UFC's rise from 'barbarity' to 'fastest-growing sport' didn't come easy
From perceived barbarity to 'the fastest growing sport in the world', UFC has come a long way - but it wasn't easy, as CEO Lorenzo J. Fertitta explains ahead of the fight brand's forthcoming China debut event in Macau
Growing up in Las Vegas meant Lorenzo J. Fertitta was surrounded by the fight game. The sparkling Nevada desert wonderland is steeped in its rich history and through his formative years, Fertitta not only found himself ringside for bouts but - like the whole of Vegas - he became caught up in the pure theatre, the passion and the hype whenever a big fight comes to town.
While serving on the Nevada State Athletic Commission, Fertitta got a close-up look at how all combat sporting events in the state were run, from how the contracts were negotiated and signed, to how the safety rules and regulations were met. He also saw how riven with factions the sport had become.
"Vegas is known as fight town," says Fertitta. "And I've been lucky enough to be around it all my life. But when I stepped down from the commission [at the end of 2000], I had come to the conclusion that boxing had seen its better days. There was too much fragmentation, too many different organisations pulling at it and no one had really invested in the sport. I couldn't really think of any other industry where people had invested billions of dollars in it over the past 50 years, and yet there was no brand."
But Fertitta still wanted to be involved in sport - and in combat sports in particular. A background in jiu jitsu had given him a taste of what it was like inside the ring, and his experience as a fan and as a businessman had taught him all he needed to know about things outside the ring.
Change, he says today, had to come. And when an opportunity came to take over a fledging organisation called the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Fertitta's eyes were wide open to the idea.
"I had met some of the UFC fighters and I had come to appreciate it as a sport and not, like a lot of people at the time, as some sort of barbaric activity," he says. "I learned the fighters are tremendous athletes, and there is a tremendous amount of strategy involved. We thought even though we were buying what was perhaps the most tarnished brand in America at the time, at least it was recognisable."