UFC: 6th Most Popular Sport in U.S.?
Written by Greg Saks (contact - e-mail) -- April 20th, 2007 | Share - Save - E-mailIf website visitation is any indication, there is a new sport around that is capturing the hearts of U.S. consumers. The “UFC“, or Ultimate Fighting Championship, attracts a greater number of visitors to its website than the organizations that run professional golf, soccer, bowling, and tennis. And if hockey doesn’t fire up its zambonis soon, it appears that the NHL will be the next sport to be KO’d.
Much like the NFL is the largest professional football league, the UFC is the largest promoter of a combat sport named mixed martial arts (MMA). Competitors are allowed to not only punch like in boxing, but also kick, knee, elbow, slam, and choke their opponents. It’s probably not everyone’s cup of tea (my mother is not a fan), but enough interest has been building in the sport that nearly a million U.S. consumers visit the UFC’s website each month.
The sport’s detractors have called the UFC a flash in the pan, but the growth in consumer interest doesn’t show any sign of slowing. As of this writing, the UFC is the fastest growing sport in America, with a 106% year over year increase in online interest. The NHL, rebounding nicely from a holdout-cancelled 2004-2005 season, was a distant second with 35% growth.
Where can people go to get a taste of what the UFC has to offer? Good timing: this Saturday night (4/21) on the cable channel Spike TV, the UFC is airing a free event. Not a bad deal since a typical UFC card is $40 on pay-per-view. Headlining is a bout between a Croatian, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, and a Brazilian, Gabriel Gonzaga.
It will be a clash of styles as the 22-4 Filipovic prefers to stand and kickbox, while the 7-1 Gonzaga will try to bring the fight down to the ground and utilize jiu-jitsu. Filipovic is the odds-on favorite, and viewership of each fighter’s profile page on UFC.com backs this up. Compete data shows that 27,000 people clicked to view Filipovic’s profile, compared to 12,000 for Gonzaga. Good luck Gabriel, I wouldn’t want to be you tomorrow night.
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April 20th, 2007 at 1:56 pm
good job man. this sport will surpass all others.
April 20th, 2007 at 2:14 pm
A long way to go, but I’m a fan.
April 20th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
I have watched these fights. I’m not sure what makes me lose more faith in mankind.. The bush administration or the popularity of this blood sport.
April 20th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
Good to see there are more normal people who see the value the sport brings than you typical close minded mornons like Patacki. It’s people like that who brought on the dark years.
April 20th, 2007 at 4:39 pm
Great work, I’d love to see where boxing would be on that list, very bottom I’d guess. Not one fight this year besides De la Hoya v Chumpweather that will have any real public interest. Good to see the UFC doing well in that category. If it’s true that we’ll start seeing more results, etc.. on ESPN I think it’s only going to continue growing. Exposure is all it needs to be mainstream. Boxing the past 15 years or so has almost ruined itself leaving a void.
April 20th, 2007 at 5:01 pm
Wotan —
I looked around to try and find a comparable boxing site. Just doesn’t seem like there is a single boxing organization that is able to attract a meaningful amount of website traffic. Come to your own conclusions…
April 20th, 2007 at 10:44 pm
Lol at you guys.
As fast as UFC is growing, boxing is still more popular by a fair margin.
Boxing isnt on the list because it isnt ruled under one organization, which is what the pole is based on.
im not saying UFC wont surpass it, both sports are good fun. Great sports. But the big boxing matches heavily outweigh the big UFC matches.
Hopefully we can combine both sports and get some BOXER vs UFC events. Those would be awsome.
April 23rd, 2007 at 2:19 pm
G-dog, Boxers have no place in an mma ring. theyd get killed inside of 20seconds. recently mayweather ran his mouth about UFC. dana white offered him 2 million to fight sean sherk and the goof wont take it. James Toney is the only boxer willing to fight mma. he stepped up to the plate
April 24th, 2007 at 2:31 pm
Hey G-dog. When was the last time a pay-perview boxing even came close to a UFC pay-perview??? I think there is your answer. Please keep a differance of opinion and fact seperated. I respect your opinion but please dont present it as though you have facts…York
April 25th, 2007 at 9:35 am
UFC 6th most popular sport?
According to web traffic compiled by Complete.com, the UFC's web site is the 6th most travelled sports site on the internet.
April 25th, 2007 at 6:14 pm
G-Dog, like boxing, top-level MMA isn’t under one single organization either. Besides the UFC, there’s PRIDE (albeit now owned by Zuffa), the IFL, WEC, Bodogfight, and a host of smaller regional organizations.
So your analogy to boxing fails. The UFC is one of the top MMA organizations, similar to the (choose one) WBA/WBO/IBF. And I doubt any of those websites are drawing 5% of the traffic the UFC.com is drawing.
MMA is being recognized for what it is, a sport with elite athletes, great competition, and exciting fights. I can’t remember the last time I’ve been excited about a boxing match, but I haven’t missed a UFC since 2001.
April 26th, 2007 at 4:35 pm
anyone know when ufc.com actually launched?
April 27th, 2007 at 11:49 am
UFC has captivated a neglected consumer group (13-25). Wrestling has run it’s course, and lost touch with a young audience. So, of course, UFC is going to surge ahead. No one else believes that these 12 years matter, but UFC knows better — all the way to the bisnak.
April 27th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
Jim,
UFC.com launched in early 2006, replacing UFC.tv.
Not sure exactly how long UFC.tv was around for, but I’m pretty sure it’s several years.
May 2nd, 2007 at 9:09 pm
UFC.com was launched in 1994.
~SubmitGear~
July 6th, 2007 at 11:14 pm
tito ortiz is gonna get a good old fashion ass wipping
July 6th, 2007 at 11:18 pm
when fador comes to the ufc a new era will begin fador is raw he’s unstopable moose72
August 28th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
The UFC is growing at such a rapid rate… we will see 3 events in the next month alone! The demand is so high!
November 9th, 2007 at 9:55 pm
U F C is the best! will we ever see a tournament like the old days no weight class and fight 3 to 4 times in 1 night?
November 10th, 2007 at 4:09 pm
UFC AND ALL THE MMA SHOWS UP AND GROWING TO TOP AND I THINK THERE GREAT
January 3rd, 2008 at 12:45 am
UFC is boring with a capital B
January 22nd, 2008 at 2:40 pm
i cant believe tennis is dropping in sucha bad rate..i like ufc and watch while flipping channels but in texas i coach tennis and it seems that alot of my friends are coaching as well so it sucks to see that..tennis players are geting treated horribly in college with such little scholarship money espicially on the mens side..that maybe a factor why we are dropping so much because it seems that they wanna leave the college sport out with giving them no money..whats that all about???
October 10th, 2008 at 1:14 am
If you consider how much older every other sport MMA is being compared to, MMA is making a huge impact. Also it should be noted that UFC is just one company promoting mixed martial arts, perhaps MMA would have been a better measuring stick.
October 29th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
What is ATP
November 8th, 2008 at 7:51 am
I really like this blog, I started a forum, which has a ton of
information on MMA, the url is http://www.ultimatefightingforumz.com
. I am not sure you guy have videos yet on this blog for MMA, but I
would love to help out and provide some for you. My webmaster
compiled a bunch of video feeds from youtube and other sources, that
would benefit this blog as well, if you are interested. Thanks again
and have a great day!
March 18th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
FYI, only MLS for soccer is like counting Arena Football league instead of the NFL.
May 19th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
hi, msj 414 wonderful blog 414 share
July 14th, 2009 at 2:19 am
Good news, glad to see more people paying attention to the UFC. Now if only they would put ALL fighters who have fought in the UFC in the fighters pages. A ton of fighters are missing, just because Dana doesn’t like them.
August 26th, 2009 at 9:37 am
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October 16th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Its a shame people dont quite understand the sport yet, slowly all the MMA fans are educating people that dont quite understand the complexities.
I guess this is why it is the fastest growing of all sports at the moment
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