The UFC became popular because they …show more content…
With increased visibility, the UFC's pay-per-view buy numbers exploded, allowing fans from any part of the country to feel a part of. UFC 52, the first event after the first season of The Ultimate Fighter featuring eventual-UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell avenging his recent defeat to fellow Hall of Famer Randy Couture, drew a pay-per-view audience of 300,000, doubling its previous benchmark of 150,000 set at UFC 40. Following the second season of The Ultimate Fighter, the UFC's much-hyped match between Liddell and Couture drew an estimated 410,000 pay-per-view buys at UFC 57. The surge in popularity prompted the UFC to build its executive teams adding key members. In March 2006, the UFC announced that it hired Marc Ratner, former Executive Director of the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) as Vice President of Regulatory Affairs to make sure the UFC was following the correct legal guidelines as a business. Ratner continues to educate numerous athletic commissions to help raise the UFC's media profile in an attempt to legalize mixed martial arts in jurisdictions inside and outside the United States that have yet to sanction the sport (Meltzer …show more content…
Dana White knew that UFC could have a fighting chance in becoming a success if only he could focus on attracting the right people. From the very first day he took over operations at UFC, White has had a clear idea about who his audience was, and what kinds of people were going to be tuning into his events. “UFC is definitely a younger guy's sport,” says White. “Our target audience is anywhere from age 17 to 35,” (White 2015). While White wanted his UFC fighters to be household names, he knew that it was most likely going to be the 17 – 35 population to make them so – and, male. In looking for demographics to go after, it should be mainly focused on males ages 17 – 35. Since the takeover, UFC has become the largest MMA promotion in the world, featuring over 30 events per year in over 10 countries worldwide. They are a market-oriented company and set up their fights and events the way their fans prefer. They also have a frequently changing clothing line for their fans to wear that also gets updated to fit the needs of the consumers (UFC.com 2015).
UFC's mission statement is "To help and promote the sport of MMA evolve into a major world sport". They are trying to make a statement that boxing no longer can deliver crowd-pleasing entertaining fights like it used to, they want to make sure that the UFC is and will be the best fighting company in the world. Aside from entertainment they also want to show sides of fighters that’s never been seen before,