I have talked a lot on this website about mismanagement in MMA and have been somewhat vindicated by recent events within the industry. However, while I remain convinced that there is no need to panic, some are still sitting on the fence.
As a result, I have set out to demonstrate that there is a right way of doing things in MMA and that there exist a host of successful organizations within North America.
Thus, I present to you the first MMAPayout.com Promoter’s Spotlight on Maximum Fighting Championship (MFC). I was fortunate enough to sit down with the President of Maximum Fighting Championship, Mark Pavelich, to learn more about his fledging promotion.
The Organization
The now Edmonton-based Maximum Fighting Championship started in 1999 and held its inaugural show in early 2000 in Grand Prairie, Alberta.
The early years of MFC were somewhat of a mixed success – as most early years are for MMA organizations – and it simply took time to build a brand and a reputation. Not long after the MFC was able to produce a consistent MMA show they began to build a fan base consistent with their growing reputation.
In 2007, a Las Vegas, Nevada based entity known as the Paragon Gaming Group became a sponsor of MFC and helped move the organization’s shows to The River Cree Resort and Casino. Despite the new venue holding nearly half the crowd that previous locations had, it allowed MFC to raise their ticket prices while also generating revenue from a site fee paid by the owners of the casino.
“After we did the math we were making more money for 2,500 people than we were 5,000” Pavelich said, then joked “our ticket prices are extortionate…I can’t afford to sit there [front row], because they’re $600.”
Now, the organization is looking to establish season ticket packages for all of its River Cree Resort events – something that’s clearly out of the big four playbook, but that’s exactly the point.
“I’ve never treated the Maximum Fighting Championship like a mixed martial art organization” Pavelich said. “I’ve treated [MFC] like a professional sports organization and that’s the difference.”
Treating MFC like a true sports organization also seems to be the rationale behind Pavelich’s decision to hold fights inside a ring.
“When I first started talking to people [businesses] about sponsorships, they kind of got freaked out about fighting in a cage” he noted, because “they attribute fighting as a sport, in a ring.”
And when you look at their long list of corporate partners – like Miller Genuine Draft or Lexus – it’s obvious that holding fights inside the ring certainly has not hurt MFC.
Running a sports organization also involves a considerable amount of product management, but as it pertains to MMA promotions, few issues with the in-ring product are more important than dealing with fighter and his management team. To that end, Pavelich cautions that management teams and other MMA organizations, alike, need a reality check.
“A lot of management companies still have to realize that, [they can’t] be delusional on where we’re at in this sport” he said, and “there are organizations out there that are an absolute disgrace to mixed martial arts, because they’re driving up the pricing of fighter payroll so high that they feel that is the way they’re going to compete with the UFC.”
Future Expansion: Bearish on Canadian MMA, Heading South
Unfortunately for Canadian MMA fans, Pavelich holds a rather bearish view of the Canadian MMA landscape. He mainly cites the lack of sanctioning in Ontario and British Columbia, but also pointed to the stagnated growth of the TKO Fighting Championship in Quebec as his primary concerns with the Canadian market.
The recent decision by TKO President, Stephane Patry, to step down also received sharp criticism from Pavelich.
“I think it’s another ridiculous thing” he said. “If I came out tomorrow and said, ‘I’m going to step down from the Maximum Fighting Championship;’ if I’m stepping down from the Maximum Fighting Championship, I just went out of business.”
And so, having conquered Alberta, but holding a bearish view of the rest of Canada, the MFC has set its sights on the U.S. market.
“We’re looking at demographic cities that are…below Edmonton, Alberta” Pavelich noted, and “that means everything reaching from the bottom of the states like Texas, all the way up to Montana, because those are the states thriving in a very depressed economy.”
But, that shouldn’t signal the MFC’s impending arrival on a Las Vegas tarmac any time soon. Pavelich believes Vegas to be one of the more depressed markets in America right now, especially for MMA, and thus the MFC is looking to pursue other markets.
It’s also just as likely that the MFC would find competing against the UFC, on the UFC’s home turf, very difficult – just ask Affliction.
Ultimately, however, that’s Pavelich’s goal, “we want to be number two to the UFC, anything less than that is a total failure to us” he said. “We’re one of only three or four organizations out there making real money…I’m talking King Kong money and we’re in the position where we’ve put in eight years of hard work and it’s starting to pay off.”
The MFC’s new, live-broadcast deal with HDNet Fights will be vital to their assault on the UFC’s stranglehold of the MMA market, but Pavelich believes he’s already seeing the benefits of partnering with Mark Cuban and his popular specialty channel.
“Mark Cuban is a calculating human being – he wants to study [MMA] and figure things out” he said, and “broadcasting wise, I don’t think anybody can argue the level it’s at: their camera crew at HDNet is one of the few crews that actually know how to film mixed martial art events.”
At the end of the day, though, the key to success for firms throughout the business world are is a core, competitive advantage. When asked about MFC’s competitive advantage, the answer was a simple one, knowledge.
“I have to make it definitive: before it’s all said and done, we have to be number two to the UFC” Pavelich notes, and “anything else, I just don’t understand it, because the people we’re competing with just don’t have the knowledge we have.”
Payout Opinion:
As a young businessman in the MMA industry, an interview like the one I had with Mark is an absolute gem of a learning tool.
Say what you want about Pavelich – many people do, he knows it and doesn’t care – but his passion for the sport drives his business. He eats, sleeps, and breathes mixed martial arts and that’s the difference maker.
Additionally, he’s also very confident. He has to be in order to proclaim, “I’m not a promoter. I’m a pioneer!” However, that confidence pays off in the board room when he’s seeking out new corporate sponsorship or looking to broker deals like the one he recently made with HDNet.
Perhaps most interesting, though, were his thoughts on the three biggest challenges that he faces as a promo…err…pioneer:
1.) Knowledge of MMA and conveying it to an audience
2.) Corporate Sponsorships driving his organization
3.) Dealing with fighter management in terms of negotiating payouts.
You can check out the entire interview, here.
Also, be sure to watch for the next edition of MMAPayout.com’s Promoter’s Spotlight.