Why Don't TNA and UFC Collaborate More Often?

[It's Damn Real!]

I don't get it...

1. Both companies broadcast exclusively on Spike TV and Pay-Per-View. They share the same parent broadcasting station, which logic tells you means it's in the best interest of each company to plug the other as a means to retain/regain fans or garner a new crop who may not actually be watching the other.

2. Both companies target a very similar male-dominated audience who tune in to see a violent 'sport' centered around the spirit of competition and the chance to win championship gold.

3. They're not in direct (or really even indirect) competition. As I noted above, they're not he same network, so the only time they could ever conflict is if some kind of scheduling mishap forced two Pay-Per-View events to broadcast simultaneously.​

So why don't we see more of it?

Why don't I hear Mike Tenay plugging the upcoming bout between BJ Penn and Jon Fitch – or better yet, interviewing them at ring-side in a small segment between matches/segments on iMPACT! while they're watching the show from the first row?

Why don't I hear Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogen interviewing Kurt Angle at a UFC Fight Night or Pay-Per-View event so he can plug (what would have been) his upcoming battle against Jeff Jarrett (at Against All Odds)?

Does no one (particularly those at the network) see the value in this?

We saw it briefly when Hogan was initially set to debut with TNA — the announcement came via a ring-side interview at the UFC Ultimate Fighter finale back in 2009 when he was shown seated with Dixie Carter (and Eric Bischoff) and announced on live television that he'd be returning to wrestling soon, this time with TNA. We also saw a brief return favor with Bobby Lashley's cup of coffee in TNA, as the company made numerous references to his MMA career.

I can understand UFC not wanting to associate itself with staged fighting, and perhaps that's the very reason it's not happening, but from a network point-of-view, this is essentially free advertising, so why isn't it happening (more often)?

 

[ROHbot]

I truly believe that Dana White wants absolutely nothing to do with the wrestling business. In the past there have been minor rumblings that UFC has rigged the outcomes of his match endings and with these rumblings, controversy ensues. People could conceive it as guilt by association.

 

[ABMorales787]

I believe the reason is called Dana White. Not a fan of the wrestling business from what I've heard. I think it showed pretty well Joe Rogan interviewed Hulk Hogan some time ago. While it may be in TNA's best interest to work with UFC, it's not really much to gain for UFC. Most MMA fans detest the pro wrestling business. Having wrestlers come up and plug TNA may rub off some fans badly. Yeah it may be cool for TNA fans, I'd like for one, but it's not in UFC's best interest. I really doubt Spike TV would want to put their foot down and force the two parties to work together more often.

 

[Rampage Bentley]

Yeah, like everyone here has said, Dana White wants to seperate himself from pro wrestling as much as he can. It's sad considering that if the WWE never hired Ken Shamrock, nobody would have any clue as to what the hell the UFC was.

But that being said, I also very much agree that cross-promotions between UFC and TNA would only help TNA. There's nothing they could really do to positively change anything for the UFC

 

[conkdeeznuts]

Dana White doesn't like to co-promote with ANY company that is in the pro wrestling/rest of mma world that is just a fact he doesn't like giving other company advertisment

 

[Lucha-Libre is wrestling]

Why would UFC ( Dana White ) help TNA or any other program on Spike gain ratings and money?
1. UFC states it a real sporting event / while TNA is script.
2. What does UFC has to gain by helping TNA = 0
3. Fans may confuse one product with another / If wrestling is script UFC also has to be and that would hurt UFC in the pockets big times.
4. It would be just like when Boxing and Wrestling did fantasy gimmick matches, it help wrestling but it hurt boxing big times.
5. UFC is making Millions without TNA.
6. UFC is not desperate for money and ratings like TNA.
7. And why would Spike TV force the Golden Goose (UFC) to have relations with the Ugly Duckling (TNA). This can turn UGLY for Spike TV and UFC.
I'm not a UFC fan and I do watch TNA and from a business stand point, the title of this thread wouldn't make sense for 2 out of the 3 parties involve.

 

[neildittmar]

From a business perspective, partnerships come about when two separate entities can (or think they can) mutually benefit from one another. The same (or a similar) age demographic could be one of the contributing factors for a collaboration. Potential interest in both companies products could be another. In any case, the mutually beneficial part is what ultimately prevails.

While I think that the age demographic cross-over is there, it's the "interest in the other companies product" and particularly the "mutually beneficial" parts that I'm not so sure about. I wholeheartedly agree with Eric Bischoff, Mark Madden, and others who have suggested that pro-wrestling and MMA are two ENTIRELY different businesses. Said bluntly, TNA promotes "fake fights" with "scripted drama" and pre-determined outcomes. It's overwhelmingly entertainment much more than it is sports. MMA on the other hand promotes real fights with often times "injected drama", but still the outcome is not planned by a creative staff. To that degree, MMA is every bit as much sports as it is entertainment. In the end, I think you're marketing two different products to two separate audiences despite the age and even potential interest-level cross-over... the former MUCH more prevalent than the latter.

As for the "mutually beneficial" part, what does TNA have to gain from cross-promotion on UFC? A lot actually. MMA is super-hot right now and commands an audience that TNA currently only dreams about. I'd even go so far as to state that Vince McMahon would LOVE to have a crack at the UFC/MMA audience in some type of consistent, meaningful way. It's hard to argue that either companies (WWE or TNA) efforts to capitalize on the popularity of MMA haven't been lackluster at best or outright failures at worst. That said, direct cross-promotion of TNA on UFC programming would probably result in at least some pickup of TV ratings and possibly PPV buys or merchandise sales.

But then there is the other side of the equation... what does UFC/MMA have to gain by cross-promoting with TNA? UFC is a much more established company that has already found its audience. I surmise that a portion of it is the "attitude era" wrestling fans that have since abandoned the WWE or were abandoned by WCW after its closure. In other words, UFC has already gained much of what it could off of pro-wrestlings overall drop in viewership, merchandise sales, and PPV buyrates. Said differently, right now UFC doesn't need TNA's help to be successful. It doesn't even need TNA's help to be "more successful" in the short-term future. A cross-promotion between the two companies potentially benefits TNA much more than it would the UFC. That notion effectively kills the "mutual" aspects.

In effect, I continue to expect both TNA and WWE to make efforts to promote an MMA or "real fighter" gimmick as they have over the last 10 or 12 years to varying degrees of success (or failure as the case may be). What I don't see is any type of concrete collaboration between a pro-wrestling company and an MMA company. Two different products with two entirely different audience expectations where one could benefit greatly, and the other not so much.

 

[DForce]

In real-estate appraisal there is a concept called conformity. Conformity means that a low value neighborhood would bring down the value of a pricey house. That's the case with TNA promoting UFC: a low value product bringing down the value of a high value product. Case in point, remember how pissed UFC fans were when Lesnar went all showman on everyone after defeating Mir?

Remember, as well, Dana White isn't the only one that feels the way he feels. Vince wouldn't even allow anyone to mention Rampage as a UFC fighter when Rampage was promoting A-Team on Raw. That's the nature of the beast: Don't blurr the lines between sports and sport entertainment.

 

[huegtoad]

i think the bigger question lies in the bigger entity. Spike TV is owned by viacom who owns MTV, VH1, Nick, a bunch of other channels and most importantly, SHOWTIME. That's where i think synergy could exist. Showtime puts on boxing and MMA(strikeforce) and has for as long as showtime has been established, why can't they put on some TNA?
why not take some of the weaker impact zone ppv's like victory road or other ones like that and put them on showtime and put replays of bigger PPV's on showtime? If you do it right, line up sponsors, plug products througout the show on the rings, on banners etc.. then you can make it work. the fans would win because they can get a ppv quality show for 14.99 a month and a bunch of other stuff that's really cool. You CAN cross promote showtime championship boxing, probably want to stay away from strikeforce though as Spike and UFC would probably frown on that. Also doing that would enhance the travelling ppv's. BFG would seem huge if it were preceeded by a showtime event the prior month that would be used to set it up. just my opinion

 

[BestForTheBusinesso9]

I actually agree with this post and have been thinking the same thing. I really don't think that spike has created the UFC-TNA relationship that you are suggesting though. Wrestling and MMA should work together. Both are always screaming that wrestling and UFC are two different products. If this is true then they should 100% do more together.

How many of those on this forum follow MMA as well? I would say a large portion. So with that being said the free advertising is the key. The UFC is not this unstoppable force everyone perceives it to be and really things haven't been looking all that great in recent months. PPV buys are down and they finally have a real contender in Strikeforce. To me when Dana White basically puts himself up against the WWE he is making a huge mistake. The WWE and Vince McMahon have proven that they aren't going anywhere for a long time, not so sure this can definitively be said for the UFC. Don't get me wrong I am a huge UFC fan but who is the biggest draw in the UFC right now? Without a doubt its Brock Lesnar who came from the WWE.

For those of you who think that the two cannot have a positive mutual effect on each other I want to ask you a question. If the Lesnar-Undertaker moment after his loss to Cain had turned in to something more, and we saw several scripted moments on UFC and WWE TV with Dana White and Vince McMahon involved. Can you honestly say that the PPV buyrates for Wrestlemania AND the next UFC Brock Lesnar fight would not go through the roof?

 

[BestForTheBusinesso9]

I'm sorry just realized I didn't address the question. Yes, I believe that it could have a positive impact on both promotions as there TV audiences are a very tight small niche, I believe that they could greatly benefit from each other. Just don't believe that Spike has tied the two promotions together or has the ability to force these types of advertising on either entity.

 

[GetsHeat]

They are totally Apples and Oranges, that's why.

One is a scripted form of entertainment, the other is a real sport.

It's really as simple as that cold hard fact. Why would UFC risk looking busche league by mingling with that cloud of "fake".

The only thing I could see happening is for one of the TNA guys to face off against a UFC guy in a wrestling vs UFC sort of deal, much like they did vs James Toney in Boxing vs MMA.

 

[UltimateHitman]

I can see both sides of the coin here. First, I see the point that they are two separate entities, and two separate businesses. It's been hammered into our brains enough since they obviously don't think we are smart enough to differentiate ourselves (and some people probably can't, to be fair).

But secondly, if they are so sure fire determined and steadfast in that difference, why the hell not? You have commercials for comedy shows during dramas, ads for dramas during sitcoms, movie trailers during both and other things, etc. etc. Why, if it has nothing to do w/the show that's on, would you be afraid of doing it?

I think that it's pure paranoia. The line was blurred w/Lesnar and Lashley crossing over and now UFC's afraid of being thought of as "fake" entertainment. How in the blue hell could anybody think that? You got me, but if it's as different as they say it is, there should be no harm in it.

 

[AndarielHalo]

Did you see that Double J Double M A challenge thing? I highly doubt UFC would want to associate with TNA in that regard. There's no money to made with TNA, unless they manage to sucker Dixie into paying them money to appear on their show

 

[Papa Pillman]

I would say there is a pretty obvious reason...

It is hard to run a non-staged combat sport in this country. Everytime you have a match end in any type of strange or unexpected way, you're going to have people out there calling it a fix. The state of the boxing industry has people jaded about the legitimacy of fight-sports to begin with, and it is further exacerbated by the fact that they run based out of Las Vegas.

Dana is protecting the perception of his company by doing all he can to keep seperated from the pro wrestling world as possible, and you can't really fault him for it.

Also BTW, the UFC stands to gain nothing from cross-over promotion with TNA. Given the exposure that MMA has gotten as a mainstream sport over the last three or four years, it isn't a stretch to say that all wrestling fans are fully aware of the UFC's product; therefore, i'd guestimate that 99% of pro wrestling fans have already made there decision as far following MMA or not- and a few random appearances or plugs on TNA television is not going to change anything.

Would some cross-over be good for TNA? More than likely yes. Would it be good for UFC? I say no... in fact quite the contrary from a perception stand-point.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

As others have said, the reason for this is probably due almost entirely to Dana White. From a business standpoint, it's kind of hard to see why he'd want to collaborate with TNA. I don't mean that as a shot against TNA, but Dana White wants to avoid any and all interaction with professional wrestling as much as possible.

What would UFC gain by collaborating with TNA? Absolutely nothing. UFC television programs have always outdrawn TNA iMPACT! in both sheer audience size and in their targeted demographics by a substantial degree. TNA might well gain a lot out of it but the UFC associating itself with pro wrestling will undoubtedly piss off a hefty portion of MMA purists.

Pro wrestling is viewed as a "fake sport" or "mock combat", that's designed to entertain it's audience through the development of storylines, characters and matches all disguised as competition. MMA is based purely on the legitimate competition created in 100% real fights. Some prefer one, some prefer the other, some prefer both and some prefer neither. In Dana White's mind, the UFC would lose credibility and within the boundaries of the MMA world, it probably would.

If Dana White wouldn't allow Brock Lesnar, the biggest draw in MMA, to participate in WrestleMania with the biggest wrestling company in the world, then TNA doesn't stand a snowball's chance.

 

[Rayne]

In theory, yes, it does sound like a marketer's dream; two separate, male-oriented combat sports programs helping promote each other. If you want to be absolutely sure why you haven't seen Kurt Angle pushing the next TNA PPV on a dubover on UFC Unleashed, post this exact same thread over on Sherdog.

A large portion of the MMA fanbase despises professional wrestling with this comically oversized vitirol. If you think the WWE/TNA fan rivalry is hot (and fairly ridiculous, from an outside point of view), the MMA/pro wrestling fan rivalry is ten times as hot, and weighted almost entirely on one side.

Dana White isn't the reason you don't see wrestlers on UFC programming. He's smart enough to understand that if he went down that road, his fans would riot.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

I can see a potential benefit between the two companies. Firstly: talent share - wrestling has had it's fair share of legitimate hardmen over the years (after all, were did Brock make his name). If TNA were a viable alternative to WWe to the extent they were regularly on the road they could operate as road agents for UFC (for example, Crimson looks like he might make a legit UFC prospect), likewise tryouts for the UFC who don't cut the mustard have a possible fall back in the squared circle.

Generally people are not complete idiots, just because an interview with Kurt occurs at a UFC PPV doesn't mean Brock is going to attempt Air Bourne from the top of the Octagon. Provided the stars of the two promotions stick to their own sport (ie no wrestling bouts at UFC, no shoots in TNA), I think we can trust people to work out what is real and what is scripted.

Think of the NFL, we constantly get updates on the Fall line-up on the network during games. These may or may not be aimed at the gridiron demographic but if your not interested, you'll probably hardly notice it happen. If you are, it'll trigger your interest. Either way, no one is put out.

I honestly couldn't care less for MMA, but I love the fact that the UFC fans have been worked into regarding Lesnar as a real life heel. Imagine more UFC guys get some tutoring at promos - it's never hurt Floyd Maywether or Chris Eubank. On the flip side, maybe TNA can (finally) learn to make their storylines more believable because I'm sure a cross promotion deal would be more palatable to Mr White if the guys he's promoting are not assaulting each other with two by fours full of nails or machetes, getting kidknapped etcetera. If MMA fans are to be tempted at all, I would imagine this would be an important step.

People say Dana White has no desire for any connections to sports e, why do wrestling superstars continually get highlighted at UFC shows then? If he didn't want them to be shown, there certainly would be no close ups of Brock and Undi eyeballing each other.

Vince and Dana have had a heated rivalry over the years. Who's to say, if Dana can be persuaded that it is not detrimental and MIGHT have some quirks, that he might actually get a kick outta giving the underdogs a rub.

Just a little counterpoint for you all to consider...

 

[BestForTheBusinesso9]

I really don't think anyone gets it, MMA fans certainly don't. They have hated on Brock Lesnar for years now and all that keeps happening is Lesnar draws more than any other UFC fighter. If you post about Kurt Angle or any other wrestler on an MMA forum you are right about the backlash. The problem with that is if Kurt Angle theoretically were to fight in the UFC it would ALSO be a huge moneymaker for the UFC.

Much like TNA fans, the hardcore UFC fans are so blind to what really matters and that is making money. Even if Brock Lesnar were terrible in the octagon they should keep him around, just like they should keep guys like Kimbo Slice around. As far as I'm concerned they are made for each other.