With Ring of Combat, Lou Neglia shows MMA promoters how it should be done

By Pramit Mohapatra of Fight Ticker

Over the last 18 months, I've been fortunate enough to cover MMA at its best having been Octagonside for three historic UFC events (Couture-Sylvia, Rampage-Liddell, and Liddell-Silva.) I've also been cageside watching intently as a new promotion like EliteXC struggles to gain credibility from and acceptance with the MMA public. And, unfortunately, I've been a first-hand witness to the failures of the now-defunct Bodog and IFL promotions.

While the UFC has clearly hit upon a formula for success, leagues like Bodog, IFL, and even EliteXC could learn a lesson or two from Lou Neglia, who puts on highly-recommended regional MMA cards in New Jersey with his Ring of Combat promotion.

Last night I attended my second Ring of Combat (ROC) event this year and for the second time I came away a believer. Neglia has figured out his own formula for success that has allowed him to now put on 20 events under the ROC banner, with two more planned for later this year. How has he done it? I thought about the two events I've attended and came up with some answers:

1) Venue. A major mistake promotions like the IFL, Bodog, and even EliteXC make consistently is that they rent big-time arenas (the kind only the UFC can fill) and routinely fall far short of arena sell-outs. In the case of the IFL and Bodog, arenas at the events I went to were 3/4 or more empty. Even EliteXC struggles to put 10,000 people in the seats for a Kimbo Slice-headlined card.

Neglia, on the other hand, holds his shows in the cozy confines of the Tropicana showroom in Atlantic City, which can't hold more than a couple of thousand people and pretty much sells the venue out. There's something to be said for picking the right-sized venue and packing it to create intensity and an experience that is far superior to sitting in the Izod center in the Meadowlands and being able to hear a pin drop.

2) Location. Remember when it seemed like every MMA event was held near a casino? Well, many up-and-coming promotions have forgotten that equation and have held events in some rather "interesting" locations. There's no doubt, however, that gambling and fighting go hand-in-hand.

While it's been a long time since a major promotion such as the UFC has ventured to Atlantic City, Neglia certainly hasn't forgotten the inherent benefits of putting on live shows in a location that is more conducive for holding such events than the average city. Rather than putting on a show in a place like Stockton, Calif., where there are few other attractions, ROC events are located in a hotel and in a city which provide MMA fans with far more than just MMA action to fulfill their entertainment needs. Atlantic City has restaurants, clubs, and casinos to pass the time. And, while it's not Las Vegas, it certainly is a major step up from Newark for traveling MMA fans.

3) Hospitality. Neglia also hasn't forgotten that it's the paying fans who keep promotions like his afloat. And, he treats ROC attendees like he cares about them. Between every fight on the card, ring girls toss prizes into the stands. The girls are also very accessible for pictures with their adoring fans. Each event ticket comes with free drinks, which is a nice perk if you're into consumption of beverages. And, maybe most importantly, fans can essentially walk up to the cage and take pictures during fights. In addition, a ROC ticket stub gives attendees free admission into the Tropicana's best night club, Providence, after the fights are over. While this might sound like a chaotic mix, somehow it all seems to come together to produce what appears to be a very content and entertained crowd. Fans don't simply get MMA fights when they attend a ROC event — they get a night's worth of entertainment.

And, with tickets affordably priced between $50 and $150, the night's entertainment won't break the bank like a UFC event will.

4) Fighters. Something else Neglia hasn't forgotten is that fights involving participants fans have a connection to are much more compelling. So, he fills a majority of ROC cards with local fighters. New Jersey and New York-area academies such as Serra Longo and Tiger Schulmann and numerous others are well-represented and each fighter brings a strong contingent of fans to the event. It's not a stretch to say that many in attendance have a direct rooting interest in at least one fighter in the event.

5) Pace of the card. Neglia keeps his cards moving, wasting very little time between fights. So, while last night's card was full of quick, lopsided matchups, fans had little time to worry about what they'd just seen because the next fight was ready to go within five minutes. As EliteXC proved at the May 31 event in Newark, nothing kills a buzz better than sitting around, waiting for the next fight to begin.

While overly-ambitious promotions arrive on the MMA scene with delusions of grandeur and fade away within months, Neglia has become a fixture in the northeast MMA scene by keeping his events simple and fan-friendly and by not over-reaching. ROC isn't the only promotion out there that adheres to these few rules but it is the one regional promotion I've become acquainted with — very happily — over the last few months.

Neglia's next event, ROC XXI, is scheduled for September 12 back at the Tropicana Showroom. And, if you haven't figured it out by now, I'll be there for sure.