San Francisco Chronicle refuses to cover MMA and UFC and UFC President bashes em

That my friend is some complete bullshit. Please provide something to back that up. Dana White is making money hand over fist.

 

Here's a link from August 2010 related to the Fertitta brothers' bankruptcy filing. (It's a blog post based on a Wall Street Journal article, but I don't have access to the initial WSJ piece.)

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2010/8/11/1618124/owners-of-the-ufc-retain-control

SportsByBrooks looked at the whole thing in 2009.

http://sportsbybrooks.com/ufcs-owners-in-bankruptcy-white-in-jeopardy-22374

As I said, I don't know if it's just the owners who are in trouble (because Station Casinos is bleeding money) or what part UFC is playing in that. But there's reason to consider that it could be on shaky ground from a cash-flow perspective.

 

For $100 and carfare, Kimbo Slice will come to your home and fight you.

 

I think he delivered my last pizza.

Which saved on the cab fare.

 

Station is in trouble because their market niche is Las Vegas locals and when the economy cratered, Vegas might have gotten it worse than anywhere in the country. The fact the UFC makes money hand over fist is keeping the Station afloat.

 

The UFC are doing ok. They had another record year on PPV last year.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/13012011/58/record-year-ufc-ppv.html

Note: Zuffa is the UFC's parent company.

They also just bought their main competitor.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news?slug=dm-ufcbuysstrikeforce031211

Zach Arnold (who covers MMA) reported the sale price as being in the region of $40 million. Dave Meltzer later confirmed that the purchase was in that region saying...

Note: Pro Elite were another group who were in negotiations to buy the promotion.

 

More than a year ago, Moody's rated the UFC highly despite debt payments coming due in the next five years:
http://www.lvrj.com/news/breaking_news/UFC-sells-10-percent-to-Mideast-company-81192552.html

2009 pay-per-view gross reliably estimated at $349 million. That's pay-per-view only, not its deals with Spike and Versus, not merchandise (go to a Fan Expo and see how much of that is moved) or sponsorship (ditto).

UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta is back on Forbes' billionaire list:
http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/110948/youngest-billionaires-in-america?mod=career-leadership

So is another co-owner, older brother Frank Fertitta, who isn't as actively involved as Lorenzo but owns just as much:
http://www.forbes.com/profile/frank-fertitta

Ratings for The Ultimate Fighter, the UFC's reality show, routinely beat NBA playoffs and similar stuff on TV.

Sorry, guys. They're not going anywhere but up. Get used to it.

 

And once they sign Steven Seagal to that 3-fight deal, there'll be no stopping them.

 

I thought everything in San Francisco was about tolerance.

 

Who wouldn't want to cover one man straddling another while taking slow-motion haymakers at the opponent's head.

Circle, straddle, hit ... it's exciting stuff, especially if blood starts coming out.

What a sport. I'd send three reporters just to make sure I didn't miss any of the intense action.

In reality, I've sent reporters once in a blue moon and done the occasional feature. It has some fan base, although I have no reason why. I flip by it on TV once in awhile and just don't get it.

 

Most of the same arguments can be made for boxing though, with the corruption aspect multiplied, yet most papers will run it.