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Bruce Buffer - POST UFC 46 Interview
Reported By: Boxing Insider - 02.18.2004 04:42 AM
BoxingInsider.com Interview with Bruce Buffer (Part 1)
His regular appearances at the UFC and other MMA events such as the Abu Dhabi World Submission Wrestling Championships have made him more recognizable than the many of the fighters he introduces each show. Bruce Buffer, “The Voice of Mixed Martial Arts,” in addition to being a highly successful entrepreneur and marketer, is an enthusiastic supporter of the UFC.
BoxingInsider.com: Lets start this interview with your UFC 45 incident where Tank Abbott came at you after the match, and tried to grab the microphone after his fight with Cabbage. Can you tell us in your own words what happened?
Bruce Buffer: The after fight circus in the Octagon had just settled down and the director told to get in place and announce the winner of Tank's fight with Cabbage. While announcing I see Tank enter the Octagon to my right. Now he just got beat, he's got a bad cut on his forehead and knowing Tank for a number of years, you never know what's going through Tank's mind or what he'll do next in a heated moment. Anyway, I'm announcing for the TV and the fans in the arena and Tank comes at me and reaches for the microphone. He grabs it, I pull it back, take three steps backward and one step to the left, not knowing what's going to take place, and just keep announcing -- and then that was it. All I can say is that if I didn't stand my ground, I wouldn't be happy with myself, much less what people think, which doesn't matter to me anyway. So I think I'm 2 and 0 in the Octagon for protecting the mic and my position, with Sakuraba being first at UFC Japan and now Tank. As unpredictable as Tank can be I wasn't worried about him hitting me and if he tried to then the moment would even be a little more memorable for me and the UFC fans. The next day he and I had some words about it. Tank respects my position in the Octagon. We've been friends for a long time, so everything's cool.
BoxingInsider.com: Following UFC 46 We have two new champions, what do you think of that?
Bruce Buffer: It's incredible as far as the Welterweight Championship goes and a disappointing outcome regarding the Heavyweight Championship outcome that occurred. I don't bet on fights but if anybody was to ask me what the best bet of the night was, I would of said the three-to-one odds that could of been won by betting on BJ Penn. Not that I didn't think Matt could beat BJ, but if there was ever a chance of an upset, that was the chance. I know BJ, and we talked over Christmas and he told me about his training -- and I could hear the confidence in him. Knowing BJ and the kind of fighter he is and the kind of striker he is, I knew that if he could pop Matt a couple of times before they went to the ground, the fight would turn in his favor, because BJ's whole plan was to submit Matt. I don't know anybody that can go into battle against Matt Hughes and feel that way expect for a guy like BJ Penn. And whenever I see a match-up and the critics think this guy's going to get killed, creamed, walked on, stepped on, the whole bit -- that's usually the guy that can draw the upset, especially at a skill level like BJ, because the only thing they can say against him was he's not strong enough. Well, that doesn't always come into play here, especially when you're a striker. So the strength differential was made even by the couple of pops that he gave him -- and when he hit him that one time going down on the ground I could tell Matt was halfway out. It was just a matter of time. BJ got his back and it was over and what we had is a very exciting fight, a new champion, and Matt Hughes is going to be hungry as hell now. Matt's going to be an animal in training and his training partners are probably all going to pay for it. And that's exactly what's going to happen. You'll see Matt come back, and I have a funny feeling Matt will be champion again, but I hope that BJ holds that title as long as possible because he is one of my favorite people in MMA today.
BoxingInsider.com: The Randy Couture-Vitor Belfort fight had a very strange ending. Based on what you know, explain how this type of injury happens. What happens? What are your comments following this fight.
Bruce Buffer: This type of injury never happens. I've never seen it. It is a freakish thing. He obviously got sliced by the edge of the glove. When I got in the Octagon his eye was really in bad shape. As a matter of fact, he couldn't even move it from side to side. So if he continued to fight, which the gutsy fighter that Randy is -- he would have continued if he could, but he could have gone blind. So the fight had to be stopped. I don't like the rule of the championship belt being taken 40 seconds into a fight because a punch was thrown, but that's the rules. We have to abide by the rules. And now it's what we call a rubber match, and will have to go at it again in June. An extremely exciting build-up to that bout of the evening, but an extremely disappointing let-down. Even when I was announcing the new undisputed champion, my heart wasn't in it -- even though I totally respect Vitor Belfort. But we'll do this all again in June, and that's just the way life is.
BoxingInsider.com: Frank Mir showed some solid striking ability and punching in his match. What did you think of his fight against Wes Sims?
Bruce Buffer: I like Wes Sims and he is a real character. I don't really think that Wes has the varied skills the way that Frank has skills. But Wes is a gutsy, gutsy fighter. The entertainment value was high -- holding the thumb in the air, going into the bird, which I totally am against. I'm against cursing and against the birds being given by fighters because I'm all about respect, as I think you know. But the knockout in that fight was literally one of the best knockouts I've seen in boxing or mixed martial arts in my entire life. The slow motion aspect when Wes went back from the knee and then the punch was awesome to see and you couldn't ask for a greater knockout than that. I do think that Frank needs to work on his conditioning though. It seems like he was out of it. He was tired at the beginning of the second round. The guy is an amazing athlete.
BoxingInsider.com: On the subject of respect and people saying bad words and putting the finger etc on TV, this pay-per-view had many instances of people dropping the F-bomb. And on that note, what is your thought on the in-ring angle between Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell?
Bruce Buffer:I think that interviews don't need to be orchestrated and they should be natural,. What I would do, if there was a decision I was in charge of making, is that if an on-camera interview is being done and a fighter or even me uses banned curse words like the F word, then I would fine fighters money, where it would teach them most and make them think twice before lowering the class level of the UFC televised show. In relation to the kind of money these fighters make, I would fine them at least $250 every time they said the F word or the S word or any banned word and give them a list of words that are not allowed. They should be instructed them on this beforehand and in that way their mindset is that way.
I was disappointed in Tito flying of the double birds and cursing. I saw the Tito of old. I have had a past conversation with Tito about the class side, because that is the image you want to keep working on, which he has been doing so well with. He's a good friend, a great guy and a great fighter and he will be champion again. But if I was watching over him closely, my words would be, "Tito, don't go there and handle yourself with class while creating the excitement and sizzle needed to promote your fight with Chuck". I was very surprised this last UFC 46 at the amount of profanity displayed during the pay per view and have received comments from people whose opinions I respect that said it was a great show but the F words and the finger birds dropped it a few class points and that they thought we had stopped that in our quest to take the UFC mainstream. Listen, I'm no angel, t's not like I don't curse, but people are watching and we're trying to build this sport in the pubic eye and I believe in never leaving one's self open to needless criticism and stick to the class game plan, which we have in the UFC. I am very strong in my opinions about role model images being created and marketed. All you can do is teach and instruct and if people don't listen, then let it be their downfall, but don't let them take you down with them, so do all you can to is instruct them and keep the image consistently strong and marketable to the mainstream.
BoxingInsider.com: What do you think of Lee Murray's performance both in the fight and after the fight and his exchange with Tito?
Bruce Buffer: Lee Murray is colorful. He's got a great look. He's got a body like Tommy Hearns had in his prime, which is a very dangerous body for a fighter with those long arms. He's got Neanderthal arms. They are almost hanging below his knees. The reach of this guy is tremendous. And being the striker that he is, if you look at when he came out, he threw what most fighters have to learn how to throw -- he threw a punch straight down the pipe. Had that punch hit Jorge, the chances are it could have knocked him out right there. I wanted to see more of the striking side of Lee Murray, although I was very happy to see that he does have a submission ability. I think Lee Murray is a fighter to contend with, and I think that he is an exciting personality for the Octagon.
It doesn't even matter about the Tito-Lee Murray situation that occurred in London, because that's in the street and we're about the sportsmanship of fighting in the Octagon. I am talking about Lee Murray as a fighter. The guy is exciting, and I want to see more of him. He's very colorful and that whole English attitude, like out of the movie "Snatch" is just totally marketable and will definitely give us a huge fan base in England continuously, which is always important. Lee Murray is a future force to be reckoned with and I'm excited to see him fight again.
BoxingInsider.com: For almost a year the organization has been working on getting a TV deal. Can you explain how difficult it is and explain what the process entails from what your understanding is, what both parties have to do to complete a TV deal?
Bruce Buffer: A TV deal is based on having a marketable product, which obviously the UFC has and in it's case the UFC is not just a product but a premier brand around the world. Along with that positive, there is still the negative side of perception which is the reality that we are still faced with when it comes to many TV executives based on the old days of the UFC. So you need to educate them. They need to watch the show. They need to go to a show and get a feel for the huge fan base we have out there. It is all about the presentation and when I introduced the UFC to Fox Sports Net, which televised the first free UFC fight on Fox Sports Best Damn Sports Show Period, followed by Zuffa producing two documentaries in FOX Sport's boxing hour time slot on Sunday a couple of years ago, I educated and emphasized the fact that people will watch this. People will watch this because it is new, it is exciting, and it is proven. But it is all about the marketing aspect and FOX promoted it like crazy and the ratings went up in that Sunday slot when they showed the documentaries. From what I understand, the ratings were in the area of twice what they received for the previous boxing hour. Well those are great results to quote when you're going in and pitching to a network executive. But in the world of television it's the meeting on the meeting on the meeting -- and then you get down to the nuts and bolts of the financials of the situation. That is a question that Zuffa has to answer on what's good for them. If it was me, I would go in and make a deal that was the best deal possible, not being too concerned about the immediate financial return as long as there was a return and not large money being put out. I would sign a deal for a year or two on a major sports network with huge exposure to get the UFC out there on free TV to create as much free exposure to bring in as many fans as possible to buy the pay per views and all the ancillary UFC licensed products. I would then promote and market the show in the most efficient way possible to excite my target demographic of buyers for the next two years.
It takes at least until the third year for any TV show to begin to bring in huge profit returns and by then the UFC should be very established to the mainstream market.
But that's just my opinion. I'm sure that Zuffa's doing very well at getting this together. But knowing how TV projects work, these things take time. Even when they're signed, you're never guaranteed until it's on. When it's on TV and in TV Guide for the world to see, then I know that the final project has been made. I've seen too many of these get hyped-up and then fall apart. But I'm sure that Zuffa will conquer this. I know Dana and Lorenzo work very hard at this and I have all the confidence in the world in both of them that they will make it happen.
Stay tuned for part 2 of boxinginsider.com's interview with Bruce Buffer later this week!
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