Bruce Buffer: ‘It’s absolutely impossible for anybody to overtake the UFC’
A: What do you think about all the other organizations, such as Strikeforce, trying to start up and be successful?…
A: What do you think about all the other organizations, such as Strikeforce, trying to start up and be successful?
BB: The fighters need avenues to fight. The UFC can only hold roughly over 200 fighters on their roster and there are way more than 200 fighters out there trying to get in the UFC. I don’t care if your fighting in Strikeforce or any other organization, every single fighter out there would love to have that UFC belt wrapped around their waist. The UFC is the NFL in MMA. These other organizations provide avenues not only for the fighters to make money, but to get acclimated with the fans and also fight more. Success breeds competition and competition breeds success. I will go on record by saying this, it’s absolutely impossible for anybody to overtake the UFC business-wise and it’s been proven by the 50 million dollars that have been lost by two organizations in the past six years. Other organizations are realizing the amounts of money it takes to get to the level the UFC has. A lot of people are saying that the UFC doesn’t pay their fighters well, but the UFC does pay their fighters very well. Do you want to know where a lot of the money goes? It’s to promote the sport and to get the UFC sanctioned in the states that it hasn’t already been sanctioned in, as well as other countries.
JA: What’s it like to work for Dana White?
BB: He’s great. He’s so busy that you’re lucky to get two minutes with him. The fact of the matter is if they give you a job and you do it well, and your loyal to the organization, the organization is loyal to you. We have a wonderful team and it all stems from the business maverick Dana White, along with Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta, who are at the top of the pyramid, and it’s flowing down to the rest of us. From the cameraman to the people who put together the Octagon, it’s a well oiled machine.