UFC Fan Expo: “Fan-tucking-fastic”

A review of the UFC's 2010 Fan Expo

I had the mixed fortune of being in Las Vegas the week of the Fan Expo with a flight out that very same Friday – thus missing UFC 114 (in retrospect, not so bummed). My consolation was that I have already seen Rashad Evans and Quinton Jackson fight live – not each other, mind you – at UFC 92.

I ponied up my dough ($30 for a one-day pass) and made the ultimate sacrifice: setting the alarm for 8:00 AM, the morning after my last night in Vegas. I made it to Mandalay Bay by about 10:15 (the gates were at 10 AM) and to my immense surprise, a lineup of hundreds, maybe over one thousand, snaked its way through the hall. Fortunately it only took about 30 minutes to process the meekly shuffling fans ahead of me, and by the time I got in – after witnessing Jeff Monson get turned away at the doors – I fist-bumped the dude who scanned my e-ticket. He grinned at me and said, “have a good one, bro.” I did.

To give you an idea of the experience, I have processed an enthralling, star-studded four hours into the following factoids:

UFC Fan Expo Dos:

• Do wander (you’ll meet more fighters).
• Do catch the grappling tournament or exhibits. I am embarrassed to admit, as an MMA journalist I have never seen a grappling competition live. It was incredible and I salute the participants. I saw a guy get his elbow broken. Swell!
• Do ask questions and chat guys up. I asked Jake Shields what he thought of GSP and he replied, “That’s what I’m training for.” Stop the presses! Seriously though, it’s a pretty intriguing answer.
• Do bring an extra battery for your camera. Enough said.
• Do give everyone props. I spoke with Mike Goldberg and Ariel Helwani (briefly) and I thanked them for their dedication and enthusiasm. Hey, I felt a little cheesy but I meant it, and they seemed genuinely appreciative. Warm glows, folks – it’s all about the warm glows.

UFC Fan Expo Do Nots

• Do not wait in the lineups. I missed a photo-op with Wanderlei Silva because I didn’t want to stare at fat guys getting massages for an hour, but I got to meet Jake Shields, Nate Marquardt and Matt Brown just by keeping my feet moving and catching them between appearances.
• Do not be afraid to ask Dana White questions after his keynote. He was immensely cool to the many fans and answered their questions kindly and respectfully. To the question, “Are you considering a super-heavyweight division?” he responded with an intelligent rationale of leaving the divisions as they are (essentially, there are a lot of big guys coming up into contention). To the query, “Can I shake your hand and get your autograph?” he responded (with a smile), “Sure, buddy, come on up here.” Everyone chuckled.
• Do not buy food at the Mandalay Bay food court.

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UFC Fan Expo - Pros

• Unannounced fighters: numerous UFC fighters and brass not scheduled to be there were, in fact, there. Most of the brands represented at the Expo shelled out cash for unscheduled appearances.
• Free and cheap stuff. Tapout was giving away duffel bags (for a short time), everyone was giving away stickers and coupons, and most booths were selling cheap t-shirts. Except...(see cons).

UFC Fan Expo - Cons

• LINEUPS. God almighty, there were so many lineups. I stayed out of most of them but I still had to negotiate around them, along with many other wandering fans. The venue wasn’t big enough and the lineups were free-for-alls – no velvet ropes, no nothing.
• Not enough free UFC stuff. Yeah, yeah – I’m a cheapskate. But would it kill the UFC to give out a free copy of their magazine, or charge a little more and give free t-shirts?
• UFC brand t-shirts were too expensive. Cage Fighter had shirts for $10, Tapout two for $25. $25 for a t-shirt with nothing but the UFC logo?
• Snarky fighters. Not all of the fighters seemed all that interested in meeting the fans. I won’t mention any names, and I respect that hanging out for hours signing autographs can make you irritable, but other guys were clearly loving the experience after the same amount of time. And we know you got paid to be there, bud.
• No photo-ops at the official signing tables. I only went once, and that was the shortest lineup: Manny Gamburyan, Pat Barry and Brian Bowles. Gamburyan was charmingly grumpy while Barry was amped and Bowles was...shy! Unexpected. They counseled me to wait for the security guy to turn his back so I could get a “self-pic”. This was simultaneously amusing and confusing. No pictures? Frankly, I don’t give a crap about autographs. This is the Facebook era, we want to see experiences, not put them in a drawer.
• The Dana White lookalike contest. There was no one watching.
• Selling thousands of e-tickets, yet allowing those who showed up without e-tickets to saunter to a different (and far shorter lineup) to buy and enter in less than ten minutes.

Worth It?

More than worth $30, and I only spent four hours there. I was thinking about it on the flight back, and when has the NFL, NBA, NHL or any other sports organization done anything remotely like this? I’m a hockey fan, and I have to buy tickets to watch my team practise, for pete’s sake. Yet under one roof, I was able to meet in person about a dozen fighters I have followed, watched, cheered for and respected over the many years I’ve been an MMA fan. While the sport is in its infancy, take proper advantage of these opportunities, folks. They’re well worth it.

I missed out on meeting a few big names: Forrest Griffin, the elder Nogueira, Wanderlei Silva, Roy Nelson, Vitor Belfort, Josh Koshcheck...but I don’t really care. I met a ton of great people: Bas Rutten, Jake Shields, Mike Goldberg, Nate Quarry, Junior Dos Santos, Sam Stout, and the highlight of my day: walking back to the bus, I popped into Starbucks to grab a coffee. Exiting I spied... Matt “The Immortal” Brown, who was for some odd reason just chilling in the breezeway. I gave him a wave and he smiled, offering a handshake. I am a huge fan of this guy. I wished him luck in his next fight (July 3 versus Chris Lytle, don’t miss it).

By Roy Kok
ProFighting-fans.com MMA Staff Writer

Photos by Roy Kok