While both mixed martial arts events were firsts — one for all of Ontario, the other for Hamilton — the first drew 55,000 people to a baseball stadium and convinced them to part with as much as $800 for a ticket while the other attracted about 3,400 to Copps Coliseum despite much-lower prices.
While the comparison wouldn't be inaccurate, it wouldn't be entirely fair either. The UFC has been around for nearly two decades now and has built itself into a multi-billion-dollar, multi-platform industry. It's got a sterling reputation with its fans, money to spend on production, and big-name athletes who can draw a crowd all by themselves.
Last night's Slammer in the Hammer, meanwhile, is a startup. Basically a two-man operation — former HECFI boss Gabe Macaluso and former UFC fighter Jeff Joslin — it was trying to begin carving its niche in a very crowded market. And it might have taken a few steps in that direction.
Most of those in the well-behaved, predominantly male audience — featuring a ton of the predictable shaved heads, gallons of tattoo ink and loads of vocal enthusiasm — would tell you this was a success. It was well-run, featured exciting fights and filled almost every seat.
Miraculously, organizers managed to make the cavernous Copps Coliseum feel intimate by curtaining off everything except the area between the blue lines. That created a good atmosphere and prevented it from feeling like a midweek Bulldogs' game.
Having fighting legend Chuck Liddell and referee Big John McCarthy in the building and posing for pictures with the crowd was a smart move that gave the show a touch of the big time. Setting up a cage slightly smaller than what's used in the UFC was also smart as it ensured there was going to be constant action.
And to put some icing on the cake, the one local fighter on the card — Lyndon Whitlock of Stoney Creek — won with a wicked first-round knockout giving the crowd something to really scream about.
There were areas that need work for next time, for sure. Not having a time clock on the scoreboard was a problem and the sound system made it hard to hear interviews and announcements.
By the time it was over, last night had answered some questions about whether this kind of thing would work here. Even so, at least one significant question still faces the smaller guys of the sport. Can shows like this consistently pull decent crowds or was this a one-off because it was new here and is the UFC now such a massive vacuum sucking up all the air in the mixed martial arts room that there's little oxygen left for these smaller, independent promotions?
The answer falls somewhere in the middle. The UFC is so huge that it's always going to be exceedingly difficult for another show to attract much attention. It plays on the biggest TV networks and features the biggest names in the sport fighting for the most money. The smaller promoters can't compete with that head on.
It's worth noting that when boxing cards have been staged in Hamilton in recent years, promoters have consistently talked about how difficult it is to draw enough paying customers to turn a profit and lamented the endless bureaucratic hoops they've had to jump through. There's little reason to believe things will be much different with this sport.
Making a smaller show work clearly isn't impossible though. Last night hinted at that. There is room for the little brothers. There is a place for events where the fans can get up close and experience the different feeling of seeing a fight live rather than on TV without having to break the bank.
So to carve out their spot in the MMA universe, these smaller shows are going to have to look big-time, keeps the prices down, and make sure every fight is a good one, which is impossible but remains the goal nonetheless. Last night Joslin — who was the matchmaker — did that. The fights were even and entertaining.
Most challenging, they can never have a bad night. When the UFC has the odd dud, it can rebound quickly by pointing to its past or its next TV card just days away. If these smaller groups have a boring show, they may not get a second chance to convince people to fork out their cash. There are just too many options out there right now.
The UFC was in that position once. The fighting world has changed, mind you, but once upon a time it faced the same challenges.
One other thing, for all the success it's having now, the first UFC card drew just 2,800. Six hundred fewer than Slammer.
STORY BY THE SPEC:
sradley@thespec.com
No comments:
Post a Comment