- 14 minutes ago
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00All righty, we're here to talk about combat sports.
00:03I want to hear the energy.
00:04I want to see it.
00:05I want to feel it because that's what it's all about, right?
00:08Always.
00:09So Jake and Nikes, you guys were just here recently.
00:11It feels like it was just a couple of weeks ago
00:14to talk about the recent merger between MVP and PFL.
00:17Jake, what's been the reception in the combat sports community?
00:20It's been good, you know, and I think people realize the power
00:24and the company that we've created
00:26and the importance of having a number two entity on the MMA side
00:33where other fighters can go to and get just as big of paydays, if not more,
00:38and the same amount of attention, if not more.
00:42And so really, it's the thesis of our whole organization,
00:46which is fighter first and the reception of all the fighters
00:50wanting to do something with us, the excitement behind it,
00:55and there's never been a boxing and MMA entity
00:59that's all under the same roof vertically integrated.
01:04Do you feel like people got that vision,
01:06get the vision of having them under one roof together?
01:09I think they'll understand it more as time goes on,
01:13and I think it's mainly because of the branding element of it
01:16and what we're going to be calling each sides of it.
01:21But, yeah, there's a ton of excitement around it
01:24because for so long, the fans have wanted to see certain fights
01:29that don't get made because of whatever reasons behind the scenes
01:35with the UFC only paying their fighters 10% of the revenue.
01:38So because of that, amongst many other things,
01:42if they don't like someone, they'll simply just shelve them.
01:44We don't have an ego in that.
01:46And, again, it goes back to fighter first,
01:50which is where we've seen so much success
01:51in working with our whole roster.
01:55And just these, like, small little shifts
02:01can sometimes break a paradigm,
02:03and that's really what we've seen with this merger
02:07and people's excitement around it.
02:09Yeah.
02:10Nikki, so do you feel like people are understanding
02:12the vision that you guys have and what you want MVP
02:14and how you want MVP to operate
02:16in the future of the combat space?
02:19Absolutely.
02:19When I met this young man in 2020,
02:21the first thing he said to me is,
02:23I want to start a fighters union.
02:25And I said, I'm not the guy for that,
02:27but tell me more about what you want to do.
02:29And very early on, we settled on
02:31we want to be a fighter first organization.
02:34And what that means is being equitable
02:36in every way possible based on what we're able to do.
02:39So we're not fooling ourselves.
02:40We're not a $30 billion entity.
02:43We started this business five years ago, a week ago.
02:46We've been self-funded to this point,
02:47and we made a pretty transformational merger
02:49a month ago when we came and saw you here.
02:52And I think people see that vision, see that passion,
02:55and see that focus on the fan and the fighter,
02:58not on our company, not on our bottom line,
03:01which will come, right?
03:02The WNBA, Jake, made a great example
03:04in Birmingham, England last week.
03:0630 years of investment went into it
03:08before it started to produce the results
03:10that we're now seeing.
03:11Well-deserved, but it wasn't overnight.
03:15We're five years in.
03:16We've done unbelievable things.
03:18We've done the biggest streaming sporting event
03:19in history.
03:20We've done the biggest MMA sporting event
03:22in the U.S. in history.
03:24And we're just getting started.
03:25Yeah.
03:26So I want to take it back to the start a little bit
03:28and what you had just talked about
03:30when Jake had first come to see you.
03:32Jake, when you-
03:33I went to see him.
03:33Oh, you went to see him.
03:35You went to see him, but even though
03:36you didn't know who he was that you said?
03:37Someone called me and said,
03:38there's a guy named Jake Paul.
03:40I said, who is that?
03:41They said, he's a YouTuber.
03:42So shame on me for not knowing
03:43because he was the biggest YouTuber in the world,
03:45like unequivocally, right?
03:48And they said he wants to box.
03:50And at the time, I think maybe three years earlier,
03:54had left the UFC.
03:55I said, I don't know much about boxing.
03:56I was in MMA.
03:58But he's like, yeah, but that's more than I know
03:59about any form of fighting.
04:00So just come to the meeting.
04:01And that's how I went and met Jake.
04:03So Jake, when you started that journey,
04:05you wanted to be a boxer, a fighter for yourself.
04:08But did you always know you wanted a promotion company?
04:11You wanted to change, like Nikki said,
04:13said you wanted to create a union.
04:15Was it all-encompassing or for yourself,
04:17it was, hey, I want to start doing this.
04:20And then everything else came afterwards.
04:22It was a little bit of both and having a vision,
04:24mostly around helping other fighters.
04:27And then it became very clear, very quick,
04:32after like two to three fights,
04:33that I was generating the most amount of views in the sport.
04:39And so when I started to meet these other fighters
04:42and hearing their horrendous stories
04:44about being taken advantage of it,
04:46and everyone just says like,
04:48boxing's, you know, the mafia, the dirty business,
04:52and there is these elements of shady characters
04:57and wheeling and dealing and being treated unfairly.
05:01And we run this business like a SF startup,
05:06very lean, very mean, very on top of things.
05:09It's almost, it's hospitality as well.
05:11You're dealing with your fighters
05:12and managing them and their lives
05:14that are the most important thing to them.
05:16So you have to treat them like that oftentimes.
05:19And that just wasn't the case before.
05:21And so you'd hear these stories
05:23and it just became very clear.
05:24We have the platform, we have the marketing,
05:27and every other promoter is not social native.
05:34And that's where everyone hears about fights.
05:38And I happen to have a built-in following
05:41of over a hundred million.
05:44And the other promoters had three, four, five million.
05:50So we already have this, you know,
05:53greater TAM than all the other promoters combined.
05:58And so this is where it all came from, the ideation.
06:03And it started with Amanda Serrano,
06:06who's New York local,
06:09but that's how it all started really.
06:12And speaking of, though, you had just mentioned
06:15being social first and how you use,
06:18you know, different platforms,
06:20an announcement just came out today
06:22that you are now starting a new show, right?
06:28A new scripted, unscripted competition reality show
06:32with Nikisa and your brother, Logan.
06:34Can you tell us about that?
06:35Yeah.
06:36So me and my brother growing up
06:39loved watching survival shows.
06:41And my dad actually made us survive in the woods
06:46for a day in Ohio.
06:49How'd it go?
06:50We crushed it.
06:51And we were making a fire.
06:54It's in our backyard.
06:55Yeah.
06:56No, my dad, by the way,
06:58did a three-day like survival thing on his own
07:00just because.
07:01Just because.
07:02Just literally just because.
07:04In the snow as well.
07:05He was like, I'm not going to do it easy way.
07:08I'm going in the Ohio cold.
07:12So we're very blue collar,
07:14like crazy dad vibes.
07:17Giving Survivorman episode of The Office.
07:19Yes.
07:21So we've always loved survivor shows,
07:23plus fighting.
07:24Grew up watching MMA.
07:26And so what better way
07:29than to put the survival instincts
07:32of someone out in the wilderness
07:36combined with the most entertaining sport,
07:39in my opinion, which is fighting.
07:41You know, there's no other sport
07:42where someone's playing, you know,
07:44football or basketball
07:45on the side of the street.
07:46Everyone just walks by them.
07:47If two people are in a fight,
07:50everyone's watching
07:51and pulling out their phones.
07:52So it's within our DNA
07:55as the sport to love it.
07:58And yeah, we partnered with Wheelhouse,
08:01who is one of the best production companies
08:03of producing survival shows,
08:06which is obviously very important.
08:09And we also look at it as a way,
08:13a unique way to build characters
08:17that we can then continue to promote
08:20within our organization.
08:22So the person that wins the show,
08:25just think about the American,
08:27it's like American Idol.
08:28And then they become Chris Daughtry, you know?
08:32So there is that world
08:33where it's this natural feeder system
08:35and promoting fighters in a unique way
08:37and not just the standard,
08:39this guy's the best, he's undefeated.
08:40Da, da, da, da, da.
08:41And they want to be into the character
08:45and into the story of the fighter.
08:47And this show is a way of telling that as well.
08:50And it ties into our merger
08:51because when we were just a boxing entity,
08:54these contestants who are going to be competing
08:56in a unique mixed martial art rule set
08:58didn't really have a future at MVP boxing.
09:01Because boxing is a very specific martial art
09:03that you have to be great at.
09:05But now they can actually graduate to Jake's point
09:08and go into MVP MMA.
09:09So it's a great kind of symbiotic relationship.
09:12And having Brent Montgomery and Wheelhouse,
09:14who, to Jake's point, tremendous producers,
09:18creators of reality shows,
09:19partner with us on this is very exciting.
09:21So how's it going to look and work?
09:24I mean, like, so you're saying
09:25you're going to cast fighters,
09:27like actual, they're going to be fighters
09:29and then they're going to compete.
09:30Casting starts today.
09:31And then casting starts today.
09:33Jake and Loga will be making an announcement
09:34shortly on that casting.
09:36Yeah.
09:36And yeah, we'll cast fighters.
09:37The idea is to be in like an island-type setting.
09:40So obviously you're living in the outdoors,
09:42surviving in the outdoors.
09:43There'll be competitions.
09:44You'll earn points.
09:45And then ultimately, you get to decide who fights.
09:48Uh-huh.
09:49So you have to be very strategic about it.
09:50Survivor meets the challenge kind of a sort of thing,
09:54which Challenge is my favorite reality show.
09:57So I totally get that.
09:58I love that.
09:59And we will be going into production next year
10:02and we'll be on Hulu and ESPN as well.
10:06Yes.
10:07So another thing that we were talking about
10:10when we were talking about the multi-platform angle
10:12and Jake had mentioned Amanda Serrano
10:14and you had just done the first ever live sporting event
10:17with her on TikTok.
10:19Is that right?
10:19Tell us about that.
10:21Yeah, no.
10:22So everything's about distribution
10:25and tapping into new audiences and tapping into new audiences.
10:28And every company is sort of trying to eat each other's lunch.
10:32There's a reason.
10:33You know, Netflix has video games on it.
10:36And the Netflix CEO says that they're competing with people's sleep
10:42to get them to watch more shows.
10:45So everything's about distribution and tapping into new audiences
10:50and especially being digitally native.
10:53Like my audience and fans are in a lot of our companies.
10:58We, it just made a ton of sense to be the first sporting event on TikTok.
11:04And the numbers were incredible and it brought in a younger audience.
11:10Yeah, 68% of the audience was under 34.
11:13When you look at sports generally,
11:14that number is anywhere from like 15 to 30% is under 34 years old.
11:19We took a lot of flack from traditional boxing folks saying,
11:22oh, why are you going to TikTok?
11:23That doesn't make any sense.
11:25We saw a similar reception when we were the first ever sporting event on Netflix.
11:29And now, of course, there's a lot of sports that have migrated to Netflix
11:32and people want to be on that platform.
11:34For us, a global platform like TikTok, a younger audience,
11:38connecting with Jake's kind of original core, Gen Z, Gen Alpha,
11:42and now even soon in the next five years, Gen Beta,
11:45is where our focus continues to be.
11:48Is that something that you guys are used to, like you said?
11:50Like, it's something people criticizing,
11:52oh, why would you go there and why go to Netflix?
11:55Like, how do you innovate that way having no one has done it before?
12:00He's been a disruptor from the outset, right?
12:02So everything he's done has been disruptive and often misunderstood
12:05by people who don't see the genius in what's happening.
12:09And so that's been the entire platform.
12:11When we reflected on our five years as a company,
12:14he was telling me about his favorite things,
12:16which started with Amanda Serrano and what he's been able to do with her.
12:19That was his favorite thing.
12:21And I said, my favorite thing was right before we started the company.
12:23I remember being in Atlanta, Georgia,
12:25and going to this house he had rented for a fight that he had,
12:29and he signed a fight agreement.
12:31And at the time, it was for $11.8 million in his third fight.
12:36No athlete in history, in any sport, has made that kind of money in their first year,
12:42let alone their third appearance on the field, on the court, in the ring.
12:47And so to me, from that moment, I realized how disruptive what we were doing was.
12:51And if we could really use his platform, his reach,
12:55to then build a brand and an audience, we can do unique things.
12:58And that's what Netflix has been.
12:59And that's what MSG was in April of 2022,
13:02with Amanda and Katie Taylor being the first two women ever
13:05to headline a combat sports event at MSG.
13:08And now Katie Taylor retired last week
13:10with 84,000 people in attendance in Croke Park.
13:15So it's been tremendously disruptive, but it all starts with his mentality.
13:19Yeah.
13:19Jake, let's talk a little bit about that
13:21and about what you want to do for women's boxing,
13:23because it's a really important part of your vision,
13:27and your ethos from the start and what you've done with Amanda Serrano
13:30and hopefully more in the future.
13:31What do you want to do for women's boxing?
13:34I think just tell the story of the women
13:37who are incredible champions and hard workers
13:40and put them on a pedestal that they deserve
13:44and continue to break records with live gates,
13:50attendance records, their highest paydays.
13:55Because, again, since meeting Amanda Serrano,
13:57which is where it all started,
13:58I was like, this is one of the best fighters in the world,
14:01regardless of gender.
14:02And she deserves more than what she's getting paid
14:06and the treatment that she's been having.
14:09And the fights are insane.
14:12People, you know, when I fought Mike Tyson,
14:15were like, dude, you fought Mike, how was it?
14:18But, man, the fight before yours was the best fight I've ever seen.
14:23And that almost outshined me and Mike
14:26because of how good of a fight it was.
14:29And women have a higher pain tolerance, right?
14:31You guys, girls, give birth.
14:36And because of that, it's just like more wars in there.
14:40And it's often just, you know, a lot more entertaining,
14:45in my opinion.
14:47Yeah.
14:47The U.S. Open is on today, right?
14:49And you think about in history, I often say this,
14:52the only female athlete outside of combat sports
14:54who was probably at the top of their sport
14:57by any metric for a period of time who was a female
15:00was Serena Williams.
15:01I think there was a brief period there
15:03where she was the star of tennis.
15:06When I was at the UFC,
15:07I had the privilege of overlapping with Ronda Rousey's career.
15:10And unequivocally, when I was CFO,
15:12she was the number one revenue generator
15:15in the company in 2015.
15:17And that's unheard of.
15:18And so when Jake and I got together
15:20and I had the idea of women's boxing
15:22and he'd met Amanda Serrano,
15:24the thought was, can we find a catalyst
15:26to create the same momentum in women's boxing?
15:29And so we're proud of how far we've come
15:31in a short period of time,
15:32but it's a long road ahead to get to
15:34kind of a sustainable model that makes sense
15:36for these athletes.
15:37But they're global athletes
15:39that are relevant in many markets
15:41because boxing, like soccer,
15:44I would say is the closest thing to it,
15:45is a global language, a global sport
15:47that people understand.
15:48And so we now have,
15:49I think it's 53 female fighters on our roster,
15:5416 world champions,
15:55and we're going into event seven
15:57in our first year of partnership with ESPN
16:00and Sky Sports in the UK.
16:01Do you think that women's boxing is,
16:05you know, how would you equate it to a WNBA,
16:08to women's soccer right now?
16:10And like, where can it get to
16:11in the next couple of years
16:12with further investment?
16:13Look, one, we've already achieved bigger numbers
16:16than any female sport has,
16:18other than probably the Women's World Cup
16:20in terms of viewership, right?
16:21So to Jake's point,
16:22when Amanda and Katie were the co-main event
16:25to him and Mike Tyson,
16:2674 million viewers watched those two athletes fight.
16:30And again, that was very strategic.
16:32We put them on as the co-main,
16:34knowing that Mike and Jake
16:35would draw a lot of eyeballs.
16:36When you look at our ratings year to date on ESPN,
16:39I was just reading this yesterday.
16:42Now, NWSL has a lot more product,
16:45but when you look like for like
16:46of what we've put on on ESPN
16:47and what the NWSL product has been,
16:49we've outrated it.
16:51We've actually delivered bigger ratings
16:52with MVPW, our women's strategy,
16:56than the NWSL has.
16:58And we're five months into it.
17:00So we feel very bullish about the future.
17:02You have to remember,
17:03women's boxing became an Olympic sport in 2012.
17:06So it's very young, right?
17:09Four Olympics, the next one being in LA.
17:12That's the first time women's boxing
17:14will be in front of an American audience
17:15on a global scale.
17:17So we're very bullish
17:18about what the future of the sport is.
17:20So when you're talking about fighter first,
17:22and that's your whole mentality
17:23for your company,
17:26Jake, how does that play
17:28with how you interact with the boxers,
17:30how you interact with,
17:31you know, as a leader of,
17:32you know, the organization,
17:33and how you go forward
17:35as, you know, balancing,
17:37having a fighter first,
17:38but having a profitable business as well?
17:41Well, I think that's what's interesting
17:42about Nikisa and I
17:44is that all the other promoters
17:47were making their wealth
17:48from the business
17:50and we both became,
17:53like, very blessed
17:55before doing this business.
17:58So we are actually able to do that
17:59and it's turned into this movement
18:02that's so much bigger than us.
18:04And so for me, you know,
18:07I even put percentages,
18:10you know, of my purses
18:13back into the company
18:14to just grow it and to grow it
18:15because I have the capability to do so.
18:19But I do oftentimes switch back and forth
18:23from, like, the promoter role
18:24where, like, some person
18:26I might fight in the future
18:27is, like, talking smack to me
18:29in the ring.
18:30Sometimes our own fighters.
18:31Yeah, and I'm like,
18:33I'm like, man, this is your night.
18:35It's all focused on you.
18:38I love you.
18:39I think they're trying
18:39to get you in the ring.
18:39But if it was, like,
18:40if I had the fighter side of me,
18:42I would just knock him out right there.
18:45But, yeah, I have to do the balance.
18:47But that's just being a professional
18:49and understanding, like,
18:51what we're building.
18:52I think the core of it
18:53is being equitable, right?
18:55We're not looking
18:57to lose millions of dollars.
18:58But if we're making $100,
19:01at least $51 of that $100
19:05is going to the fighter.
19:06And in many instances,
19:07much more than that.
19:08That's how we want to make sure
19:10our entity is structured.
19:11So fighters who, like Jake,
19:13bring an audience
19:13who are able to drive interest
19:15get the vast benefit
19:17of that interest.
19:18As we wrap up here,
19:20I'm pretty sure everyone's
19:21probably wondering, Jake,
19:22when are we going to see you
19:23back in the ring?
19:24And maybe when's your first
19:25MMA match?
19:27Yeah, I'm very soon.
19:29You know, like,
19:30we're talking to
19:31a couple of opponents now.
19:33So hopefully end of year,
19:35early next year,
19:36for me to get back
19:37into the ring
19:38and then want to get
19:40into MMA
19:42in the next 12 months or so.
19:44Awesome.
19:45Well, you heard it here first.
19:46We'll be on the lookout for it.
19:47Thanks so much, guys.
19:48Thank you, everyone.
Comments