interested in the UFC was willing to pay a meager four million dollars for it. Lorenzo
decided to put a little more time and money into the UFC and hope for the best,
actually to hope for a miracle.
The Fertittas put ten million dollars into producing The Ultimate Fighter , which
Spike TV picked up and it became a huge success immediately. The first season finale
of The Ultimate Fighter was between two light-heavyweights, Stephan Bonner and
Forrest Griffin, and the winner would receive a six-figure contract with the UFC. The
fight was a toe-to-toe slugfest, and what a fight it was. Dana was so impressed with
the way the two fighters finished his first show that he gave them both a contract.
Dana and his fighters became an overnight sensation after that, but he still had an
uphill battle to bring the UFC to other states and countries and to have MMA accepted
as a legitimate up and coming sport.
In 2001, when Dana and the Fertittas first purchased the UFC, they produced a
book called the All New UFC , and Carmen Electra was their official spokesperson. The
book featured six of their fighters: Tito Ortiz, Randy Couture, Jens Pulver, Carlos
Newton, Pedro Rizzo, and Chuck Liddell. The purpose of this publication was to
launch a marketing campaign to let people know the UFC was under new management
and positioning itself to be accepted into the mainstream of MMA and indeed into the
mainstream sports world. When Senator John McCain was on his campaign to bring
down the UFC, I told Dana how upset I was with all the bad press, especially from
McCain. Dana said, “Mom, don’t get so worked up over it. For us now, any press is
free advertising and helping make people aware of who we are.” I was still pissed off
by it.
In USA Today on April 11, 2005 was an article about Dana and the TUF show:
“Despite an 11:05 p.m. ET/PT Monday slot on Spike TV, the average audience grew
19% to 1.98 million through the first 12 weeks of the 13 week show, according to
Nielsen Media Research. The elusive, advertiser-coveted audience of men ages 18 to
34 is up 55% since the January opening. Viewers are 73% male, with an average age of
- Advertisers include Miller, Nintendo and the U.S. Army.”