Rise of a Salesman: Joe Cavallaro and the WCF
June 15, 2009
by Eric Tamiso
With more and more states regulating the sport of mixed martial arts, there will be plenty of new promotions trying to capitalize on the sports’ popularity. In different markets, there are different shows, and different levels of success for each promotion. In New England, World Championship Fighting has put its stamp down just a few miles north of Boston.
As WCF prepares for their seventh event on June 27 from the Aleppo Shriner’s Auditorium in Wilmington, MA, promoter Joe Cavallaro is a very busy man. Running the organization is a labor of love for Cavallaro, who is a product of the Boston area. After working as a salesman at Sun Microsystems for 10 years and having always been around the realm of fighting, Cavallaro is working diligently to put on another solid show.
“Two straight years I’ve spent every waking hour that I’ve had, and that’s not me making it sound more than it is. It never, ever ends,” said Cavallaro. “In the morning, I roll out of bed, I go right into my office to check e-mails.”
Cavallaro does most of the work by himself, but brings in help on a fight to fight basis. His background in sales helps in selling fights, but his background in combat sports has also helped immensely. Cavallaro took several business classes at Northeastern University, but didn’t finish. He has experience working in the camp of former middleweight boxing champion Dana Rosenblatt, and as well as working with former UFC fighters Sam Hoger, Drew Fickett, and Kevin Jordan. He is the current manager of Marcus Davis, Patrick Cote, and the Florian brothers. But that’s not where his connection to the UFC ends, he’s been friends with UFC President Dana White for 20 years.
“When I first started I talked to Dana and those guys and I said, what do you think, and they said it’s a very tough business, you could lose a ton of money, and it’ll be the hardest thing you’ve ever done, and they were right,” said Cavallaro.
Despite the amount of work, Cavallaro has turned a profit with the promotion, as well as turning it into the top promotion in New England. Despite the sport not being regulated in Massachusetts, Cavallaro has been putting on events in Wilmington since September 2007. He follows all of the guidelines a regulated event from the boxing commission would require. There are doctors, ambulances, and sometimes two.
“I run the show as though the boxing commission was there,” said Cavallaro. “I don’t start a fight until a doctor is there ringside, sometimes a backup doctor is needed. A dear friend of mine is a doctor and she comes to most of the events and she’ll help out as a backup doctor.”
At the last show, the next fight was delayed for 20 minutes while waiting for the ambulance to return to the Shriner’s Auditorium. While Cavallaro has been running the show as if the commission was there, it may not be long until they will be there. Alongside Kenny Florian, Cavallaro testified to the Massachusetts State Senate in favor of a bill to regulate the sport.
For World Championship Fighting, it has grown step by step since their first event. The first event had over 2,100 attendees, where the last event in March packed out the Aleppo Shriner’s Auditorium that fits over 4,000 people. There is a sponsorship with a local Harley Davidson dealer, and several other local sponsors. Within the last few months, a television show called WCF Rewind has been broadcast on Comcast SportsNet New England. Still with this steady growth, Cavallaro isn’t shooting for the stars just yet.
“The goal is to slowly go down the east coast, and go from market to market, get bigger and bigger, and hopefully be able to do some pay-per-views at some point, but one thing at a time,” said Cavallaro.
Spotting when the time is right, Cavallaro hopes to make his promotion the brand name of MMA in Boston as what the Celtics are for basketball. However, when the time comes to expand, Cavallaro will not take shortcuts or try to rush things, as seen in the past with EliteXC and IFL leaving the MMA landscape within just a few years.
“I think that’s been one of the mistakes with a lot of the companies, they go out and try to get too big too quick. If you don’t have the right infrastructure and you don’t have the right people working for you, you’re gonna get caught somewhere in the middle,” said the promoter.
The promotion is more concerned in making stars out of local fighters, instead of bringing in other names. Notable names that have fought for WCF are Jon Jones (UFC), Dan Lauzon (UFC/Affliction), John Franchi (WEC), Sam Hoger (UFC), and Mike Dolce (UFC). With the television show, Cavallaro hopes to create new names for the future of his company, as well as to tell their stories to the viewing public.
“It’s not just showing people the fights and hope they enjoy them, that’s what happens when a fight fan watches. When you show the human interest, you show the backgrounds of these guys and everybody gets interested,” said Cavallaro.”It works just the way The Ultimate Fighter works for the UFC. You have to show personalities, you have to show characters. I want to build stars that are household names in New England.”
After the card June 27, Cavallaro looks to have one more event this year, and three in 2010. He is currently negotiating with a second venue, to help solidify the WCF’s hold on the top spot in New England. The next edition of WCF Rewind airs this Sunday and Monday at 8:30 PM ET.
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