I always figured that calling MMA “the world’s fastest-growing sport” was mainly a promotional slogan, based more on allegorical evidence than actual numbers. So is the title deserved, or is it hot air? Using data mined from the Simmons Research Database, MMAPayout.com has published a new report breaking down the growth of the UFC in the United States over the past three years, compared to other major sports leagues — as well as information on age and gender demographics. We recommend checking out the whole thing if you have time, but here are some highlights:
- The UFC actually is the fastest-growing sports league in the country, pretty much by default. From 2007-2009, the NFL, MLB, NBA, NASCAR, and MLS (that’s soccer, you guys) actually suffered losses in their fan bases. The NHL’s fan base grew very slightly. By comparison, the UFC increasing their total number of fans by about 14% (and 30% among “avid” fans) seems like a monumental achievement.
- The UFC is nipping at hockey’s heels in terms of number of total U.S. fans, but they’re still a long way from catching up with NASCAR’s popularity. Still, among 18-34 year-old fans, the UFC is actually more popular than the NHL and NASCAR.
- In terms of gender demographics, the UFC is the biggest sausage-fest in professional sports, with a 75/25 ratio between male and female fans. Of all the leagues analyzed, the MLB was the most gender-neutral, with a 60/40 ratio.
- MMAPayout estimates the global size of the UFC fan base to be roughly 65 million.
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commentsbtw, the sun is MMA.
I'm here lmao, but do you know?
2. who gives a fuck? soccer is by far the most popular sport on the face of the earth - that doesn't make it any more entertaining to watch.
I hope the UFC is focusing on refining the current points system more then it is global domination. 65 million fans? lol.
I find it pointless to compare the growth of NHL, NFL, Nascar, NBA and MLB over the past years to the UFC, I should hope the UFC is growing faster than those sports.
I would really like to see how sports like the NHL, NFL, NBA and MLB grew in their first ten to fifteen years vs. how the UFC has grown, it at least would be closer to comparing apples with apples.
I too have an issue with 'UFC fasting growing sport' thing, was this Zuffa's numbers only or collective MMA pay per views, television ratings, live gates etc...
MMA event's during events on sunday afternoons (when not football season), women analyst instead of ring girls, family friendly events (how about tailgating at a UFC event!?). Most of all how about some education outreach so that I don't hear "STAND THEM UP!" every 30 seconds by some lame duck that doesn't understand the ground game.
Just a thought...
Or you could just hauk video games and lame prison fighting movies to the same demographic...
It would be interesting to know but at the same time I'm a little too tired at the moment to avoid being grumpy and shouting "MMA is not just the UFC!" at my monitor.
An before anyone bitches I realise that this seems to be broken down into American sports organisations rather than actual sports. I'm just jaded from dealing with n00bs that think the UFC itself is the sport.
P.S. What is allegorical evidence? I think you meant anecdotal evidence.
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