The Fertitta brothers gamble with Ultimate Fighting

Saturday, November 18th, 2006

Joel Stein of Business 2.0 magazine has done a story on the Fertitta brothers, who have turned Ultimate Fighting into a business bonanza — only Mr. Stein doesn’t get some of the subtleties of grappling:

This would be a particularly awesome time for the Fertitta brothers to finally disagree. That’s because the dispute resolution clause in their ownership contract of the Ultimate Fighting Championship states that “in order to resolve a Deadlock among the LLC Members, Frank and Lorenzo shall engage in a Sport Jiu-Jitsu match under the rules as set forth herein.”

Those would be three five-minute rounds refereed by UFC president Dana White and “decided by submission or points.” Points, of course, being accrued by kicking the other guy in the face.

Um, no. In jiu-jitsu, points are not “accrued by kicking the other guy in the face.” In fact, kicking the other guy at all is categorically against the rules, since jiu-jitsu is a grappling sport, like wrestling. When you add striking to the mix, you get mixed martial arts, what they do in the UFC.

Anyway, it took a while for their UFC investment to pay off:

By 2004 they were $34 million deep into the UFC and had little to show for it.

Having allowed the Discovery Channel to shoot the reality show American Casino at Green Valley, the brothers decided that a series where a bunch of UFC fighters live together and face weekly elimination in the ring was their Trojan horse for getting on television. Their pitch was turned down by every network. So they made Spike TV, the only channel specifically designed for overly testosteroned young men, an offer it couldn’t refuse: The Fertittas agreed to produce the $10 million show themselves; Spike could just air it with no production costs.

The show the Fertittas put together, called Ultimate Fighter, debuted last year, became the anemic channel’s first hit, and made White a TV star. Between live bouts, taped fights, wrap-up programs, and the fourth season of the reality show, Spike TV now beams an average of 15 hours of UFC programming each week. The live fight that ended Ultimate Fighter last season drew more viewers than any HBO boxing match this season and twice as many as a Nascar race televised at the same time.

This year the show outdrew preseason football with men ages 18 to 49. Front-row spectators at recent fights have included Donald Trump, Cindy Crawford, and Paris Hilton. A UFC videogame has been made. The Fertittas are about to launch a European UFC division and have a five-year plan that they hope will put them in Canada and Mexico.

Now the financial payoff is coming. The Matt Hughes vs. Royce Gracie fight in May generated an estimated $30 million in pay-per-view fees; a UFC tournament in August drew a live gate of $3.1 million.

Posted in Business, Martial Arts | No Comments »

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Isegoria

The Fertitta brothers gamble with Ultimate Fighting

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