Detailed Interview w/Bruce Buffer (Part 1)
Reported By: Boxing Insider - 04.28.2003 02:31 AM
By Chris Colderley ©
To fans of mixed martial arts (MMA), he is known as, “The Voice of Mixed Martial Arts.” His regular appearances at the UFC and other events such as the Abu Dhabi World Submission Wrestling Championships, the King of the Cage, the World Fighting Alliance, and Ultimate Pankration have made him more recognizable than the many of the fighters he introduces each show. Aside from his frequent ring appearances, he is a successful entrepreneur who functions as President/CEO of Buffer Enterprises Inc, a worldwide undertaking which develops various products and manages the licensing of the “Let’s Get Ready to Rumble” trademark and directs the career of his brother and announcer, Michael Buffer.
In this interview, conducted April 21, 2003, Bruce Buffer discusses the evolution of MMA, the operation and management of his business, the marketing of mixed martial arts images and services, and offers some sagely business advice to fighters looking to promote themselves in the growing sport.
Boxing Insider: I want to start off with the UFC, if you don’t mind? You have been involved with the UFC for some time. Your brother, Michael Buffer, appeared at the UFC 7, and you began as the voice of the Octagon at the UFC 8.
Bruce Buffer: Yes, Michael was 5, 6, and 7
Boxing Insider: Can you explain how you became involved with the promotion?
Bruce Buffer: Basically, I first got Michael involved. As you know, I’m Michael’s manager and business partner, and I direct his entire career as well as mine. When the UFC came along in 1993, being in martial arts for as many years as I have and enjoying fighting in the sport, I was glued to it and fascinated by it. I decided, after about the third UFC, that I wanted to get Michael in there to announce the show. I also thought it was a great way to attend one of these events. I signed a 3 fight deal for Michael to do it. Then, what happened was, in our contract we had with WCW wrestling, when Michael came out in the first event and said, “Now for the only real event of its kind. If it’s not in the octagon it’s not real.” (You know something along those lines), the people at WCW back then were always trying to get people to think, as WWF did, that wrestling was real before that term “sports entertainment” was put into effect, and they didn’t like that fact and it came down to choosing between the WCW and the UFC. Weighing the financial advantages, the UFC was no where near the kind of money we were making in WCW. After Michael’s three events were over, I could not re-sign him to stay with the UFC.
I’ve done motivational speaking and some announcing and I am used to being comfortable in front of people. I talked to Robert Meyrowitz, the owner, shortly thereafter, and said, “Robert, I would like to do some announcing for you, and I would like to announce one of the UFCs.” I happened to be going down to Puerto Rico for UFC 8 with my fighter, Scott Ferrozzo who I managed into the event. It was there that I did the prelims. That’s where it started. Then I got called back for UFC 10 to take the place of Rich “the G-man” Goins. Then, from UFC 13 on, I have been doing everyone with the exception of two in Japan. I’ve become a staple for the UFC. So, I basically did it all on my own. Like I do everything, I set a goal, I attack it and I make it happen.
Boxing Insider: You have worked through some pretty tumultuous times with the UFC. What changes have you witnessed in your tenure, and how do you see the sport of MMA growing?
Bruce Buffer: When I started off with the UFC, the UFC was more of a spectacle than a sport. It was not a legitimized sport in the minds of anybody beyond or outside the realm of the MMA fan or people that knew the sport as well as I did. In that respect it’s changed tremendously - where we had the timeless rounds to eventually the 15 minute rounds and so on we’re now down to 5 minute rounds. We’ve entered into the legitimized arenas of Las Vegas and Atlantic City. With that being said, that foray in to the Vegas arena has really legitimized us as a sport because we have the same people watching over the sport in the form of a sanctioning commission as watch over the sport of boxing. Once that was established with the 5 minute rounds and 5, five minute rounds for championships, and all rules the had been put into effect, what I see now is the UFC from then versus today as a legitimized sport. Also the fighters have evolved from being an expert in one traditional style or just a brawler, into the most supreme cross training athletes that exist in the world today. It’s legitimized, in the fact that it’s being recognized as such, but we still have a bit of an uphill battle because there are still a lot of critics. Although we have millions of fans around the world, there is still a lot of work to be done.
Boxing Insider: In five years where do you see MMA in North America and Internationally?
Bruce Buffer: In five years, I see MMA advancing in a huge way if the powers that be who are behind the premiere promotions, such as ZUFFA behind the UFC and the management behind PRIDE manage and market themselves correctly to enhance and then maintain MMA being recognized as a mainstream sport. We will have succeeded when the UFC is on TV, with free shows leading up to the pay-per-views, which is the famous wrestling and boxing scenario. You know: free TV - this week, free TV - next week, free TV - next week, and pay-per-view - fourth week. That kind of scenario allows the sport to create marketable images of a popular fighter because people become interested in the fighters and not just their performance inside the octagon. It is key for fans to become interested in the fighter as a personality and if you have personalities leading up to big events and driving the sport, the fans have something to remember the sport by, making it easier to maintain the kind of effect to where they can say, “I just have to watch the UFC on pay-per-view coming up. I can’t wait to see Tito Ortiz! I can’t wait to see Matt Hughes, I can’t wait to see Randy Couture!” Fans will become so excited by them just like when they wait for the wrestling and boxing Pay-per-views. It’s like this, there’s a wrestling PPV on Sunday, and it’s Hulk Hogan, it’s Stone Cold Steve Austin, and it’s the Rock. That’s the reason wrestling reached the level of popularity that it did. And, there’s another example: think about boxing. Boxing right now is in a bit of a lull, sure you have Mike Tyson, and he’s always going to draw people into their seats. Oscar De Le Hoya, God bless him, he’s always going to bring people to the seats. Lennox Lewis, who I thoroughly enjoy as a fighter, but he can’t bring the crowd into the stadium unless it’s through an association such as his fight with Mike Tyson. Now look back to the 1980s, we had Roberto Duran, we had Tommy Hearns, Sugar Ray Leonard, in the early 80s. Marvin Hagler. That was one of the brightest eras and one of the biggest decades of boxing that I can remember, with Mike Tyson getting so huge towards the end, in 88, who didn’t watch boxing then?
Boxing Insider: Speaking of fighters and personalities, who are some of your favorite fighters?
Bruce Buffer: Boxing, George Foreman is one of my all time favorites, along with Sugar Ray Robinson, and of course Muhammad Ali. I train with Fernando Vargas, in conditioning training on a daily basis, and I really like Fernando a lot. Oscar De La Hoya is definitely one of my favorite fighters of all time.
In MMA, Frank Shamrock, in and out of the octagon, to me is the greatest fighter to ever enter the octagon. Not just because of his fighting abilities but because of the man, the personality, the way he carries himself outside the octagon. Tito Ortiz, definitely, one of my favorites. Chuck Liddell. Randy Couture, I can’t say enough about him. He’s probably one of the classiest gentlemen that I’ve ever met entering into the octagon. Some other up-and-comers, Matt Hughes, I’m a big fan of Matt Hughes. I think he’s a great kid. And there’s an up and coming fighter that I believe is going to make a big headway for himself in the future and his name is Robby Lawler.
I could go on and on because I just happen to have made a lot of good friends in my work in MMA, and I have to say that barring many other sports, the gentlemen and people that you meet in MMA, both as athletes and as men are a great group of guys.
Boxing Insider: I noticed that you are featured on the new UFC game not just as the voice, but as a fighter. Can you explain how that came about?
Well that’s the fourth or fifth UFC game I am part of. I am a part of everyone, I’m the voice and you see my image of the character Bruce Buffer, the octagon announcer. In every single UFC game up to now, there comes a point in the game where you have to go through me. Video games are notorious for hidden characters and when it came to Jon McCarthy and me, they knew that we have fighting backgrounds, so they wanted to know what our styles were - mine is a kickboxing/Muay Thai background. They incorporated my Muay Thai moves into it, but I have to be honest with you, there’s one move on there where I flip backwards and kick you through the air with both feet and I can’t do that. That’s an entertainment value to the game. I come out in one of four different colored tuxedos and it’s time for you to take on the BUFFMAN! Let’s see if you can handle me?
Boxing Insider: I also understand that you were the image for Tony T. in Ready to Rumble Boxing 2, as well as the voice.
Yes, it’s the Italian, Sopranos type character. He’s like 300 and some pounds. They took my picture, my image. It’s kind of nice to possibly see what I would look like at 70 with too much pasta and pizza. Hopefully that will never happen.
Boxing Insider: Earlier on you mentioned that you were involved with boxing through your Brother, or with your brother through Buffer Enterprises. I wanted to ask a few things related to marketing and your business. The first thing I wanted to ask is about Buffer Enterprises itself, can you give me a brief rundown of your products and what you do?
Bruce Buffer: Buffer Enterprises is my personal sports and entertainment management, licensing and promotional corporation. Buffer Enterprises is the corporate entity that I run all of my affairs through. I run all my personal business, my management of Michael Buffer through it, and my other business entities that I am involved in. I am a very multi-faceted businessman; I am not just involved in one or two things.
That’s the corporate label that I’ve put on everything I do. Michael and I, together, own a company called The Buffer Partnership, which in turn is part of Buffer Enterprises and that is an equal partnership in which I create videogames, the toys, the entertainment ventures, licensing ventures such as the movie we made with Warner Bros, and the “Ready to Rumble” slot machines coming out for all the casinos at the end of the year and many other products and ventures I’m currently developing. I am just getting ready to sign a new deal for our new videogame “Ready to Rumble 3,” which will be different and will be out in 2005. We are going to take a good two years to make this, so it’s the best possible game when it comes out. Any of the products that you see with “Ready to Rumble” on it, Michael’s image or separate from Michael with my image, are products that I’ve been involved in licensing, creating, and/or developing. That’s why when you don’t see me in the octagon announcing, I’m busy managing and directing my brother’s career. I’m very busy working in all forms of sports and entertainment to create as many profitable avenues as possible for our business.
Boxing Insider: I’ve been to your web site, and I’m sure you’re pretty busy guy. I’m amazed I could even get a hold of you.
Bruce Buffer: That’s OK. It’s always a pleasure to have somebody that would like to do an interview. It’s something a lot of celebrities forget, but that’s something I’ll never forget.
Boxing Insider: I wanted to ask you a little bit about your experience marketing intangible products. I should clarify what I mean - things like images trademarks and personal services. When you’re marketing things like that, what do you find your biggest marketing challenge is?
Bruce Buffer: There’s one thing you always have to remember when dealing with people and this is it: If it’s not their idea, it’s not going happen. Now, what I mean by that is that when you approach a company and say I have an idea for a videogame or a toy, and I go to the company whose business is 365 days a year to make toys, they have development teams in position, they have conceptual meetings daily, weekly or whatever their schedule is, they are the experts. You have to walk-in and respect the expertise of the person that you’re trying to sell an idea to.
What I’m saying is when you go in to present an idea to somebody, it’s one thing to walk-in and say this is a product you should make because I’m telling you it’s the product to make. You have to go in there with the attitude and respect factor that these are the people who make these products. What I want to do is sell them on my idea and do it in a way that they see it and they elaborate on it with me and we come up with the eventual concept together.
A direct answer to your question would be it’s all about communication. In every form of life it’s all about communication. That’s the secret to all forms of life to communicate properly and know who you are talking to.
Check out Bruce Buffers web sites:
MaxFighting.com - The latest Mixed Martial Arts News
Bufferzone.net - The official Website of Bruce Buffer.
Click Here To Read Part 2 of this fascinating interview
Chris Colderley is a boxinginsider.com contributor.
BufferZone.net - The Official Website of Bruce Buffer
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