The UFC Just Changed BJJ Forever

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Transcript

UFC Jumps Into Jiu Jitsu

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Competition jujitsu has just been changed. There has been a massive challenger entering. I wouldn't even say challenger, I would say it's an incumbent coming in to steal everybody's competition lunch. What am I talking about? I'm talking about UFC coming in with their grassroots competition series nationwide in the US. This is big news, folks. We're going to unpack why. I mean, it's big news if Craig Jones has automatically responded and said, no, no, no, no, no, don't go there. It's like, man, you, yeah, it's going to be tough. And I think Craig has auto-responded. Mate, he already jumped in with like three or four other people to say, oh, this is terrible. This is going to be bad for competitors. Like already talking about how bad it's going to be. And I'm actually, we'll get into it.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

I'm not going to, I'm not going to say too soon. So the I saw is it I just saw an Instagram post, like a graphic UFC have announced that they're rolling out like competitions for jujitsu tournaments.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

The premise is that it gives a pathway to for folks to make their way to the UFC BJJ. Right. Which is the event I'm going to next week. Yeah. And but it's got masters, kids. You know, you're like, hmm, that's how does that how does that filter into that? Yeah. So no, no, no. They've looked at the UFC, have run the numbers, they looked at what the IBJF is doing, they've looked at what the ADCC is doing, and they're like, well, we'll take all of that. Because there's a few reasons why I feel the UFC has now made this move. Because there was an old paradigm which was, oh, if you were a successful grappler, like if you're a world champion in BJJ, you got into the UFC to make money. That's not necessarily the case now. There is examples of many grapplers making more money than MMA fighters.

SPEAKER_00 1:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

It's not just one-off. This is, you know, it's a thing now.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

Yeah. And even though by virtue of UFC fighters not getting paid much en masse. No, true, true.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

But I and and maybe we had talked about this before. Maybe in the future the UFC will do what it can. It'll manipulate the market once it has its uh, you know, its monopoly, but it's not there yet, right? It doesn't have the monopoly. And right now it's treating the athletes really well. Yeah. Yep.

Grassroots Money And Brand Lock-In

SPEAKER_01 2:15

But what they're coming for is the grassroots money, folks. Like parents will only spend so much money on UFC tickets. But you know how much money they'll spend on kids' tournaments? They'll do multiple tournaments a year, right?

SPEAKER_00 2:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

You know, you you've got you've got expendable income of grown-ass adults being like, I'm 45, I want to, I want to compete. Well, the UFC is providing a tournament that gives me an opportunity to compete. And what this does is it takes uh a passive fan, like an armchair fan, and it extracts money in a different way from making them active. And what this does is indoctrinates kids into the UFC brand, which is like I started, my first tournament was UFC BJJ, and now I'm a UFC champion. Right? Like, so this is what I want to talk about, which is I think it's it's evil genius level stuff.

Happy Meals And Merch Brainwashing

SPEAKER_01 3:08

When I was a kid, uh McDonald's with Happy Meals had McDonald's branded toys, and they're actually quite well made. This back in the 90s, like late 80s, early 90s. They were like little figures of like a uh like a McDonald's chips, which was like a little transformer and then like a little hamburger, and then and and these bits of branding lived in your bedroom. You're like, oh it's so cool. It's brainwashing you into like what this thing is. Think of the apparel. Think of like they've you know, the UFC is essentially a media company, but they're a conglomerate.

SPEAKER_00 3:42

You know, you have ever seen how popular John Deere products are with kids? Oh, yeah, particularly young boys, little ride-on lawn mowers. Yeah, like they draw the agricultural equipment. But um, a mate of mine who works in that industry told me that um John Deere has a side company which is their merchandise. Wow. And their merchandise company is bigger than all of the other agricultural equipment companies combined. Wow, yeah, it's like all the other fucking tractor manufacturers and shit. You put them all together, they're still not as big as the merchandise of these guys. John Deere. Yeah, but it's that same thing, right? It's like get kids into it, yeah. They'll love that, they'll know that brand forever, they'll love it, and then they'll go on to to buy from that brand for sure.

SPEAKER_01 4:25

And so there's that. There's

Entry Fees And The IBJJF Benchmark

SPEAKER_01 4:28

the getting the kids in early and getting them in love with the brand. It's also like in in the post Craig had made, he highlighted how expensive it is. It's we're talking like 100 to 150 USD. Like it's not to register for these comms. Yeah, it's not cheap. But then also the IBJF is not cheap either, right?

SPEAKER_00 4:47

So it's not they've looked at it. I mean, that's kind of what it's kind of the same going right here, right? It's like a like 100, 150 Aussie.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

Similar, depending on, you know, like kids' comps, they might charge cheaper. But you think this that the IBJF, so World Masters or Jiu Jitsu Con, which has kids and and masters athletes, goes for three days or more. 15,000 jujitsu athletes. And they're paying at least a hundred bucks ahead. There is money in the game, as well as everything else. But here's where the UFC has leverage over both the IBJ JF and the ADCC. Let's talk about it.

UFC’s Advantage Over ADCC

SPEAKER_01 5:29

The ADCC it's kind of like the enhanced games. No, jokes. Um, it's it's like the NBA, it's a pro league. Like you can you have to be elite of elite to go to the ADCC. The best of the best compete to be in that all-star game. The IBJF obviously has the world championships and people have to fight their way through to be a world champion, but even though they have their junior comps and things like that, they don't have a real tight path for an amateur young person to become a pro. In other sports, there is that, whether it be tennis, football, basketball, most major professional programs, even though the ADCC has rolled out its tournament series, which has been going like all over the US, all over the world, people being able to compete in that format, what the UFC has is a huge advantage is they have the pro league you could train up to make money being a pro, and now they're implementing the kids, the adults, the masters to make their audience more active and engaged with their brand. And that's where I feel like I'm not saying it's good, folks. I'm not saying I'm not saying it's good or bad. I'm just have sat there, I put my evil genius hat on, and I'm like, this is fucking incredible. Like significant what they're doing means a lot because they're bridging the gap from kids and amateurs to the pros. And they've got the media might to offer the fame and the stardom which people crave, but maybe they'll move the numbers around so they don't give you the money in the end. But maybe the chosen few will get well paid, and the promise of that is what gets people bought in and and making the UFC a lot of money. What do you think about this, Joe?

Could UFC BJJ Still Flop

SPEAKER_00 7:24

Yeah, it's a good point. I mean, I it's it seems like it could become a very significant play. It also seemed like in the same because we spoke about it just the other week, didn't we, about UFC BJJ. I st I do also think that that could just end up becoming a bit of a flop. Like, I don't think it's necessarily destined to be great.

SPEAKER_01 7:45

It could, it could absolutely, you know, but it could just be another thing, you know, like but if uh many people could say that possibly the USC isn't the best expression of what MMA is. People might say pride. Pride was, you know, yeah, pride circa 2000.

SPEAKER_00 8:04

Our generation will always say that, dude.

SPEAKER_01 8:06

You know what I mean? Like, oh, soccer kicks to the head, and you know, like wild stuff, right? Like it's an era, and maybe that's what ADCC is, right?

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SPEAKER_01 8:53

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What Grassroots Events Must Deliver

SPEAKER_01 9:31

we accept that the main player with the most money will kind of end up like power law, end up dominating a sport, whether it's the best version or not.

SPEAKER_00 9:41

Generally, right? Yeah, like it it it kind of it's kind of hard to see it going any other way. I guess I just I guess I just feel like simply because the UFC have been able to create the UFC and do such an amazing job of that doesn't necessarily mean that they can do it the same thing with jujitsu. They've obviously got a huge competitive advantage, right, with all of their their infrastructure and their money and whatever, like all the connections to fighters and stuff, but it's still they're still entering another market. And I think there's probably a lot of grapplers that look at it still and be like, you what the fuck do you guys know about jujitsu?

SPEAKER_01 10:19

Because they haven't had a taste, and once they get that taste, man, because it's tough, they they're gonna do exclusivity, and it and it's gonna be one of those things you're gonna have to choose, and the money's gotta be worth it. But I'm gonna be at the US CPI next week and I'm gonna be tasting. I'm gonna be I'm gonna be yeah, it's pretty good. How much would you get this?

SPEAKER_00 10:40

How much?

SPEAKER_01 10:40

Well, and that's the thing, like they they they pay you to show, I mean and they pay you extra to win.

SPEAKER_00 10:46

Yeah, and it's it's a pretty sick deal, right? They look after you, man. Like I said, chance chances are it's gonna do great, right? But I it's just not guaranteed. So when I'm looking at the at this grassroots entry, I'm like, could definitely work, but it's it's it's another step again into unknown territory for them, right? Um, where of course you look at you look at a lot of the other competitors in it, um, grappling industries, IBJ JF, you know, most of them do a pretty average job. I think grappling industries does the best job at a grassroots level, in my opinion. And they've come along and they came along as a bit of a disruptor themselves, right? Yeah, a bit of innovation.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

Around Robin, I think when you're starting out in Jiu Jitsu, to pay 75 bucks, 100 bucks for a category, have one match lose, that's terrible. Yeah, the the the the the genius of what David did there with with grappling industries to go, no, no, no, even if two people come, you will have at least two matches, and maybe three matches, which is actually awesome as a format. And I mean that could be replicated, but I believe at a grassroots level, grappling industries is doing the best, and we don't know what the UC is gonna do.

SPEAKER_00 12:02

You know, it's um you know what I think of. Did you ever

WWE Expansion Failures As Warning

SPEAKER_00 12:05

watch um did you ever watch uh Mr. McMahon on Netflix? No, I did not. Mr. McMahon, you haven't watched it? No. Oh bro, it's a fucking winner. Okay, it's so good. Okay, it's just it's like a six-part series on Vince McMahon, right? Oh, no, no, no. Sorry. It's the way you said it, I was like, is this a Japanese telecaster? I have seen, yeah, Vince, yeah, yeah, we're so it makes me think of that because there was that point when WWE was at its peak and Vince was like, Hulk, we're doing a movie, and they did a movie and it flopped. Yeah. And then WWE went into um, was it football? Yeah, American football, and it flopped.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:42

And he and he says it is like, we got high on our own shit and we're doing really well in this one.

SPEAKER_01 12:47

But they were also doing a bunch of cocaine. That too.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

Sure, but I mean, everyone's, you know, they got they got high on getting high. But but my point is that that it's just that example, you know, and that's I'm like UFC could be doing

Pay-To-Enter Talent Pipeline Strategy

SPEAKER_00 12:58

a bit of that.

SPEAKER_01 12:58

No, I I think the reason why I believe this will have a big impact on jujitsu and will stay around, is because the UFC needs more talent, right? And how many great grapples have we seen go across to the UFC? This is a way that they can get athletes to pay to self-select, which is essentially the collegiate system for the pros, right? Like the American system of having athletes like colleges making all this money off of athletes that are not being paid, which is kind of changing now, but you know, to it just to rise up the cream, you know, and uh self-select these elite athletes, and they just go, Oh, we're gonna have a draft. Beep, pop, boop, in you go. Yeah, right. And and so what they're doing is they're taking something which may have cost them money in the past to try and to require and recruit. It's like now they're getting paid to create a talent pool, mate. Like just in and of itself, and like I said, I don't say this because I think it's the best thing. My greatest concern about this is that it will initially it will grow jujitsu, but then it will maybe the UFC. We've seen it so many times, once they are the best in the space, or you know, that or they buy another organization, once they've got that steel grip, you can't you can't compete with that. You know, like it'll I think it'll be very good for jujitsu in the short term, I believe, but I think maybe in the long term it might end up difficult for athletes if you're not at the elite level. It's gonna give lots of options for competing, like it'll give more it's another, it's another set of tournaments you can do, right?

SPEAKER_00 14:52

Yeah, great.

SPEAKER_01 14:53

Yeah, let's see where that goes. But

Short-Term Growth Long-Term Control

SPEAKER_01 14:56

yeah, you you gotta think like probably early days of the UFC, like they really looked after guys, you know, like guys were part of the organization and they got part of the pay-per-view, and they you know, they really brought people in, and then now it's like, oh, we've got to deal with Paramount, and you don't get points, and we don't do pay-per-views anymore. And you know, like like many things, like um anyway, I don't I don't want to get ahead of that. I I think what who is on notice right now is the IBJ J F and the ADCC. Craig Jones came through and put a bit of a bit of a jolt, like a fucking taser to the to the neck, like hey Mojisim, cop this, and it put the grappling world on notice, but it was not sustainable, right? Like just by virtue of the level of the money and CJI one and two, huge, but it's so challenging because you need a team and you need organization or organizational structures and you need funding and you need you need to be able to lose money and keep it going. And who can do that? Just like Amazon, they will deliberately lose money to put people out of business so they can make money somewhere else on your fucking servers or whatever, right? Like on your TV subscription. But that's the thing, like the the IBJJF is nowhere near the capitalization of the UFC. They they don't they have plenty of money, but Carlinios Gracie Jr. wants to keep that money. That's why a lot of gay athletes aren't really making that money. And it's only recently that ADCC athletes are really getting paid by virtue of Craig putting that pressure. Now you've got the the multi-billion dollar company, which is the USC, coming in and going, we're gonna take this over. That I I would I think it is good because it will grow the sport, but I'm very interested to see how that impacts those fairly big organizations from a grassroots level up to a pro level.

Who Wins Capitalism Or Athletes

SPEAKER_00 16:56

Capitalism's the real winner at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_01 16:59

I feel like the game was the winner at the end of the day, Chief. There it is, folks. Let us let us know what you think in the comments. Is the UFC coming into grassroots competition good for BJJ or is it going to be bad? Time will tell. Both