Sam Vasquez died last Friday as a result of injuries suffered in a sanctioned MMA fight against Vince Libardi on October 20 in Houston, Texas. Vasquez death marks the first death in a regulated MMA contest in the United States. The only previously reported death resulting from an MMA bout occurred in an unregulated bout in the Ukraine in 1998.
While this is obviously first and foremost a human tragedy, it's implications for the MMA industry cannot be ignored. In October, regarding the remote possibility of Zuffa's collapse, I wrote:
The only thing on the horizon that could have such a dramatic effect would likely be an in ring death, but as the number of events continues to rise, and with it the number of less skilled competitors, promoters, referees, etc., the odds of the first death increase as well. If the sport continues to grow and thrive, the sad truth is that someone will die in competition, and the reaction that follows will determine the future of the industry. The good news, or bad news depending on your disposition, is that such an event is largely out of the industry's control. Even with the best precautions, it's almost an inevitable occurrence if the sport is here to stay.
Unfortunately, that inevitability has arrived. Fortunately, for the
UFC and industry as a whole, the death involves an unknown fighter on a low-profile show and took place weeks after the fight, far removed from the cage. None the less, it will be interesting to see what, if any, reaction Vasquez's death garners from the mainstream media.
Zuffa smartly positioned itself for this day as Dana White has carefully emphasised that
the UFC has not had a death in the octagon (as he did on
CNBC last week), with increasingly little mention of
MMA as a whole. The company will still almost certainly take some hit from the death, as will the sport in general, but I don't see the story gaining much traction other than as a sobering footnote in major
MMA pieces moving forward. However, the timing is particularly terrible for
Zuffa as it gears up for a full court press to overturn the current
MMA ban in New York.
Perhaps more importantly, the story can easily be worked into what may be an emerging doom and gloom narrative that the
UFC, and with it
MMA, was simply a fad that ran out of steam in 2007. As Dave
Meltzer pointed out in the latest edition of
The Wrestling Observer, the mainstream media has never fully accepted the
UFC as anything more than a niche sport and now has plenty of ammunition to back up that point of view.
As I emphasised last week, the
UFC (and hopefully it goes without saying at this point--
MMA with it) has benefited tremendously from positive media coverage promoting
MMA as the new "it."
But the numbers this year, at least on their face, will no longer support that narrative.
Based on the success boxing is enjoying this year, the most likely storyline next year is the rise of boxing and, at the very least, the stagnation of
MMA.
It will be interesting to see how the
UFC handles the potential shift in the mainstream media's attitude. Will White go on the defensive or take things in stride, confident in the future of the sport? Will the company live to regret its antagonism of the new media? These are only some of the questions that 2008 hold for the industry.
