Breaking Down the Competition

Tyler Lawrence is a well-rounded sports fan and dedicated journalist, based in southern California. In high school he learned the necessary skills to host a podcast and contributed to a fan forum covering mixed martial arts. The up and coming sport, which was once illegal in the United States, has now risen to professional level recognition. During a conference call, Lawrence discussed at length his passion for the support and how it call came to fruition. 

“I began blogging on a regular basis on my website WorldofMMA.com,” Lawrence said from his home in Irvine, CA.

While not a fighter himself, Lawrence regularly visited local MMA gyms to take notes and talk with rising amateurs. Not long after, he earned credentials to larger competitions where he had access to interviewing professional fighters and building content for his growing fan base.

When the Ultimate Fighting Championship signed its first national broadcasting deal with FOX (August 18th, 2011), the press started taking mixed martial arts seriously.

“It’s definitely going to play a huge role in sports…It’s going to be big, really big,” Lawrence said.

One aspect that Lawrence specializes in is social media and the role it plays in journalism. His YouTube Channel has more than 11 million views and he actively communicates with fans and fellow members of the media through Twitter, Facebook, and website forums.

“The UFC has done a really good job on educating its fighters how to use social media to promote themselves… it’s been huge,” Lawrence said.

While his website continues to flourish, his plan is to build a global fighting fan community. He says expanding to the east coast and distant continents are on the horizon as MMA continues to build momentum.

Interview

Michael Silver: Hi this is Michael Silver for Newhouse Sports. I’m with Tyler Lawrence, owner and blogger for WorldofMMA.com. How are you doing?

Tyler Lawrence: I’m doing well.

MS: Thanks for talking with me. I want to ask first off, at what age did you become a fan of mixed martial arts?

TL: I became an avid fan of mixed martial arts when I was about 15 years old.

MS: When did you become a big enough fan that you wanted to start your own website and blog for the sport itself?

TL: I think it was my junior year or senior year in high school. I had saved up enough money to purchase a laptop and kind of interested in doing some web design work. A friend taught me some stuff, how to build a website. Kind of ran with it, created a podcast and I was part of a forum back then, Toughforums.com which is the official fan forum for [fighters] Anderson Silva, Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, Josh Barnett, Clay Guida, as well as, Keith Jardine. Kind of used that as leverage to be the official podcast for Toughforums.com…that’s how I got it started.

MS: Now you’re a full-fledged media journalist. How does the whole credential process go and how did you get into the journalism art?

TL: Well, after I was creating podcasts, writing questions, writing content for fighters with my co-host, I began blogging on a regular basis on my website [WorldofMMA.com]. After I was a little bit more established writing blogs and uploading content, I applied for a media credential for Affliction Banned [MMA event in Southern California, July of 2008]. I got approved for media credentials based on the work I had put in to my website.

MS: When did the UFC [Ultimate Fighting Championship] become a household name in America?

TL: I believe when they signed the FOX [TV] deal. When they signed it really put them on a new level because of the opportunity they now had to get into households via FOX television channel. That was a huge deal for the UFC and the sport of mixed martial arts.

MS: Going with that theme of the FOX deal, they’re in promotions now. Starting next month they will have the new channel FOX Sports 1. How big do you see that playing a role in sports?

TL: It’s definitely going to play a huge role in sports. It’s not going to be a fully dedicated channel, but it’s definitely going to air a whole lot of mixed martial arts. As a fan myself, having to rent DVD’s to watch events that were taking place around the United States, it’s awesome because now it’s going to be on T.V. every day, week…they’re going to televise events. It’s going to be big, really big.

MS: Absolutely, now give me your opinion or thoughts on social media and the impact. How it covers sports in general, as athletes everyone now has they’re own voice. Is that a good thing? Bad thing? Over exposure?

TL: The UFC has done a really good job on educating its fighters how to use social media to promote themselves, because when they promote themselves in turn are promoting the UFC. Social media from a marketing perspective for sports, especially like one like the UFC who doesn’t have a whole lot of mainstream media, it’s been huge. Its one of the biggest reasons why the UFC has been able to get in front of so many people is because of social media. I can personally attest that social media was a huge tool for me to be able to get my content out there, distribute it to my followers and fans, as well as, engage with them and continue to build content they’re going to want to read or see.

MS: How important has YouTube and viral videos become in 2013?

TL: YouTube has a huge platform for myself in terms of distributing content, as a whole. For me personally (like the viral video you mentioned) has been a huge success. The channel that I run has, I think, over 11 million views right now. Eight million of those views come solely from about two or three videos that have gone viral and because of those; it’s a strong platform for video content it’s a huge proprietor for mixed martial arts as a sport.

MS: In terms of your website, you don’t just cover UFC, there are other organizations out there. Tell me about the direction the site is going in and where you see it in the future.

TL: The site is going really well, we have a consistent amount of traffic to the website on a daily basis. We do not run a lot of advertising; we don’t do a lot of marketing, other than word of mouth or social media. It’s going really well and I look forward to covering mixed martial arts on all levels, from a professional to amateur perspective. In the future I’m looking potentially to team up with an affiliate, a network, that would kind of reside within my community of the website and allow me to reach out to other sports.

MS: I forgot to mention at the top, you’re located in southern California, but you cover MMA in general, not just in southern California. You must have affiliates in different cities and states, right?

TL: Yeah, there are a couple of gentleman that I work with on a monthly basis that help cover the sport in different states like Arizona, Seattle, and Nevada too. The sport is growing very quickly nationwide and internationally. Potentially I would like to branch out and having affiliates that work with me all over the world, including Asia and Australia. But that’s something that won’t happen for a year or so.

MS: One last thing, do you have a desire to cover other sports or is MMA your main focus?

TL:  I definitely enjoy watching a lot of different sports, but I really am going to focus on covering mixed martial arts from a journalism perspective and blogging perspective. That’s kind of what the focus of World of MMA is, and for me right now.

MS: Alright, thank you Tyler. I appreciate the time.

TL: Of course, I appreciate your time Mr. Silver.