Why the UFC Will Conquer Each Major American Sports Organization

The UFC's growth will inevitably lead it to eclipse the other major sports organizations.

The company has been growing since 200, and it's success doesn't appear fleeting. All the UFC needs to do to hit the next level and truly be on par with the "big boys" is to have a successful showing on the FOX network in November.

"Big deal! The other sports have been mainstream and on major networks for a long time," one might say. This is a myopic statement.

The truth is that the UFC, due to its unique structure (that is to say, being controlled by three superlatively dedicated men in the Fertita brothers and Dana White) is immune to many of the issues that are currently plaguing the other sports.

So how will this impact the future growth of the UFC and the UFC's ascent over the other leagues? Read and find out!

Why the UFC Will Continue To Grow

The UFC's growth has gone unabated since the Zuffa takeover in 2001. This growth seems to have lagged due to lackluster pay-per-view numbers, but it's nothing that the UFC's foray onto FOX won't fix.

The UFC's major network debut will draw a massive number a fans to the sport, and the moving of The Ultimate Fighter reality series to FOX will gain even more fans as well as keep the newer fans interested; the growth of the UFC will therefore be rekindled.

Demographics must also be considered. Initially, the UFC was a scary company with PR problems. Ignorant people across the U.S. associated it with brawling and the like. This notion is fortunately disappearing, and now, it's becoming the "in" thing—the sport of the millennium.

Shows such as The Simpsons, Degrassi: The Next Generation and even the children's show (or "tween" if you prefer that term) iCarly have all featured MMA-related episodes.

The young people (the 18-34-year-olds) who are fans now will raise their children on the sport who will raise their children on the sport. Eventually, appreciation for MMA will span across all walks of American society—a feat that even the NFL can't claim yet (the NFL is popular, yes, but can they boast that they have a strong female demographic? At 45% of their viewers, the UFC can).

The UFC has the right attitude and the right content at the right time; it has struck a cord with this generation's zeitgeist, and it's reaping the benefits.

Also, MMA is the most superior and purest form of athletic competition. Does dunking a basketball on someone really mean you "whooped their a**?" Of course not! It's so arbitrary! But if you leave someone unconscious with their limbs starched in the air or even have someone begging to be let out of a submission, there is no question who the real winner is.

Even basketball legend Shaquille O'neal conceded to this fact when he admitted that MMA training helped to make him a champion.

The UFC and MMA are pervading the culture with the most exciting and purest sport known to man. The result is inherent and pertinacious success.

What about the other sports?

Other Combat Sports

Kickboxing is practically dead, and boxing is too!

FEG, the company that owns the global and most prestigious kickboxing promotion K-1, is "technically bankrupt," according to MMAfighting.com.

And the miasmatic atmosphere that surrounds boxing shows no sign of retreating. There is only one fight left in the sport followed mainly by older men and the sport will continue to fester regardless of whether or not it happens.

No other combat sport will topple the UFC, not even the resurgent XARM.

The NBA

If you've picked up a newspaper (or browsed a news website) at all recently, odds are you'd have heard of the NBA's lockout trouble. Due to a negotiations impasse, the NBA had to cancel the first two weeks of its season!

It seems as though the NBA players union has become corrupt and shiftless. The average salary is around $5 million and the top players make several times that, yet still, they still refuse to lower it to save the money-hemorrhaging (the NBA is apparently losing more than $300 million a year!) league.

This is a major problem that the NBA faces. It's losing money, and its players won't accept a decrease in pay. Will this lead to the dissolution of the NBA?

Probably not but in the face of such devastating issues, they won't be able to sustain growth or popularity. The UFC will easily be able to pass them up due to the fact that they don't need to worry about an excess of prima donna athletes or a union.

The NHL

The NHL is easily the least popular of all the major sports organizations in the United States. As such, the UFC will surpass it without much of an issue, and within the confines of the U.S., it's likely done so already! (although it's probable that the UFC's popularity will never match the NHL's in Canada).

Three prominent NHL franchises currently face ownership issues, and the league will face labor issues after this season.

The UFC doesn't have these problems. The company is solvent, and they don't have to worry about a fighters' union. Even if a fighter acts up and attempts to hold out for more money, Dana White and co. will gladly let that fighter go beat up cans in a minor-league promotion that will become defunct anyway. (see: Affliction, EliteXC, soon to be Strikeforce).

MLB

Major League Baseball has had unrelenting problems with steroids, but it still has maintained a certain degree of popularity; it's still "America's favorite pastime."

However, it's just that, a pastime.

Major League Baseball is popular in the United States, but it seems to have a ceiling. It may always have a role in the American sports scene, but it will never really get to the forefront of the national stage and surpass the NFL or the UFC and become more popular.

The NFL

Why the UFC will ultimately outpace the NFL in growth and eclipse it entirely has already been discussed at length; a brief summary of those points will suffice.

The crux of the UFC's victory lies overseas in the UFC's expansion. The UFC has been able to successfully expand to other parts of the globe whereas the NFL had to retreat from Europe with its tail between its legs after the failure that was NFL Europe.

This expansion has been so successful because fighting is intrinsic in any human regardless of language or culture. A European youth can't appreciate a football player downing a punt at the 2-yard line but can definitely respect and enjoy a great knockout or submission.

In addition, the UFC's image as a sordid contest fit only for the dredges of society will swiftly evaporate. Currently, the most highly-regarded athletes are those in the NFL. However, this is beginning to change.

The fact that MMA requires the most athleticism of all the sports and its athletes are the toughest is becoming well known. The New York Jets even had UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar give them a pep talk recently (and it's worth noting that the Jets also train MMA in the offseason).

It may take a while, but the UFC will eventually topple the NFL and become the king of the American sports world. It's not a matter of if, but when. And "when" is going to be sooner than we think.