UFC co-founder: Jeff Blatnick coined the term MMA
Campbell McLaren: “MMA was a phrase coined by UFC commentator Jeff Blatnick to get the word fighting out of the mix and take off some political pressure.”
UFC Co-founder Campbell McLaren recently did a compelling interview with Chris Marzella for the UK’s Kingdom MMA. McLaren’s latest effort in the MMA space is the Hispanic market oriented Combate Americas, but he has a lifetime behind him in entertainment. including executive producing the first 22 UFCs.
An MIT and UC-Berkley grad, McLaren his career as the talent director for the legendary comedy clubs Catch A Rising Star and Caroline’s. As Executive Producer for Semaphore Entertainment Group (SEG), in just six months McLaren developed, branded, and promoted the inaugural Ultimate Fighting Championship.
McLaren has been involved in countless successful media projects since, including co-founding Zilo Networks, which became the nation’s largest dorm-room television network, launching the hugely popular website CollegeHumor.com, creating and producing both TuNite con Lorenzo Parro, the first U.S. bilingual talk show, and Comedy Salsa, HBO’s first Hispanic comedy special.
“In 1993 I was working at a PPV company owned by the music giant BMG,” began McLaren. “Every music PPV the company did was losing tons of money. I had a varied background as a TV producer, which included a lot of comedy, and I was hired to find alternatives to the music-losing PPVs.
“I was looking at car racing and demo derby, Lucha Libre from Mexico, horror, magic and comedy – just about anything that would strike a chord with a young, male audience.
“Art Davie, Rorion Gracie’s business partner, called me in April 1993 and gave me a pretty lame pitch, saying ‘everybody has turned this down, HBO, Showtime, everybody, you are the only one left.’
“But when he described the Gracie Challenge/War Of The Worlds idea I loved it. I thought it wasn’t edgy or cool enough though. I saw a reality version of Mortal Kombat. I wanted every fighter in their fight style clothing and many different types of fighters; sumo, boxing, karate.”
“The pay-per-view buy rates were amazing, hitting 350,000 on several occasions. And that was with a PPV universe of 20 million homes; today it is 120 million homes. That is the equivalent of a 1,750,000 buys today. And with no social media, I only had controversy to work with!”
“I launched stars in that era that are still prominent in MMA including; Royce Gracie, Ken and Frank Shamrock, Tank Abbott, Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture.”
“I didn’t think I was creating a sport but I knew I was creating a hit. MMA was a phrase coined by UFC commentator Jeff Blatnick to get the word fighting out of the mix and take off some political pressure.
“I love the UFC then and now. Dana and Lorenzo have done an amazing job turning my spectacle into a world class, world wide sporting event. They are geniuses – literally. But from 1993 until 1996 I rocked the world too.
“I stay in close touch with Dana and Lorenzo; they are great guys. Remember I developed the Octagon, brought in Joe Rogan and Joe Silva, recruited the Olympic college wrestlers that are now part of the UFC’s DNA, and hired or worked with many of the people still at the UFC so I do feel like it’s mine…even if I never owned it.”
A number of figures have claimed to have coined the term mixed martial arts, but McLaren was in a position to know, and he was unequivocal – it was Jeff Blatnick.
Blatnick, who died in 2012 as a result of complications from heart surgery, was a former 1984 Olympic gold medalist in Greco-Roman wrestling. He was a UFC commentator from UFC 4 to UFC 32, and was named the promotion’s commissioner at UFC 17.
A heavyweight in every sense of the word, Blatnick was instrumental in setting up the Unified Rules of MMA, shepherded the sport during its most vulnerable period, and continued to work in the field as an MMA judge, most notably in New Jersey.
Before his involvement with MMA, Blatnick was one of the most storied wrestlers of his generation. He won States for New York’s Niskayuna High School in 1975. Next he won Div II nationals, twice, for Springfield College in Massachusetts. Blatnick made the 1980 Olympic team, but was unable to compete due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and subsequent Olympic boycott.
Two year later he was diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma. Treatment included removal of his spleen and appendix and treatments with radiation, but he came back to not only make the team, but win gold. Blatnick with teammate Steve Fraser were the first Americans to ever win Olympic gold in Greco.
After winning, a tearful Blatnick declared “I’m a happy dude.” The sentiment was felt across the planet.
A return of cancer forced his retirement, but his love of the wrestling was such that he worked for decades as a volunteer assistant wrestling coach for his local Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake High School, even as he traveled the world as a motivational speaker and sports commentator.
Jeff Blatnick was as humble as he was great. If I didn’t have cancer, nobody would know who I was, he said in 2007. Not a lot of wrestlers make the news.
His legacy lives on in countless ways, including the name of this sport.