AJ McKee goals

SokoudjouFanboy said:
The only chance they might have of getting someone ala Max or Ortega away would be if some suits at Viacom realize they have lightning in a bottle and decide to invest more money into the brand by throwing stupid money at one or both.

No earthly idea if that'll ever happen but it's a vulnerable time for the UFC and WME right now. Not in terms of popularity, it's as good as ever but the fact is they're trying to cut costs and stay as lean as they can. If Bellator/Viacom decide the only way their golden boy sticks around is throwing a bunch of cash at him and a couple elite guys for him to fight they might be able to make noise. But they need to re-invest back into the brand to get it to take the next step.
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I wonder if there's any chance that the UFC would ever feel threatened enough to try to buy Bellator. Although I believe some heads at Viacom would also be pushing against that.
 
Hellowhosthat said:
Realistically it's never going to usurp the UFC. I'm not sure what their financials are like this year but AFAIK a lot of the reason they ran in the black for a couple of years was due to the DAZN deal. It's basically now a content filler for Showtime and as they're kind of paying themselves for it in a sense it depends on how much money they want to lose on it.
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I don't anticipate anything overtaking UFC in terms of revenue and market share but I think it's a good time to strike in terms of aggressively trying to close the gap a bit. If they don't AJ is going to be gone in the next couple of years. If that happens I'll look forward to the fights but also be sad for the state of non UFC MMA.
 
CorninginChristianburg said:
I wonder if there's any chance that the UFC would ever feel threatened enough to try to buy Bellator. Although I believe some heads at Viacom would also be pushing against that.
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It's certainly possible but you have to remember right now WME is losing money, have massive debt to pay back and the UFC is it's cash cow. They'd surely like to avoid buying out another competitor if at all possible.

Right now Bellator is barely a blip on the radar but if they got aggressive and invested capital into the brand you might see the UFC start to get nervous if that capital yielded results.
 
Hellowhosthat said:
I'd argue it's also a reasonable long term goal. If you can maintain a steady audience of say 300k people then you can run a solid and profitable organisation.
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Yes, I meant to say that should be their goal in their near future and maintain it. As far as a long term, it should be what you said, establishing themselves a rock solid #2 with more brand recognition. If they can put some 20-25 yearly events plus 2-3 big CBS cards that would be a huge huge win. Will they dethrone the UFC? Not a chance, but they can compete for better talent, other than people the UFC doesnt want, or have to overpay to keep their talents.
 
SokoudjouFanboy said:
It's certainly possible but you have to remember right now WME is losing money, have massive debt to pay back and the UFC is it's cash cow. They'd surely like to avoid buying out another competitor if at all possible.

Right now Bellator is barely a blip on the radar but if they got aggressive and invested capital into the brand you might see the UFC start to get nervous if that capital yielded results.
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Basically Coker needs to convince the upper brass that Bellator is worth more investing more into and I think McKee will be key. If they are talking CBS and PPV, they must see something here.
 
SokoudjouFanboy said:
I don't anticipate anything overtaking UFC in terms of revenue and market share but I think it's a good time to strike in terms of aggressively trying to close the gap a bit. If they don't AJ is going to be gone in the next couple of years. If that happens I'll look forward to the fights but also be sad for the state of non UFC MMA.
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I think that's an acceptable part of being #2, every now and again you'll lose a star to the #1 organisation, but you keep running and keep turning a profit. If the UFC makes even more money it doesn't really impact Bellator.
 
SokoudjouFanboy said:
It's certainly possible but you have to remember right now WME is losing money, have massive debt to pay back and the UFC is it's cash cow. They'd surely like to avoid buying out another competitor if at all possible.

Right now Bellator is barely a blip on the radar but if they got aggressive and invested capital into the brand you might see the UFC start to get nervous if that capital yielded results.
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The fact that the UFC has gone public can also be a good thing for other MMA promotions. They have gone full corporate and sometimes pleasing shareholders will mean cutting costs. Meaning, they wont be spending more than the absolutely necessary and will cut some fighters with big contracts to save money. This can be an opportunity for other MMA promotions.
 
SokoudjouFanboy said:
I don't anticipate anything overtaking UFC in terms of revenue and market share but I think it's a good time to strike in terms of aggressively trying to close the gap a bit. If they don't AJ is going to be gone in the next couple of years. If that happens I'll look forward to the fights but also be sad for the state of non UFC MMA.
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I really think they have good things working for them. Scott Coker has really found a good formula for at least making the UFC notice, and it's something the UFC can't stop. First he recruits and develops fighters early, he works proactively to develop talent, whereas the UFC being considered the "big leagues" is always reactive because they can only get to talent after talent has proven itself. Or he goes for good fighters who the UFC just doesn't prefer stylistically but have proven they can win in the cage. And when talent really pays off, he can then put on these big cards against the UFC's weaker fight night cards, which the UFC also can't do anything about because the UFC plans their events months in advance. Right now that guy is AJ McKee, and he's definitely the best vehicle at the moment, but they have the Nemkov card coming up soon. They could build up Magomedov at BW. They can put on shows with Moldavsky, or with one of Mamedov/Nurmagomedov/Shabliy. There's just a lot of talent coming up in the league because of their patient approach towards developing prospects that will lead to sustained success past even just AJ McKee, if he choses to leave.
 
CorninginChristianburg said:
I really think they have good things working for them. Scott Coker has really found a good formula for at least making the UFC notice, and it's something the UFC can't stop. First he recruits and develops fighters early, he works proactively to develop talent, whereas the UFC being considered the "big leagues" is always reactive because they can only get to talent after talent has proven itself. Or he goes for good fighters who the UFC just doesn't prefer stylistically but have proven they can win in the cage. And when talent really pays off, he can then put on these big cards against the UFC's weaker fight night cards, which the UFC also can't do anything about because the UFC plans their events months in advance. Right now that guy is AJ McKee, and he's definitely the best vehicle at the moment, but they have the Nemkov card coming up soon. They could build up Magomedov at BW. They can put on shows with Moldavsky, or with one of Mamedov/Nurmagomedov/Shabliy. There's just a lot of talent coming up in the league because of their patient approach towards developing prospects that will lead to sustained success past even just AJ McKee, if he choses to leave.
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Yeah, I actually think sometimes if someone like AJ has done his bit to grow the company and wants to go they should let him. I think clinging onto fighters for dear life who don't want to be there like they did with Minakov does them any favours. A lot of up and coming fighters avoid signing for Bellator because they think it'll stop them making the UFC.
 
Interesting to see AJ jumping 7 spots with a W over Pitbull. Also, is this the highest a non-UFC fighter has been ranked since the Strikeforce days?
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careto said:
Interesting to see AJ jumping 7 spots with a W over Pitbull. Also, is this the highest a non-UFC fighter has been ranked since the Strikeforce days?
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Last time I can remember a non-UFC ranked that high was Fedor in 2010. I know Nemkov has gotten up to #3 on some boards.
 

At the same time,

but money talks!
 
Bellator is in a good spot right now. They have decent fights they can make. They actually have some nice depth in a couple of weight classes. Put exciting fights on CBS and people will continue to discover the brand. No matter what happens don't let Kongo become HW champ. That guy will drive ratings into the toilet.
 
careto said:

At the same time,

but money talks!
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2nd one is terrible journalism, that's not what Antonio said at all. He said that he personally thinks Dana is a piece of shit but he doesn't want that to get in the way of his son's career.
 
TITS said:
I haven't looked at the Sherdog rankings in years, holy shit it's trash. 8/9/10 for FW are Frankie, Emmett, and....Arnold Allen?

<Dany07><DisgustingHHH>
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Arnold and Emmet might not be the most exciting guys but they are pretty solid, IMO.
 
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