Right now I see nothing. I like what I see when I see the shows. But we have not really delved with due diligence. It doesn’t take very long, but we haven’t delved into that yet. I wish I could answer that. I’ve bought and sold a lot of businesses in my life, and some surprise you and some don’t. But I know MMA is going to be very popular and it’s going to continue to grow. And unfortunately I see boxing not growing. So I see it as a perfect opportunity to get in this business.
Sherdog.com: What sort of timeline are you looking at? How soon would you like to get a deal done?
Fishman: As soon as possible. [Sakakibara] is coming here in a week or so to do the 24th, and I’m sure we’ll spend a lot of time talking about it.
Right now, my concern is making sure we put on the best show possible on Feb. 24th and that the fans out there, again whether they buy pay-per-view or come to Thomas & Mack, that they see the quality of fighter we have on all the cards, and we have three champions [fighting]. Also, they see the quality of production. And also it was mentioned to me many times was the speed between the fights. We didn’t waste much time. We didn’t have to waste 15-20 minutes between fights. So there were some things that were done very well. We did lots of focus groups afterwards, and I guess you’d have to know they turned out good or else I wouldn’t be willing to step up and buy the whole thing.
Sherdog.com: As owner of PRIDE, if that happens, do you think it’ll run similarly to the way it is now, where it’s largely Japan-based, or will Japan not be as important a market for you?
Fishman: I haven’t given it a lot of thought, but there are so many fans I never thought of stopping going to Japan. I think we’d get back television, get back a sponsorship and we are delving very heavy into China. The U.S. is so important to us. And besides China, we will be taking other Asian countries and move around the globe. I was just in London talking to major casino operators there. They would love to have it. So, no, I work maybe a little bit fast. I’m excited and I think this would just grow all around the world.
Sherdog.com: If PRIDE does not sell, if the ownership stays in place along with the same marketing and everything else, can it survive? That has long been a discussion among mixed martial arts fans: how much life does it have left? Do you have an opinion on that?
Fishman: No, the only opinion I have is you may need some infusion in money only because what I’ve seen the UFC do in taking one of the fighters and paying them so much money. You don’t want to get into what happened to boxing, where all of a sudden everybody thinks they’re worth so much more, then you get so high up there in purse value that there’s no room to make anything out of it for a profitable business. That would be my concern.
It’s still a possibility that it will stay right where it is right now. There is no sale out there. There are lots of people talking, but there is no sale out there. And, like I said, we have this date. We have April 28th, which should be a good date because we have a Japanese holiday here, and we will have some great Japanese fighters. I take one day at a time. All I’ve done is mention that I’m very much interested if that becomes the decision of Nobu’s, and for whatever reason someone picked it up and wrote down that we were in negotiations. That’s really not true right now.
Many people are interested in the show and giving different offers, including me, to come on in. New sponsors. New ways of revenue money. Etcetera. I don’t look at that. Right now, it belongs to Nobu and I’m very happy doing what I’m doing. It was a choice between sitting on the beach and counting dolphins or getting involved in this. …
I think the UFC is just one of them out there. I take my hat off. I think they do a tremendous job. I know they do a tremendous job in casinos. The only difference is they’re a local’s casino, so the big player element doesn’t really make a difference, although they did build a most beautiful place in Red Rock. But the rest of the casinos I’m involved with are very large casinos, which are very much interested in getting international players in. And that’s what we do bring along.
Sherdog.com: If the UFC purchases PRIDE, what would that mean for your role as president of PRIDE USA?
Fishman: I don’t know. I guess that would be up to them. They would either continue the contract or offer to buy it out or do something. I mean, I haven’t even thought about that. No matter which way it is, I may still stay in the MMA business, even if they bought it.
Sherdog.com: There was a strong rumor about two weeks ago that the UFC was on the verge of purchasing PRIDE and both the American investor — presumably you — and also PRIDE’s Korean television partner stepped up with more money. Is there any truth to that on your end?
Fishman: I don’t know because I know that I can step up with more money and have, but I don’t know what they’ve offered. I don’t expect them to know what I should offer and I don’t expect to know what they offered. So I really can’t tell you.
There’s a certain level, and I don’t think until you really do your due diligence you know what it’s worth, and what it’s worth to expand because I’d want to expand very rapidly. And the team we’d put together would want to do that also. There isn’t a dollar set amount in my mind. It would really depend on what myself, my accountants and my advisors thought where we’re going in the next three, four, five years.
I’m sure you’ve seen a company that did a reverse shell recently and didn’t really have anything. And you can see how many people are interested. PRIDE’s vision of expanding internationally is the same as mine. So I know that we do have together. … I have no idea what the UFC plans, but if they did buy it, it’s their money, they can do what they want to do. Again, I wish I could tell you that I’d been in this for years. Ask me about casinos I can tell you about building. What it would cost. What it would make. Etcetera. Or let’s do a new film. But as far as this, I can’t even tell you honestly if the UFC has made an official offer. We don’t talk about it. And that’s why I was surprised, and why I’m talking to you now, I’m very open. I’ll answer questions straight out. And if something comes I’ll be the first one to make the announcement.
Really, it’s not in my ballpark now. It’s in Nobu’s to decide what he wants to do. But I think that you being in this business much longer and knowing it, I think you’d have to believe with me that this is not just something that’s going away so fast, mixed martial arts. If you do it well, it will go for a long time.
Sherdog.com: I would like to hope that’s true. And I think at this point the evidence is bearing that out. If the market place is willing to accept it and with the right product and right marketing, you can be very successful.
Fishman: Yeah, you’re right. I think the two biggest [promoters] in the country are UFC and PRIDE. And PRIDE is just not well known enough over here in the United States because we’ve never been here. But you go to the rest of the world and mention PRIDE, and that’s it. As I told you, for my businesses I travel all over the world. And it was just by accident that I was introduced to PRIDE. As a matter of fact, when I was there the first time four years ago, Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta were sitting two seats away from me. So I was happy to see them. At that particular time I needed to know about how strong they were with UFC.
Sherdog.com: I know you say you’re a newcomer to the sport, but for the health of the sport does it make a difference either way if PRIDE is sold to someone like you who is independent, isn’t connected to an MMA promotion, or the UFC, which seems to be growing larger and larger as a promoter of the sport?
Fishman: Well, I can only answer what I would do. I’m here to enlarge it. I’m there not to make it on cable, I’m here to put it on national TV. I’m interested in putting it in movies. I’m interested in bringing it to all the countries I told you before. All over the United States. All over the world. I’ve got the capacity, the capability and the contacts, just because of other businesses.
It’s not a question of money for either one of us. I can’t tell you what their plans are. Whether they’ll just fold it in and say “hey, listen, I’ve got all the contracts” and they’ll stop negotiations going. Or say “I’ll be able to do more fights because I have more fighters.” So they must have their own reasons. And I don’t know. I’ve never discussed it with them. But for me, it’s definitely expansion worldwide. And I have lots of offers in different places to go. And I would mount a very large crew to be doing simultaneously things very fast. I’ll end it with this. I still have that dream after seeing it of finding out who has the best fighters. And that would be my challenge immediately, to take our best four and they take their best four and winner takes all.
Sherdog.com: You know the Fertittas. Have you ever brought up that possibility up to them, and if you have what has been their response?
Fishman: First of all, I have never spoken to them except for saying “hello” at one of these events or when I pass by here in Vegas. Never have discussed MMA. I don’t know what their response would be. If they believe they do have better fighters, then they should accept it. It really would be the Super Bowl. I strongly believe that PRIDE does have the better fighters, and I think they at least agreed on one guy that they brought over for their last fight and paid much more than we paid him. So I know that they did that. I don’t really know if the UFC has offered to buy or not. And I don’t know what they would do with it. All I could tell you is my dream.