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Inside a warehouse that sits in
a rugged area near the border between
Los Angeles
and
Glendale,
filming was underway in the Ultimate Fighting Championship's most vigorous
effort yet to tap a wider Spanish-speaking audience.
"El Octagono," an hourlong Saturday night series set to debut
Saturday on the cable network Galavision, will include fighter interviews,
highlights and mixed martial arts education for Latino fight fans who
traditionally have flocked to Aboxing.
Cameramen surround the Octagon in a a 2002 UFC bout in Las
Vegas featuring Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock. Mark Boster/Los AngelesTimes
"It's important to get those fans," UFC lightweight
Kenny Florian said. "They're so passionate about boxing, and this is very
much in line with what they like about combat. We know they support Latino
fighters in boxing, and now it's just about giving them more awareness about
our sport, and showing them how exciting our fights are. Awareness has been the
main obstacle."
Florian, 31, is a fluent Spanish speaker from
Boston
whose parents are from
Peru.
He's preparing for an August fight at UFC 87 in
Minneapolis against Roger Huerta, 24, a
Latino best known for being the first UFC fighter featured on a Sports
Illustrated cover.
"Once Hispanics see there's plenty of fighters they can relate to, guys
who speak the same language, that'll be a big plus," Huerta (22-1-1) said.
"It's like a brotherhood, they can relate to us."
The Florian-Huerta winner will earn a lightweight title shot against the winner
of next month's B.J. Penn-Sean Sherk title fight, and the UFC already claims a
Spanish-speaking champion in Brazilian heavyweight Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.
"I love boxing for what it is, but you see so many different things, and a
higher pace, in UFC fights," Huerta said. "You can see punching,
wrestling, submissions. If boxing is like shooting a 9-millimeter, imagine
adding in a bazooka and machine gun. With the more weapons we have, the
interest will come around. The key thing is just to educate."
Until now, the UFC has devoted most of its energy attracting the
18-to-34-year-old (usually white) males, who routinely pack arenas and purchase
monthly pay-per-view cards headlined in recent years by Mohawk-wearing Chuck
Liddell and veteran fighter Randy Couture, both white.
Meanwhile, veteran boxing promoter Bob Arum is making a bundle of cash on his
pay-per-view "Latin Fury" cards, featuring popular Julio Cesar Chavez
Jr. and Jorge Arce.
Arum stages the fights in
Mexico,
pocketing live gate and Mexican television rights revenue. He had 80,000
pay-per-view buys in the
U.S.
on his most recent "Latin Fury" card, Top Rank spokesman Bill Caplan
said, netting more than $17 per purchase.
"The reason Hispanic fans buy into it is the Hispanic fighters," Arum
said. "Brazilian is not Hispanic. Hispanic means Mexican, and how many
good Mexicans, or Mexican Americans, do they have? Without that, there's no
interest. None.
"If you develop the Mexican stars, you can attract the younger Latino
audience, but it seems as if that's a long way from happening, and you don't
want to spend so much time on it that you lose your core audience: white, male,
tattooed. . . ."
Arum said an endeavor like "El Octagono" fuels speculation that
interest in UFC has reached a plateau.
The company doesn't release revenue figures, such as pay-per-view buys.
"If this sport was so booming, this wouldn't be happening," Arum
said.
Yet, UFC officials say they are only seeking to widen the mixed martial arts
audience by pointing Latino viewers to "El Octagono" and its profiles
of welterweight contender Diego Sanchez of
San Diego and heavyweights Eddie Sanchez and
Gabriel Gonzaga.
"I believe boxing fans will enjoy MMA more," said Gonzaga, who after
stunning respected heavyweight Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic with a
vicious head kick last year, was defeated by Couture in a heavyweight title
fight in August. "It's a more interesting fight, and the underdog wins
more often. You don't go in knowing what's going to happen.
"The Latin fighter, as boxing has shown, has a lot of heart. And sometimes
in MMA, heart can beat a better fighter."
Eddie Sanchez, who resides in Encinitas, said his manager has talked to UFC
President Dana White about making a promotional trip to
Mexico
City, or
Tijuana, to hype a yet
unscheduled UFC card in
Mexico.
"The fiery blood, the never-give-up-till-I-die attitude you see in Mexican
fighters is the way I fight," Sanchez said. "We'll get a UFC show
into
Mexico,
and it'll be huge. It's long overdue."
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