its use of new media and its worldwide growth.
Still, the UFC and the sport of MMA have a big mountain to climb. The legalization of MMA in New York is the next biggest step on that mountain. Perhaps in 2021 someone will be writing an article about the UFC’s acquisition of a superstar dominating the news and how that demonstrates MMA’s supremacy over the sports market?
Nikki Cox Carla Gugino Ana Hickmann Mischa Barton Jamie Lynn Sigler
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