Detailed Interview w/Bruce Buffer (Part 2)
Reported By: Boxing Insider - 04.30.2003 11:29 AM
The following is the second part of Boxing Insider.com’s in-depth interview with the voice of the octagon Bruce Buffer, conducted by Boxing Insider.com’s Chris Colderley on April 21, 2003.
Boxing Insider: I noticed you have a very unique approach to monitoring trademark infringements, could you just explain this technique and explain how successful is been for you?
Bruce Buffer: When you’re approved for a trademark from the U.S. government it’s really a very simple thing, if somebody violates your trademark and steals from you, and you don’t police it, and you don’t exercise your ownership of that trademark, the government can take it back from you because in reality you’re really not protecting your mark. Now, why would somebody steal a trademark because there are a million trademarks out there? The fact that people wish to steal or misappropriate the “Let’s Get Ready to Rumble®” phrase or any paraphrasing thereof is a sign of just how popular the phrase spoken by Michael Buffer has become. It’s kind of a Catch-22. On one end, I am policing it, but on the other end, it’s a sign of its popularity.
When people steal it and we get reports of misappropriation, what I want to do is understand what it was used for and ask myself one question, “Would I have allowed them to use it if they approached me properly like they should have?” If the answer to that question is yes, the next thing I ask is what would I have charged? With that question being answered, at that point all I want to do is receive remuneration from the misappropriation in the sum of the figure of money I would’ve charged had I agreed to that work anyway. And, if I like it, and I think it fills a void for us then I will offer them the chance to license it for future use. Otherwise it is pay this fine, cease and desist. And that’s my attitude. Basically the job is to protect it and what’s happened is that that it’s actually become a very ongoing end of our business. We have a top-notch attorney firm, which my Vice President and I are constantly working with to protect the phrase. For fans all over the country, we have a finder’s fee out there for people to report violations. When reported violations, turn out to be violations, we reward them in event of a settlement, which is a great way for our fans to help and to protect us and to protect our rights, and that’s exactly what we are doing, protecting our rights and Michael Buffer’s ownership of the famous five word phrase.
Boxing Insider: This program has been successful? You have had good feedback from fans?
Bruce Buffer: Extremely successful. Anyone can go to www.letsrumble.com and find out how to contact my offices to report a suspected violation of the “Rumble” phrase or send in a request for Michael Buffer’s announcing and appearance services for sports, entertainment, private or corporate events, etc.
Boxing Insider: With all your business and marketing experience how would you personally approach the task of expanding mixed martial arts?
Bruce Buffer: I can sit back and play Monday morning quarterback to anything just like anybody else. With the marketing mind that I possess, being the entrepreneur that I am, and my first love being marketing and promotion, I can always come up with the way to make things successful and I truly believe in my abilities. With that being said, when I watch what is being done, with the UFC, I have to give ZUFFA tremendous credit. Since they have taken over the UFC, you can criticize certain things, you can praise many, many things, but the bottom line is: What they have done with the UFC in the little over the two years that they have owned it, has been nothing short of just historical.
What needs to be done beyond that? There are certain things, certain ways of marketing it to a direct target audience, since it’s not on free TV that I would apply personally so that every martial artist or somebody practicing martial arts in this country always knows when they have a chance to watch the UFC on a given Friday on pay-per-view. I believe in going after your qualified leads, your direct audience. It’s one thing to spend money and advertise, it’s another thing to spend money and advertise to a qualified audience that will give you results. With that being said, the major move that needs to be made, and I did my best to help with this last year when I was interviewed on “The Best Damned Sports Show,” on FOX Sports Net, I brought Tito Ortiz with me and while I was there, the producer and I had a good long talk together. Long story cut short, we came up with the concept of FOX Sports Net being the first to show UFC as a free fight on free TV. What I did at that point was introduce FOX Sports Net to Lorenzo Fertitta and ZUFFA. Lorenzo took the ball, ran with it, did a great job with Dana White, and put on that UFC 37.5 show at the Bellagio, which allowed them to show the Robbie Lawler - Steve Berger fight on free TV. That led into two documentaries being shown on FOX Sports Net’s Boxing Hour on two Sunday nights, which were about the UFC and two fighters per hour. According to my contacts at FOX, that more than doubled the previous ratings they would receive in that time slot, which was people watching boxing. Now, ask yourself one question, “What does that tell you?” It tells you that there is a huge audience out there, but you can’t expect that audience to just buy pay-per-view because they just don’t know the fighters as a rule, unless they’re diehard fans or have recently become fans of the UFC as so many people are doing on a daily basis. The only way to expand the sport, to make it the huge sport that it should be on free TV on a major cable or network channel, in order to allow the fighters to make the money that they should make, which in my opinion should be paid on the same level as boxing someday and I will personally never stop anything I do to promote the sport until I see that happen.
That is your secret right there and to me it is no secret because it is a proven theory of success. We mentioned it before, but that’s it – free TV. So it has to be free TV, in a way that brings revenue into the owners of the events, such as ZUFFA and the UFC, but the same time giving them the exposure they need on a major cable station or network. Not just a small syndicated network, a major station or network so that they can work with them to market the UFC, familiarize the fans with the personalities of the UFC and market those most marketable personalities to spearhead the UFC. In turn, that will make people tune in to the pay-per-views and start them talking to everybody that comes within a short distance of themselves because they’ve become true fans, and that’s what true fans do. I call it my “3 foot theory” - talk about what you are passionate about to every person you feel would be interested that comes within three feet of you. That’s how I feel.
Boxing Insider: Ironically enough, we are in a position where you cannot hold mixed martial arts events in Ontario, but the Sports Network (TSN) can show fights on TV.
Bruce Buffer: Yes, I’ve been very jealous of you Canadians since you’ve been able to watch the UFC on TSN. I have to tell you I’m jealous. I would like to turn on my TV and watch the UFC on free TV. Granted, I will be there announcing it, but in a situation to watch highlights, my week would be so fulfilled if I could watch an hour of UFC every week on TV. Now it has been announced at www.maxfighting.com that the UFC will be showing past UFCs in a highlight show on the Sunshine Network, which is great for about six million subscribers and those that have Direct TV. I’m excited about this forward movement into free TV, but again the UFC must eventually have a weekly or bi-monthly show on a major network or cable station to become respected as a mainstream sport fully and I’m confident that ZUFFA will accomplish this difficult feat in the near future.
Boxing Insider: They had the Full Contact Fighter show, which I think they were also producing in Toronto for while.
Bruce Buffer: Yes, they were and Full Contact Fighter was a good show. It was a good start, but it was on The Sunshine Network and on TSN, and with all respect to both those networks they are not seen all over the country. It is all about audience. You have to have the audience to play to so hopefully the majority or a good number of them will buy the pay per view shows.
Boxing Insider: I have a similar question but related to the fighters. What advice would you give to fighters who are trying to market and protect their image?
Bruce Buffer: Be the best you can be and handle your self with class both in and out of the Octagon. Don’t ever curse during interviews and always think about maintaining a positive image to become a role model, like Frank Shamrock always does. Along with a winning performance in the Octagon, this is what potential sponsors look at when deciding about working with fighters. Otherwise you’ll find yourself on the short end of the stick as the sport grows and attracts the eyes of major sponsors like Budweiser, Nike and others.
Boxing Insider: Good Point!
Bruce Buffer: You might ask me, “What is so important about that in this day and age of decaying morality, grunge and rappers cursing at each other and all the stuff that sells really well to the 18 to 34 year old male?” The bottom line is: As a fighter you only have so many sources of income - you have your purses and you have your sponsorships. If you ever want to be sponsored by somebody that pays some real money to a fighter who is part of a growing sport, such as the UFC and mixed martial arts then take note of what I am saying: Nike is not going to give money to a guy that wins in the ring and says, “F-this, F-that, F-this,” like Phil Baroni has in the past. Now I like Phil and have nothing against Phil, he’s a cool guy and one of my favorite fighters, but if I was his manager I would probably fine him $1000 every time I heard him curse on TV to get him to stop. He can still be just as flamboyant as he wants to, but Nike is not to going to put money behind somebody that they cannot put in an ad or on TV advertising their product to their buying audience which includes young kids. I’m sure you can see where I am going with this. I have dealt with major sponsors and I know how they work and have a good understanding of what they look for in new prospects.
Boxing Insider: What are your expectations for UFC 42 show? ( This interview was conducted before UFC 42)
Bruce Buffer: My expectations? Quite frankly, I think UFC 43 is a heck of a show. Matt Hughes is always exciting and people have to realize that Sean Sherk is a fantastic fighter himself. They are actually both very similar. I see that as being a really good fight. The fight of the night in my opinion is a fellow named Genki Sudo out of Japan vs. Duane “Bang” Ludwig who just knocked out Jens Pulver in the UCC up there (Canada). Duane Ludwig, who is trained by Bas Rutten, I used to announce his fights when he was fighting in King of the Cage, and I think he is an extremely exciting fighter. I can’t wait for that fight. That to me is a marquee fight. Robbie Lawler and Pete Spratt might not go beyond one or two rounds, but it is going to be a slugfest. Then you have a lot of fighters that people are not familiar with. Hermes Franca and Rich Crunkilton is going to be a brawl! There are some really, really good fights. Then you have Wesley “Cabbage” Correira, who a lot of people remember from when he fought Tim Sylvia, but it was actually one of the more entertaining fights, and that is going to be sort of a fan favorite against Sean Alvarez, so we will see how that goes.
There are some really good fights that night and you do not have to have a top marquee fighter such as Tito Ortiz on the marquee to see a great UFC. Remember one thing, when you watch boxing, like a De La Hoya event, one third of the audience doesn’t even show up until the main event. In the UFC, they show up from the beginning until the end because you never know what the best fight of the night is going to be and that’s the beauty of the UFC and the sport. MMA is the most exciting sport in the world to me.
Boxing Insider: I agree, I think UFC 42 will be one of the best cards ever.
Bruce Buffer: Absolutely, and all I can say is just watch it. It’s one of those things you just have to watch. When is the last time we had a bad UFC? I don’t think we’ve had a bad one, if you can call any of them bad, since that first-time we got back on pay-per-view, where we didn’t have the stand up rule we have today.
Boxing Insider: The UFC 33 was a little bit disappointing.
Bruce Buffer: That is the one I am talking about.
Boxing Insider: There were some good fights, but it just wasn’t marketable.
Bruce Buffer: It wasn’t the excitement we like to see when we watch the UFC.
Boxing Insider: Fans who follow the UFC all the time would watch those fights and say, “you know what? They were pretty good.” But if you’re trying to market on TV, for the first time, most people would just not get it.
In closing, is there anything else you would like to add?
Bruce Buffer: I think that the mixed martial arts fans, and I have had the pleasure of meeting them all over the world, are some of the most loyal, greatest fans I have ever met in my life. They love their mixed martial arts. That is one of the reasons I created Maxfighting.com because I wanted to bring a Sports Illustrated approach to the sport. We have a lot of growth to do yet with that web site but I think it’s a dynamite site for all of the fans out there.
After that, I can just tell you that I have worked very hard to get where I am at, very hard to get my brother where he is at too - along with all my brother’s grand talents and all his hard work. Whenever you reach a certain success level, the hardest work, the hardest job is to stay there, so it’s a constant effort. That is why I started saying, “It’s Time… To Begin...” The only reason I say that is because every day to me, it’s time to begin. I don’t live on my laurels, I don’t live on yesterday, it’s about the proving ground of today and that is the way I look at life. That is probably the reason that I am the overachiever I am. But I am very lucky, with everything I have in my work life at my disposal, I feel very blessed and very lucky to be the announcer for the Ultimate Fighting Championship and to be considered the “Voice of Mixed Martial Arts”. I will always maintain the strongest image possible in that respect, and I will always do everything I can for the fighters and everyone involved in the sport to get as much entertainment value out to the fans. Thank you Chris for taking the time to interview me.
Boxing Insider would like to thank Bruce Buffer for his time and cooperation, along with his candid comments about mixed martial arts. Best of luck and continued success!
Check out Bruce Buffers web sites:
MaxFighting.com - The latest Mixed Martial Arts News
Bufferzone.net - The official Website of Bruce Buffer.
Chris Colderley is a boxinginsider.com contributor.
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