Sneaking up on Vince: Is UFC the next big thing in Pay-Per-View?

Thomas Keister
March 13, 2007

It isn't very often you see mention of World Wrestling Entertainment or the Ultimate Fighting Championship in the business section of a newspaper. More often than not, when either company is named, there is a spot that usually proves the mainstreams media's overall ignorance of an established and successful entertainment product. A case in point was a recent British feature on the WWE making matches and other content downloadable for cell phones. The only star on the WWE roster mentioned by name, other than a generic reference to the Divas, was "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan. No offense to the Hacksaw, but since when did you ever have mainstream heat? Certainly not in 1991, certainly not today. Maybe the British reporters could flip the channel and check out Monday Night Raw once in a while. I mean, how hard can it be? They only have like six-and-a-half channels or something.

While Spike TV has yet to grow a set and give TNA Impact a two-hour prime time slot, the UFC has been creeping up slowly on professional wrestling, not only in popularity, but profitability as well. Just the recent doses of mainstream exposure UFC has been getting has amped up its profile, with Tito Ortiz dating Jenna Jameson and Chuck Liddell appearing in the recently-released Frank Miller film, 300. Under president Dana White's leadership, the UFC has grown well beyond its reputation as a money-losing organized brawl.

The numbers aren't lying, and they are eye-opening as well. For 2006, not only did Ultimate Fighting Championship tie World Wrestling Entertainment with $200 million of pay-per-view revenue, they beat HBO Boxing, which brought in around $170 million with their PPV productions. Don King and the rest of boxing's ilk must be pissed....More? Click here.