The Minor League MMA Question

It seems like it’s been on the tip of the tongue of MMA fans and officials alike for awhile now. From the moment Zuffa purchased WEC and began running both promotions simultaneously, the idea of the biggest organization in the world having a minor league has been a hot button issue. It’s gained more traction as of late, perhaps because of the pure number of cards and fighters on rosters. It’s near impossible to keep track of every fighter under contract (trust me; I tried ranking them for a few months). Most fans want to see the men and women that they know and could care less about the other 300 fighters on the roster. So is it time to start a UFC minor league and demote some of the excess?

The answer is yes… and no.

To steal a line from the promotion itself, “the time is now” for the UFC to make their moves with minor league promotion. The most obvious reason is the vast level of coverage the company is already giving to smaller promotions. With the release of UFC Fight Pass, the UFC worked deals with a dozen or so smaller companies to air their fights live. Never before have organizations like this had an opportunity to get their product in front of so many eyes. By adding a UFC minor league affiliation to some or all of these companies, all parties would benefit.

Firstly, the minor league promotions could slap the UFC logo on their events. From a marketing standpoint, having the most recognizable brand most likely would allow them to increase ticket prices while maintaining or increasing ticket sales. Although some casual MMA fans might not pop in to watch a Titan FC event, they would likely stop in and watch UFC Minors: Florida. Additionally, the increase exposure and cost can only help fighters with salary and popularity.

Secondly, the UFC would benefit from having younger talent locked in. As it stands, the UFC takes criticism daily for signing fighters with less and less fight experience. The obvious example of this is CM Punk, but there are other fighters who have been signed with little experience. Amanda Bobby Cooper, for instance, is 1-2 and Bilyal Makhov has, like Punk, never had a professional fight. However, the UFC’s hand is being forced by the 2nd and 3rd in command, Bellator and World Series of Fighting. Both of those companies have been snatching up young talent with less and less professional experience. Bellator recently signed a handful of college wrestlers with no MMA experience to contracts. Having minor leagues would allow the UFC to be able to be players in that market without damaging their image of being a serious promotion – which granted has already taken a hit.

Lastly, it would allow some of the fighters that deserve a second chance a place to earn it. Just yesterday, as reported by MMAFighting.com, the UFC cut another 13 fighters off of their roster.  In that batch were plenty of guys who have had really bright moments with the company.

Coming off a split decision loss to a tough Brad Tavares and a submission loss to Josh Samman, Caio Magalhaes was let go. But before that two fight losing streak, he had won four straight, three of which were by finish.

Similarly, Kenny Robertson lost back to back fights; both split decisions. Before that, he had run a win streak up to three, including a performance of the night KO against Sultan Aliev.

Permitting these guys to fight some of the lower tier talent would give the UFC a place to gauge whether or not they can be back in the big show.

However, this is where the “no” part of my answer comes into play. The idea of a minor league is beneficial for all of the reasons mentioned, but it should not and will not be used to lower the number of major league UFC fights or number of fighters on the roster. While some think cards with no names on the undercard are bad for the company, those fights and fighters serve a very important purpose.

Having lower paid and lesser know fighters on the prelims allows fans to see 12 or so fights a night. While, to a casual MMA fan, this is too many, it allows the UFC to use all of their different forms of media. This in turn increases their revenue. While the argument could be made that fans would still use Fight Pass and Fox Sports 1 to see the minor leagues, the numbers for a major league promotion will always be far ahead of their minor league counterpart.

So, with my argument laid out for the public on why it should start now and how it would work, let’s end on a proposal for the first batch of regional promotions:

Titan FC (UFC Minor: Southeast)
Victory FC (UFC Minor: Midwest)
Ring of Combat (UFC Minor: Northeast)
TKO MMA (UFC Minor: Canada)
Shooto (UFC Minor: Japan)
Cage Warriors (UFC Minor: Europe)