Military News
02-08-2010, 04:18 PM
02-07-2010 01:32 PM
MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. — The Marine Corps has formed a formal partnership with the Ultimate Fighting Championship that promotes more interaction between Marines and famed mixed martial arts fighters, and calls for a series of new recruiting advertisements that emphasize similarities between the two organizations.The goal, Marine officials say, is to engage the UFC’s rapidly growing fan base of 17- to 24-year-olds by highlighting the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program and the parallel “sense of shared brotherhood” exhibited by Marines and pro fighters alike.“The ideologies behind UFC and the Marine Corps now are very similar in a lot of ways — not just in the fighting techniques and mixed martial arts aspect, but … we both share that warrior ethos,” said Gunnery Sgt. Pauline Franklin, a spokeswoman at Marine Corps Recruiting Command. Pro fighters, she added, “are very intense people who like to push their limits, and they focus hard on training and believe in commitment, honor and courage.”One of the new advertisements — a commercial called “A path for warriors: Marine Corps and UFC” — already has aired during several pay-per-view fights and is on the Corps’ official Facebook page and YouTube, where it has been viewed nearly 13,000 times. Just over two minutes long, the commercial shows images of Marines conducting amphibious landings and fighting downrange juxtaposed with sweat-drenched UFC fighters battling it out in the octagon.“Becoming a warrior means joining a brotherhood, proven on the field of battle,” it says. “A true warrior is measured not only by his strength but his honor. Some warriors fight in the octagon, others fight in all four corners of the earth. Every warrior lives for the fight.”Similar commercials, paid for out of the Corps’ advertising budget, will air during all 12 episodes of “The Ultimate Fighter,” a reality television series in which up-and-coming mixed martial arts fighters try to make names for themselves by battling one another in an elimination-style series of competitions. After the season finale, the lone fighter left standing wins a six-figure UFC contract that guarantees him multiple fights.The show will air this spring on Spike TV and include one episode in which Marines, most likely MCMAP instructor-trainers from Quantico’s Martial Arts Center of Excellence, instruct the contestants and then go back to the fighters’ group house outside of Las Vegas to share “the longer Marine Corps story,” said Capt. Salvatore Nigro, the UFC partnership action officer at Recruiting Command.Details are being worked out with the show’s producer, so it is not clear yet when the episode will air, Nigro said. Taping is expected to begin in Vegas in February, he said.A partnership between the Corps and UFC might have seemed unthinkable a few years ago, before Zuffa LLC took ownership of the UFC and immediately set out to change the perception that it was dominated by a bunch of blood-thirsty animals. No longer a free-for-all fight in the octagon, the UFC and its fighters are considered true athletes who follow rules and train hard — just like other pro athletes, Franklin said.“We did a lot of investigation into it,” Franklin said. “The image UFC [once] had was not as closely in line with our core values. A lot of people still think of it as a blood sport, but they are not familiar with the new organization.”Officials with Zuffa could not be reached for comment.Recruiting Command brought UFC fighters Marcus Davis, Gabriel Gonzaga, Rashad Evans, Forrest Griffin and former Marine Capt. Brian Stann (http://militarytimes.com/blogs/afteraction/tag/brian-stann/) to the Center of Excellence in January so they could visit with MCMAP instructors and learn more about the Corps.While there, the Corps shot footage of the fighters interacting with Marines, though it is unclear how it will be used. It could appear in the form of vignettes on UFC.com, where MCMAP instructors and UFC fighters will trade techniques and discuss what it takes to be a successful fighter.“I think as we continue this partnership … there will be a bigger interest in bringing more fighters back so they can get a better appreciation of what we do,” Nigro said. “Those guys are great advocates to a prospective market, and they really raise awareness for us.”More on the military and the sports world:After Action blog (http://militarytimes.com/blogs/afteraction/)
More... (http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2010/02/marine_ufc_020710w/)
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MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. — The Marine Corps has formed a formal partnership with the Ultimate Fighting Championship that promotes more interaction between Marines and famed mixed martial arts fighters, and calls for a series of new recruiting advertisements that emphasize similarities between the two organizations.The goal, Marine officials say, is to engage the UFC’s rapidly growing fan base of 17- to 24-year-olds by highlighting the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program and the parallel “sense of shared brotherhood” exhibited by Marines and pro fighters alike.“The ideologies behind UFC and the Marine Corps now are very similar in a lot of ways — not just in the fighting techniques and mixed martial arts aspect, but … we both share that warrior ethos,” said Gunnery Sgt. Pauline Franklin, a spokeswoman at Marine Corps Recruiting Command. Pro fighters, she added, “are very intense people who like to push their limits, and they focus hard on training and believe in commitment, honor and courage.”One of the new advertisements — a commercial called “A path for warriors: Marine Corps and UFC” — already has aired during several pay-per-view fights and is on the Corps’ official Facebook page and YouTube, where it has been viewed nearly 13,000 times. Just over two minutes long, the commercial shows images of Marines conducting amphibious landings and fighting downrange juxtaposed with sweat-drenched UFC fighters battling it out in the octagon.“Becoming a warrior means joining a brotherhood, proven on the field of battle,” it says. “A true warrior is measured not only by his strength but his honor. Some warriors fight in the octagon, others fight in all four corners of the earth. Every warrior lives for the fight.”Similar commercials, paid for out of the Corps’ advertising budget, will air during all 12 episodes of “The Ultimate Fighter,” a reality television series in which up-and-coming mixed martial arts fighters try to make names for themselves by battling one another in an elimination-style series of competitions. After the season finale, the lone fighter left standing wins a six-figure UFC contract that guarantees him multiple fights.The show will air this spring on Spike TV and include one episode in which Marines, most likely MCMAP instructor-trainers from Quantico’s Martial Arts Center of Excellence, instruct the contestants and then go back to the fighters’ group house outside of Las Vegas to share “the longer Marine Corps story,” said Capt. Salvatore Nigro, the UFC partnership action officer at Recruiting Command.Details are being worked out with the show’s producer, so it is not clear yet when the episode will air, Nigro said. Taping is expected to begin in Vegas in February, he said.A partnership between the Corps and UFC might have seemed unthinkable a few years ago, before Zuffa LLC took ownership of the UFC and immediately set out to change the perception that it was dominated by a bunch of blood-thirsty animals. No longer a free-for-all fight in the octagon, the UFC and its fighters are considered true athletes who follow rules and train hard — just like other pro athletes, Franklin said.“We did a lot of investigation into it,” Franklin said. “The image UFC [once] had was not as closely in line with our core values. A lot of people still think of it as a blood sport, but they are not familiar with the new organization.”Officials with Zuffa could not be reached for comment.Recruiting Command brought UFC fighters Marcus Davis, Gabriel Gonzaga, Rashad Evans, Forrest Griffin and former Marine Capt. Brian Stann (http://militarytimes.com/blogs/afteraction/tag/brian-stann/) to the Center of Excellence in January so they could visit with MCMAP instructors and learn more about the Corps.While there, the Corps shot footage of the fighters interacting with Marines, though it is unclear how it will be used. It could appear in the form of vignettes on UFC.com, where MCMAP instructors and UFC fighters will trade techniques and discuss what it takes to be a successful fighter.“I think as we continue this partnership … there will be a bigger interest in bringing more fighters back so they can get a better appreciation of what we do,” Nigro said. “Those guys are great advocates to a prospective market, and they really raise awareness for us.”More on the military and the sports world:After Action blog (http://militarytimes.com/blogs/afteraction/)
More... (http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2010/02/marine_ufc_020710w/)
[Clicking on more will open up a popup box with the complete news story from the news source. MilitaryWoman.org is not responsible for content.]