Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), the most prominent mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion in the world, has no problem attracting “black-on-black crime,” but it still can’t figure out how to capture black-on-black fans.
Which might explain the absence of Floyd Mayweather’s boxing fans.
That’s according to welterweight champion Tyron Woodley, who is doing everything in his power to make cage fighting more appealing to the barbershop market. And if his latest 170-pound title defense doesn’t cut it, then perhaps his new rap single will.
So long as he gets a little help from his employer.
“This sport is trying to be parallel with NFL, MLB, and all these other sports, you wanna be taken seriously,” Woodley said. “You got people who wanna fuck with the sport, but they think MMA is a whole bunch of crazy white people beating each other’s ass with a sprinkle of a few brothers. But it’s my job to get the people from the barbershop, to bring over the Mayweather fans, and I think as an organization we failed to get me to grab that market.”
Perhaps because that market may not guarantee a return on investment, according to this outspoken UFC fighter.
Woodley, fresh off his submission victory over Darren Till at UFC 228 earlier this month in Dallas, Texas, has long criticized the promotion for failing to put any marketing muscle behind his championship reign, which began with his knockout win over Robbie Lawler in summer 2016.
In fact, UFC President Dana White has not been shy about burying Woodley in the media while praising Conor McGregor. The former has defended his belt three times and never ran into trouble with the law, while the latter has zero title defenses and one felony arrest.
Don’t blame UFC, blame America!
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