who is the biggest draw in MMA?

I saw an interview where Brock said the WWE scouted him as a college wrestler and offered him a job after his final year, so they must have been keeping an eye on the collegiate wrestling scene. That's pretty much a production line for mixed martial arts fighters.

 

For one reason, Asia. PRIDE was more world friendly than the UFC. It showcased the best fighters in one arena. And thier respected champion was Fedor. Many Pride fighters have been quoted as calling Fedor "Our Champion". That carried over to fans as well. Fedor has been on numerous commercials worldwide and had features on him on television. He's never been big in America though. And thaat's because the UFC has this market cornered.

 

UFC is only big in the US. Its not "big" elsewhere. They certainly dont have the Asian market at all. And Europe is big on boxing. Fedor does have more recognition globally than any of the fighters in the UFC.

 

thats farcical.. brock is MASSIVE in asia. particularly in japan. i saw his face everywhere in indonesia.
even here in australia the ass end of the world on the asia pacific fringe most kids know who brock lesnar is
no one other than dedicated fight fans know or give a **** who fedor is.

 

I agree. And what's more is the fighting knowledge over here is embarassing. During the Toney vs Couture match the fans started chanting "UFC, UFC"atsch If they were going to chant anything would'nt it be "MMA, MMA"? Seeing how is was "MMA vs Boxing" headline. I've even heard sports reporters say "These new athletes that train in ultimate fighting":-( Why don't they get that UFC is a brand, not a style.


I even heard one kid saying to another a few months ago that he was training in "tapout".:rofl:roflatsch:-(

 

Meltzer says that Shane McMahon came close to convincing Vince McMahon to buy UFC in 2004 and at a later date Pride. Both times Vince McMahon withdrew, no doubt due to previous failures in boxing, bodybuilding and football.

I don't think the WWE would ever have been successful in MMA and now the risks of getting their asses kicked in public by Dana White means they'll never try it.

 

This is funny.

I live in Europe, let me tell you, nobody in Europe has a ****ing clue who Fedor is. Whereas Lesnar fights are carried live on ESPN UK and repeated on network television, I've had to buy internet pay per views to watch the last two Fedor fights. I don't think his last fight was ever shown on TV here. Australia hasn't got a ****ing clue who Fedor is as the UFC is very much the leading MMA brand there, as can be seen by the failure of a stacked series of Impact FC shows compared to UFC 110. Fedor was never the big draw in Pride - Cro Cop, Sapp and Silva were all bigger foriegn stars.

Anybody who doubts that Brock Lesnar is the biggest draw is being beyond idiotic/blinkered. The facts speak for themselves. Three million buy pay per views in a row, two huge 600K+ buy pay per views whilst he was establishing himself, genuine crossover coverage on American television and a far higher level of exposure than Fedor in almost all other markets.

To be honest I doubt whether Fedor is even in the Top 10 biggest MMA draws. Indeed I'm pretty sure he isn't.

 

A week after UFC 120 and the huge International Fan Expo your ignorance and blind UFC hatred is even more astounding than usual atsch

 

Yes Pride...the promotion that would desperately try to find some Japanese fighter to be its biggest babyface star and when all else failed would just rig the matches.

And please show me some of these features and adverts. Far from not being in big in America, his exposure on CBS is as good as its gotten for him since the collapse of Pride.

Let's look at the Zuffa Champions; One is French Canadian, Three are Brazillian, Three are American. Pretty cosmopolitian when you look beyond blind hatred and look at the facts.

 

Brock 1
GSP 2

Fedor was not big in Japan and did not draw ratings. He is not big anywhere really. He's just an obsession of a certain subset of hardcore fans.

 

Korea - Kim Dong Hyun
UK - Bisping / ardy
Brazil - Silva
USA - Lesner
world - GSP
Europe - Fedor

it all depends on which country you are from.

 

I think Chuck is still up there, providing he gets an interesting fight and hype.

 

No one even comes close to Brock now days in terms of drawing power.

 

That's only true in the US.

 

Okay...cards on the table time. I want evidence to back these up.

There is evidence to say that Lesnar is the biggest draw in the US - pay per view buys, media attention, television figures.

There is evidence to say that Bisping and Hardy are big draws in the UK - television ratings, live attendance, media attention. Although part of me doubts whether they outdraw what a GSP or Lesnar would do in the unlikely even either would fight overseas. And in terms of television ratings Alex Reid lords over all four, although he's probably a short-term freak show attraction.

What evidence is there that GSP is a bigger world attraction than Brock Lesnar? What evidence is there that Fedor is the biggest draw in Europe, considering that he has never fought in Western, Central, Southern or the overwhelming majority of Eastern Europe. What evidence is there that Silva (which Silva?) is the biggest draw in Brazil?

And I'm sorry, but as a Brit even I can see that this "only in America" is nonsense. This is not 2007 - there are no significant promotions outside of North America. The UFC may be an American based promotion, but in most countries it has better television deals than domestic organisations and is accepted as the big show. Germany, UK, Australia all have local MMA promotions but it is the UFC that draws the big money. The biggest draw in American MMA is the biggest draw in MMA.