2014-07-21
Price: Free
Edition: #
Previous Issues
Submit Article
Tycoon Times - MMA Magazine
Tycoon Times - The World's Premier Weekly Mixed Martial Arts Newspaper
Corner

GAMMA: Happy 5th birthday!

Global Association of MMA, Fight Organization, London
Company profile by Mentor Guru Corleone

Last month saw us celebrate our 5th birthday! The 4th year of our existence was without doubt a break out year for us in every sense.

We started off June last year a solid top 10-12 position in the rankings, with occasional cameo roles in the top 5-6. My first goal was to add a 145lbs and 155lbs division. I generally hated the lower weight classes (something i took with me from real life), however with the popularity of the lower classes rising, we had to make the push eventually. We started off with the 155lbs division in the summer of 2013 and added the 145lbs division late in 2013.

Our next major goal was to secure PPV level revenue. Due to the lack of this revenue we could not compete with the top dogs in terms of salaries and that was stopping us from moving up the rankings. It took us several months of testing and millions in trial and error. We also had to sacrifice our 2 event per week schedule and cut around 20-30 fighters to eventually get there. By the end of the 2013 year we were pulling off regular PPV level events every week.

Our next goal was to expand our roster depth, especially on the top end. We had around 25 top 1000 p4p ranking fighters last June and rarely anyone in the top 100 p4p, so that needed to be improved. We slowly built up, adding top level talent one by one and by the end of the year we was already at 50 top 1000 fighters. Turn of the year with the closing down of Versus and merging into GAMMA gave us another instant push to around 65 top 1000 p4p fighters. At our peak in May we were in the late 70s which surpassed any org in the game in terms of depth of talent. We was also #3 in terms of top 100 p4p fighters at one point.

By this time we had enough talent on the roster to run 2 events per week and around late March we did the unthinkable of moving away from 1 event per week to 2 events per week. I like to keep a large roster and run regular fights, so with just one event that was not easy. Obviously we are sacrificing 1 or 2 places in the org rankings for this and potentially more profits, but i think that it is worth it. Rankings and profits were never my main concern anyway, as long as we are competitive i am fine.

In April 2014 we kept our differences behind us to found the very first Olympics together with the 8 top orgs in the game including Evolution, Ascension, Syn, TTFC, CEC/CW, Agressive Damage and Sisu. Although there were several technicalities and weeks of debating and discussion, eventually we decided on a format and the Olympics took place on time. The Olympics overall were/are a great success with possibly the greatest interest from the community since the legendary "Original" Syn Millionaire tourney.

Personally i was not too happy with our own performance in the Olympics as an org, i think we can do a lot better. However i expected us to stumble because we do not have a 135lbs division, our 145 and 155lbs divisions are newly created, so the only divisions i had a hope for were 170 to 265lbs+. We had a couple of upset losses in the first round and in the end only 3 of our fighters made it to the semi finals, 2 are fighting for Bronze this week where as Kenichi Shirahama brought home the Silver medal in the prestigious 265lbs division.

Despite our relatively poor performance in the Olympics, We continued our legacy regarding top super fights and in June 2014 Kenichi Shirahama earned our 100th super fight win! Our current super fight win/loss record all time stands at 102-48-2. If GAMMA was an alliance it would rank among the top 5 ranking alliances in the game in terms of win %.

Going into our 5th year, the things i can guarantee is that GAMMA will continue to be the most active and organized org in the game. Consistency and continuity is what defines who we are. We are not the flashy org, we are very old school. Our booking style is based on hype/pop + p4p rankings and not on personal preferences. We will also continue being the org our managers love but our rivals hate and that won't change this year.

I would like to personally thank all our managers which have been with us and supported us over the past 5 years. We have had our ups and downs for sure, but a lot of you guys were with us in the downs as well, so i salute you all!

I would also like to say that recently i decided to upgrade my VIP membership for yet another year, so you are stuck with me :-)

 

Article views: 122
» Donate to this author

Editorial Staff
Tycoon Times Discussion
Tycoon Times - MMA Magazine MMA Tycoon
MMA Chat Room
MMA Forum