who is the biggest draw in MMA?

dont bother. this reasoning is based more on hope than anything. because god forbid brock should be better than fedor at ANYTHING!! :scaredas:

 

I aint read the thread (will do so now) but off the top of my head it's got to be Brock

 

I live in Korea and everyone know who Kim Dong Hyun is, they don't really care about fighters who aren't korean

Bisping and Hardy are the biggest draws in the UK because they are in the news papers TV shows and in magazines in general, in the UK people watch MMA watch strikeforce, M1, K1 and all the other shows, and to be honest most people in the UK think Brock in the UFC is a WWE thing..

Fedor is the biggest draw in Europe just because when you talk to people in Europe they want to see him fight, I have not conducted a study and I am not going to waste my time convincing anyone I am basing it on peoples opinions.

I trained in Brazil, everyone loves Silva in Brazil

I have travelled to over 60 countries and people support the fighters from their own country.... but everyone loves GSP.

Brock is the biggest in draw in the US because he used to be in the WWE and Americans like wrestling.

 

Strikeforce hasn't be on British television in months (the last one I saw on TV was Strikeforce: Los Angles) and M-1 is barely seen filler on niche channels (Extreme Sports). I'm not even sure if K-1 is still being shown by Eurosport as opposed to random kickboxing events, in any case the coverage is **** with fights shown weeks after they happened.

On the other hand UFC is one of the premier licences of ESPN UK and has programming on Sky Sports and Channel 5 (a network). Its shows are broadcast live and are usually amongst the most watched on ESPN UK whilst Sky Sports has had real success with TUF. To claim that UFC is not far and away the most popular MMA promotion in the UK is objectively wrong.

As a television draw Alex Reid is clearly the biggest - he just did a peak audience of nearly 900,000 for his latest fight. Now that's obviously due to his outside celebrity and is probably a short term thing but as a television draw and mainstream star you have to give him the nod. Bisping and Hardy drew the biggest attendance at a UK show so yeah you have to give them the nod in terms of being a live attendance draw.

Most British people won't know who Brock Lesnar is but all MMA fans will know him as the UFC heavyweight champion. So do most WWE fans. So I have know idea what you're talking about there.

So you have no evidence then. A the biggest draw is the person who makes the most money. Television deals, endorsements, pay per view buys, etc. Fedor has none of that in almost all European countries which is why M-1 has to put fights on I-PPV. European MMA isn't really that developed but its growing and its growing off the efforts of the UFC to develop the European Market. But if I was going to peak the biggest European draw it would have to be (by default) Mirko Cro Cop - he had fans from Croatia travel all the way to both England and Germany to watch him fight, and the UFC were desperate to have him fight on 122. But again, the sport really isn't at the level where you could say somebody was a consistent, proven draw in the way that even Bisping and Hardy are in the UK.

Again, drawing isn't about being loved its about making money. Plenty of fighters have been hated but done huge business. The problem really is that for most of the world 'drawing' is pretty much a wash. The local promotions all lose money so talking of any fighter as a 'draw' is nonsensical whilst the UFC's business doesn't fluctate based on whose fighting (i.e. they're being paid a flat deal to show each event on television).

If it was as simple as Lesnar's a former pro-wrestler than why isn't Lashley a much bigger star? Obviously Lesnar's WWE past helped a great deal but its nonsense to claim that's the sole reason he's such a big draw in the UFC - after all his pay per views were bought by over a million people in WWE. I really think Lesnar connects with what casual fight fans in America want from a heavyweight champion - a big, mean looking dude who brutalizes people. The fact that he's articulate and charismatic is icing on the cake.

 

What you think is irrelevant. What is factual is that Vince McMahon is undoubtedly the most successful Chairman of the WWE ever. Who has a wealth and depth of experience in a business that far outweighs that of the UFC or Dana White. When the WWF was making waves and swallowing up rival promotions and expanding the UFC wasn't even a concept. If Vince wanted to try his hand at MMA there's no reason whatsoever that he could not become successful from it if he wanted to. His success in pro wrestling is already unparalled.
Brock's emergence as a star in the UFC is simple proof of that. Brock is just one high profile athlete who made the cross over. OVW has hundreds more in what is a very fertile breeding ground for wrestlers.

 

Because you're a model of objectivity right? You've been sucking that UFC tit since you arrived on this board and its pretty evident you're nothing more than UFC schill who clearly isnt capable of formulating your own opinion. Rather you regurgitate the same UFC PR garbage ad nauseum and then like a good parrot repeat it enough as though its fact.

I was at the SENI and at the UFC expo. I can tell you for a FACT that the SENI pistol whipped the UFC expo which was nothing more than a glorified T-Shirt sale. I can say this because i was there. I was there because im a FAN of this sport. Of MMA. If i was not i wouldn't have wasted my time and hard earned cash to pay twice the amount for the UFC expo which was farcical in-comparison to the SENI.
You on the other hand were at neither and yet you use the usual UFC reality distortion field adjectives about its being "huge". Huge in comparison to what exactly? Some crap you read on Sherdog? Or some crap you read on the UFC site?
Pathetic. I dont know why you even bother to post.

 

Its pretty much impossible to judge the "draw" of fighters when one's in the UFC and the other isnt, Lesnar drew very little interest for FEG's USA Dynamite show for example. What we can say though is that Lesnar right now is definately generating more money than anyone else in the sport.

In the near future the only person I see potentially outdoing him is GSP. Not as big a PPV draw(although TUF will probabley help) but it does have a more concentrated fanbase. I believe he could draw a ton of ticket sales in montreal if the UFC did a stadium show there.

Strikeforce is still on british TV BTW just on a tape delay until Monday night for some reason. Last I heard Sky had bought out and was shutting down Bravo though so who knows whats happening in the future.

 

Scurla i kow you hate anything UFC but it's clear as day that Brock's by FAR the biggest draw in MMA. With your pro wrestling knowledge i'm suprised your even puting up an arguement in this one. People who don't watch UFC know exactly who Brock is, he's on the cover of video games, wrestling mags, fighting mags, commercials, he's all over the place. Not to mention the viewing figures speak for themselves


1. Brock



the others

 

When did i say Fedor was a bigger draw than Brock? I said he has more name recognition among MMA fans.
For a fact Brock has more cross over appeal because of his days in the WWE. Thats a no brainer. Iv never disputed this. Brock headlined Dynamite USA in K1 HERO's and that was his debut fight.
That said the UFC brand is big in the states. Its not big globally and doesn't have the Asian or European market.

And no i dont hate the UFC. If i did i wouldnt attend their events or buy their merchandise. What i do hate are the blind useless cheer leaders that follow the brand unwaveringly and are completely incapable of formulating their own opinions. And that includes Dana White.

 

Except Fedor wasn't anywhere close to being the top draw in Pride so you literally have 0 evidence to back up your claim. Also the UFC is just beginning to penetrate into the Asian market and they are doing well thus far. Just look at the reaction GSP got when he went to the Philippines.

 

Okay how do you know whether I was or wasn't at any convention? That's right you're making bull**** up to support your argument. As it happens I was at the Fan Expo although I had to miss SENI due to lack of money. And as usual your changing your argument - you said that the UFC was only big in the USA. The Fan Expo for all its faults (and I actually agree with you that it was overly focused on selling MMA 'lifestyle' accessories) coupled with UFC 120 is proof that its pretty damn successful in the UK.

 

Sigh. Do you bother to read what anyone else writes? The reason its unlikely he would succeed is because he flat out SUCKS at doing anything other than pro-wrestling. The Xtreme Football League, World Bodybuilding Federation, the WWE movies division, ice hockey, boxing are all outside ventures that have failed. There is nothing in McMahon's history that suggests he could bring his undoubted talents as a pro-wrestling promoter to bear on a non-pro wrestling product.

 

Because MMA's sooooooo different to Pro Wrestling. The fact that Wrestlers are having the most success in the UFC means diddly squat. Randleman Coleman Brock Ken Shamrock Barnett Hunt .. **** it a slew of MMA veterans have crossed over to the sport with magnificent success is a sure fire indication that Vince the greatest CEO in WWE/WWF history would be a failure at MMA. You win mate. You win.

 

I was at the expo and didnt see you there will cooling!

I even yelled out WILLIAM COOLING!! and nobody turned around......

 

You're getting confused. Randleman, Coleman, Hunt, Barnett are all shoot wrestlers not pro-wrestlers. They may have done the odd pro-wrestling match but it was all based on the profile they had developed in MMA. In no means did they crossover from pro-wrestling to MMA, if anything it was the reverse.

Most of the pro-wrestlers who successfully crossover to MMA come from the japanese scene where pro-wrestlers are expected to have more legit credentals. The type of muscle-bound stud that McMahon populates his promotion with tend to do poorly - look at the MMA records of the likes of O'Haire, Bart Gunn and Ludvig Borg for proof. Even with reference to Japan, pro-wrestlers going into MMA hurt business as too often the top draw would get their ass kicked.

In any case the success of some pro-wrestlers going into MMA in no way proves that McMahon could promote the sport. Again he is the greates pro-wrestling promoter of all time but whenever he tries an outside venture he fails. MMA and pro-wrestling may overlap but they are different industries and the fanbase of both expects and responds to different things.