Interview with Management Company Sponsored Fan

via lh5.ggpht.com

As an MMA fan you have of heard managers like Ken Pavia, Monte Cox, and Ed Soaras. I think all to often MMA fans have the misconception that managers are just leaching onto fighters and not providing a service. I get the feeling most fans (including myself) don't know enough about managers and the role they play in MMA. I got a chance to talk to the founders of the management company Sponsored Fan. BJ, Chris and Jeff allowed me to pick their brain about how management works in MMA. Sponsored Fan is a regional management company based out of Georgia. Their motto is simple "You fight we manage".

I asked the guys of Sponsored Fan what made them want to manage fighters in Georgia. Jeff states that "Sponsored fan was assembled in April 2009, with the goal of looking out for the fighters best interest. Some promoters out there were looking out for themselves to enhance their bottom line. Sponsored fan was set up to take the fighters need into consideration." I was very intrigued that a few savvy and intellegent MMA fans wanted to get involved and better the sport. All MMA fans want this sport to grow. Few actually have an effect on increasing the quality of the sport. Sponsored Fan is one of the few.

Chris reflects on his experiences before Sponsored Fan existed. "I've got family that fights, and it seemed like the promoters had all the leverage. Fighters had no one looking out for them." I asked the guys what the dangers do fighters face if they do not have a manager? BJ stated, "Until recently the management and promotional angle of the sport has been like the wild west. Which lead to fighters getting taken advantage of. I have seen first hand being a fighter myself, the promoter will tell you your getting paid $500 to fight and the fighter may never see that money." Chris adds, "That is why we truly started this company, so the fighters could fight and we could take care of everything that happens outside of the cage."

Make no mistake, Sponsored fan is accusing no promoter in Georgia of wrong doing. They were simply giving examples of what could happen if a fighter does not have a proper manager. Jeff reinforces my statement, "We are not bashing any promoters out there. Promoters play a vital role for what we do. We just want to get across to fighters, if a situation like that did occur, it is important to have a management company that knows what they are doing so the fighter can get 100% of the money he has earned." 

I then asked the guys about a situation where Lights Out promotion was not paying some fighters. Tim Stout, a Sponsored Fan fighter was on the card and I was curious what the guys knew about the ordeal. "We worked very closely with the promoters for that show. Everything seemed to be on the up and up. Jeff said, "There was a lot of rumors about that promoter as well, about what happened at the show. All I can tell you is from our end, Tim Stout did not get paid that night. He was written a check and the check had insufficient funds. As a management company we were able to follow up with the promoter and get 100% of Tim's fight purse." BJ chimed in, "That is the benefit of a management company. As a management company, we have relationships with the promoters within the state. Also having a solid relationship with the commission, which we have and still maintain. We remain is constant communication with the promoter, he didn't pay us that night and we were able to follow up and get our fighter paid 100%."

I wanted to know how these guys got in touch with another. How is it that 3 intelligent MMA fans got together? Chris answers, "Basically Jeff and I had a business relationship before Sponsored Fan. Soon we both got to talkin' and we had an interest in the game. Through our relationships that started Sponsored Fan we met BJ along the way. It started as an idea and it snowballed from there. Like Jeff said before we just knew a couple guys that fought, and they were not trained in the business aspects of the sport. We were just on the outside looking in, we knew we could help these guys lives and careers."

So I now know that managers help out fighters by having connections to promoters, sponsors and trainers. But how do you find sponsors that are interested in local fighters? Jeff gives me the answer, "As far as development of Sponsored Fan there is a lot of networking online, such as Facebook and MySpace, that allows us tremendous opportunities. For example, we helped our new sponsor Born to Bang Althletics by setting up a Facebook fanpage, a lot of work online to promote Born to Bang Athletics. Which helped land us a distribution agreement with Born to Bang Athletics in the state of Georgia. That is just one good example of how we were able to foster a new relationship with a sponsor. It benefits not only us but our athletes as well. Bottom line if you want to find sponsors it requires a lot networking, a lot of phone calls, and leveraging our own local resources."

At the Battle of Rome I watched as the Sponsored Fan crew rapidly raced across the Forum attending to their fighters every need. I asked them what was the hardest thing to do during fight night. Chris chirped dryly "A loss." I giggled momentarily. Chris carried on, "One of the other things we do besides manage fighters, we help to promote local shows... We helped Tony Metcalf (Promoter for Battle of Rome) by selling them a sponsor in the Rome Braves." This is an interesting statement to me. When have you ever seen a manager ever help promote a show that he/she didn't own? I had never heard of it.  

I asked the guys how they were able to become such a reputable management company so fast. A Sponsored Fan fighter seemed to be on every local show here in Georgia. Chris explains it is all about "creditability". He says if fighters enjoy what we do for them, they will tell their friends and it will snowball from there." We don't make false promises... we stand behind what we say and we do it." Like with the Tim Stout situation, Sponsored Fan did a great job for their fighter! In return many fighters heard about this and want to be affiliated with Sponsored Fan. Because fighters know when Sponsored Fan has their back all they have to do is fight.

If you are a fighter interested in hooking up with Sponsored Fan e-mail them at info@Sponsoredfan.com or hit them up on Facebook