I need to pick some brains of fans of MMA

[Patrysha]

I have an opportunity that involves a Mixed Martial Arts on behalf of a local client, we want to take maximum advantage of the sponsorship deal. My husband is only enough of a fan to watch it on television when he's not playing video games and following it in the newspapers...so not the type of fan I need to get insight from.

Someone who would buy tickets to an event and attend some of the side things like autograph sessions and meet and greets.

Thanks in advance!

[billbenson]

I take karate and don't know many people that are interested in it. To me it gets more of a pro wrestling type of fan base. Because of the popularity of it there are MMA schools. People that would particularly select those schools would be a target market. Grappling which is the wrestling sort of mat work that is part of MMA would probably be interested as well. I can say this. I take 3 different styles of karate and work out for several hours most week days so I know a lot of karate people and I don't know anybody that would be interested in actually going to an event. I do, however, know people who will throw a MMA party around an event and get it on pay per view.

So to me its more the pro wrestling, hockey type of fan that would be a prospect.

I don't know if that is helpful or not. If you have more specific questions...

[Patrysha]

Yeah I have basics...I take advantage of the people watching opportunities on UFC night at the lounge. I don't know quite what I'm looking for yet. Hopefully I'll be able to learn more from the meeting tomorrow about the specific demographics and so on (if they aren't just clueless bandwagon junkies and are actually a sport's entertainment set up...) I just wanted to see if I could get a jumpstart on some ideas and planning tonight...

[vangogh]

I was initially thinking the same thing as Bill about MMA attracting similar to the wrestling crowd, but I did a quick search for "mixed martial arts demographics" and found this PDF from a sports marketing group.

Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Attracts Young Adults with Purchasing Power (http://www.scarborough.com/press_releases/MMA%20Mixed%20Martial%20Arts%20Scarborough%20Sport s%20Marketing.pdf).

There are about 300,000 results to the query in Google. I think MMA attracts a lot of people who otherwise be boxing fans. Boxing has been on the decline for awhile and MMA is attracting many who are leaving.

Here's a forum post (http://www.mmalinker.com/forum/daily-news/bob-arum-has-a-point-about-the-ufc-s-demographics-and-the-ufc-knows-it-t78233.html) quoting boxing promoter Bob Arum about the demographics of both.

A lot of the results probably won't offer you much info, but if you don't mind sifting through a few pages you might gain some insights.

[Patrysha]

Awesome - thanks so much. I guess I should've googled first but I've only got 2001 things on the go already...lol. This was only sprung on me in the last couple of days and the decision to go ahead with it as far as sponsoring was just relayed to me tonight.

[tylerhutchinson]

I am a big MMA fan. Follow the news, part of forum boards, and can tell you a lot about the sport as well as I practice the sport as well. I am not sure what your question was tho to be able to answer. :)

[billbenson]

Also, I'd be willing to bet that boxing fans have migrated to MMA as boxing isn't nearly as popular as it once was. MMA is like boxing in that its a real. Professional wrestling in contrast is choreographed.

[Patrysha]

Tyler, I'd love to pick your brains - I'll send a PM.

Yes, many boxing fans have migrated to MMA. It's an issue that was brought up in one of the links that Van Gogh posted earlier in the thread.