Mixed martial arts and football are very different sports, yet the Canadian Football League and Ultimate Fighting Championship share many similarities.
The vast majority of competitors in each of the organizations have a benevolent, blue collar, small-town disposition that is not always seen with those in the National Football League, National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball or National Hockey League.
One person who knows both worlds as well as anyone is Tom Wright — the former CFL commissioner and current director of Canadian operations for the UFC — who agrees about the humble, down-to-earth nature of both sets of athletes.
“CFL players and UFC fighters you find are very approachable and they’re very accessible,” Wright told sportsnet.ca. “They recognize that the sport that they compete in really is owned by the fans and they better be able to relate to those fans and spend time with those fans and be accessible to those fans.”
The athletes in the CFL are not given seven-figure contracts and many players are required to work in the off-season. Recently-retired Saskatchewan Roughrider Gene Makowsky — one of the best offensive lineman in the CFL’s modern era — famously worked as a part-time substitute school teacher during his off-seasons.
And for every one Georges St-Pierre or Chuck Liddell — superstars that have made millions and are recognized everywhere they go — there are hundreds of fighters that struggle to pay bills like your average working Joe.
“They’re humble, they’re easy to get along with, they’re community oriented, they work and live in their communities,” Wright said. “They often have secondary job and tertiary jobs. They’re the most similar athletes I’ve ever worked with.”
Besides Wright’s involvement in both companies, the CFL and UFC have crossed paths several times in the past several years as well.
In May, as part of a press tour for UFC 149 in Calgary, Wright along with UFC fighters Jose Aldo, Erik Koch and Nick Ring visited the Calgary Stampeders and took part in a series of football drills with members of the team.
Thamesford, Ont.’s Mark Hominick named the Hamilton Tiger-Cats his primary sponsor prior to his UFC 129 featherweight title shot against Aldo. As he walked out to the Octagon in front of over 55,000 boisterous fans at the Rogers Centre, Hominick even donned a Ticats hat.
After playing college football at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Marvin Eastman joined the Stampeders for a brief time in the mid-90s. But in 1996 Eastman decided to focus his athletic talents on a new challenge and began competing in Muay Thai. He then transitioned to MMA and went on to have a successful career, defeating the likes of Quinton (Rampage) Jackson, Alan Belcher and Canadian Jason MacDonald.
Former Edmonton Eskimos defensive end Adam Braidwood often trained MMA in the off-season and in 2007 even participated in a professional bout. Interestingly enough he would win that fight against Ryan Jimmo, who would go on to become the Maximum Fighting Championship light-heavyweight kingpin. Jimmo’s only career loss was to Braidwood — he has since won 16 straight fights, become arguably the best 205-pound Canadian fighter and is scheduled to make his UFC debut at UFC 149.
“All these different sports have DNAs. The brands have DNAs that describe it to their individual fans,” Wright explained.
“The CFL is a sport that helps define Canada as a country. It’s grounded in Canada, it’s not as big as these other sports, but it knows what it is and it is proud of what it is. The UFC on the other hand is a global sport, but the UFC also knows what it is and doesn’t try to be that which it’s not.”
Although the three-down Canadian game is often scoffed at by football fans that primarily watch the NFL, and MMA continues in its efforts to make its claim as a mainstream sport, both the CFL and UFC have loyal patrons that keep them afloat.
“It’s about accessibility, it’s relevancy, it’s genuine. Nothing is fabricated. It’s as real as it gets and these athletes are real and I think that’s one of the real benefits of our sport. You try to get up and close with an NBA player, good luck. You want to see a UFC fighter, go to the host hotel on a Friday night and you’ll see a world champion walk in and press the button to go up in his elevator. You don’t see that in those other sports. That’s part of what makes (MMA) unique. It differentiates it from other sports.”
Although he’s always busy with his UFC duties, Wright remains a big supporter of the CFL and will be paying close attention to the 2012 season. Like most fans across Canada, Wright is curious to see how the year is going to play out.
“I think it’s as competitive as you’re ever going to see. I think the West is going to be really, really tight. I believe Saskatchewan will perform better than they did last year. B.C.’s going to be awfully tough. I think Edmonton might be struggling because of the quarterback change, but everything I’ve heard and read I think Calgary is going to be really strong, so I like the West.
“The West has always been strong but I think what’s really exciting is the two weaker teams in the East I think have made a lot of improvements in the off-season. I think Toronto have improved a lot. Obviously with Henry Burris now in Hamilton, Hamilton’s done a lot of good things. I love the new coaching changes in Toronto. Winnipeg represented the East last year in the Grey Cup. Montreal is always good.
“Historically the West has always been a notch above the East and Montreal’s sort of gotten in by default. There’s a much more level playing field so I think it’s going to be a very wide open season. I’m looking forward to it.”
The 2012 CFL season begins Friday, while the UFC is preparing for a huge UFC 148 event on July 7 that features a middleweight title bout between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen.