When the Fertitta brothers parted with $2 million at the start of the century, they got little more than the UFC name which at the time stood for controversial cage fighting which had little business success. At the same time, Vince McMahon's WWF was breaking pay per view box office records for pro wrestling, enjoying a wave of popularity off of characters like The Rock and Stonecold Steve Austin. A savvy young promoter named Dana White looked at the WWF and realised something vital, as much as people paid to see a fight, they paid to see an emotional narrative. Taking a small stake in the UFC and the presidency, White set about to apply McMahon's business model on to a real sports setting. He encouraged characters such as Ken Shamrock and Tito Ortiz, implemented pro wrestling style feuds and documented them as narratives to sell fights. He also borrowed much of the same WWF production standards, taking note of how Kevin Dunn had made slick presentation work. Business took off. The UFC was transformed from unsophisticated cage fighting into the elite sport of Mixed Martial Arts. Pro Wrestling styled feuds helped to sell the contests, best demonstrated by the Sonnen vs Silva storied feud which popped a
reported 1 million buys at UFC 148. White has made no qualms in admitting he copied Vince's promotion and pay per view model. It would have seemed unbelievable in 2000, but by the end of the decade, Vince was scraping PPV buys at 200k as White enjoyed months in the region of 700k. UFC had started doing sports entertainment better than its inventor. The matches were real, but everything around the UFC in its hottest period was pure McMahon levels of building characters and promoting feuds to sell a monthly card. I'm all for enjoying MMA from a purist sporting point, but there's no denying the mainstream popularity emerged from the more superficial storytelling point. MMA enthusiasts scoff at the relation, but there are more shared values of sports entertainment, 10 of which this feature will detail to illustrate UFC and WWE are operating sales in the same industry...