For those who are not familiarized with the term, UFC means: Ultimate Fighting Championship. It is the largest MMA (mixed martial arts) competition in the World today
I decided to cover the aspects of it in the blog inspired by the fact that today is UFC night. This is de 101 edition of UFC. Yes, it has been 101 competitions already since the Gracie Family, creators of the world famous Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, entered the UFC stage for the fist time. In that occasion they passed the message that Brazil had more to offer than beautifull womans and soccer players. Even though you may not agree with the violence involved in MMA competitions, no one can ignore the fact that Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is being considered by jornalists as the biggest Brazilian worldwide cultural explosion since Bossa Nova.
There's no MMA fighter in the world that can, safely, enter the octogone (UFC's ring) without at least a basic preparation on what the world calls Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
Brazil is a leader in the UFC rankings and actually holds two titles in different categories, which is really unusual in that competition.
It is also the only country to earn direct respect, what I mean by that is, a brazilian fighter gets certain amount of respect already just because of its nationality. This is one thing that we didn't had experimented in other sports than Soccer yet.
For those and other reasons it is at least interesting to take a look and decode some of the aspects that involves this world wide phenomenon.
First, leave your personal opinions on fights behind, and let's check three elements that makes UFC a "not to be questioned" Innovation.
1) Innovation sometimes are a scary thing.
UFC in the early days was something not to talk about. It reminded us of clandestine fights, that ones that happens in somebody backyards. Normal people avoided to talk about it at any costs. And the competition was only adopted by a few martial arts lovers.
2) Innovation is not about the object. It is about the people.
The UFC brand is way beyond the fight already. Today it represents a life style. People that are not directly engaged in fight activities choose deliberately to live the UFC life style. This can be seen in the growth of certain Brands that were born as UFC fighter gear providers, one good example is Ecko Unltd. Harley Davidson itself and Burger king had also joined the hero quest of UFC fight competition atmosphere.
3) Innovation is a category killer.
UFC has made Boxe looks like a pillow fight. A Boxe fight will take much longer than people are willing to pay attention to, this is in part because of the "safety rules" of the sport.
Boxe lost it's innovation timing long before. Today it is a "fading" sport and if they don't reinvent it quickly it will be restricted soon to multi-sports events like the Olympic games.
This is the result you get by practicing the "keep doing what works" mentality in any category. While the fight consumers perceptions was evolving Boxe was stucked with it's pillow gloves and big clumsy old-funny shorts.
The result is clear. Show a teenager a picture of Lyoto Machida or Demian Maia, both UFC fighters that cannot be framed in the common fighter stereotype which is "big guys with small brains", and at the same time show to the kid a picture of a Boxe fighter (you can use the posted bellow pictures if you like). And ask that kid a simple question: If you had to choose, which one would you prefer to be like?
The image of the Boxe fighter today is the same as it was 20 years ago. And this doesn't please the eyes anymore, doesn't matter if you are a boomer, X or Y generation.
How about you? Who you 'd rather to be like?
These guys:
Or those guys:
* Sorry if you are strongly against fight competitions, but just try to be neutral and give your opinion based on context and identity of both scenarios.
And why Harley Davidson choose jump in the UFC?
Harley has associated it's image to the UFC Brand in a very sharp and clever way. Some people asked me already: But this is too violent, can it represents danger to the Brand image? . And also: But Harley wants to be seen as violent?
The answer is no to both questions.
The UFC Brand triggers the Hero Archetype in one of it's more traditional forms: The Gladiator. The Gladiator is the mysterious hero who fights in a closed space, and cannot leave until his opponent is dead. He fights all his life to earn the ultimate prize which is his freedom.
In the UFC the same scenario takes place. Only after the fighter had engaged in a certain number of fights he earns the right to control his financial transactions and to choose better his next fights.
The octagon (UFC ring) is also called "The Cage". Any Harley Davidson lover knows that "cages" is the way the Brand refers to cars. So, people are stucked in cages (cars) and Harley is their way to find their freedom.
So...wrapping up.
In UFC: The fighter will fight for his life, inside a cage, after the ultimate prize which is his freedom.
On the real life: People fight their daily battles on cages (cars, offices...), and the prize should also be the Freedom. And freedom can be achieved when you ride a Harley Davidson.
This is a strong association example between two brands. They have different archetypes but they share core values. Great deal.
Or did you thought that Harley was just doing mass media strategies again? They don't need it. They are just making their Brand statement strong in consumers mind.
Well, UFC is an Innovation. It is the reinvention of the previously released by Boxe category:” Highly produced drama fights, to watch at home with friends and family in the weekend". It has all the Boxe drama, fighters debates, historical sad fighter life-stories to backup the drama and the Hero Gladiator archetype and etc. But it all comes in a very contextualized way and with a language that is in perfect pace with today's consumers lives.
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