How a professional team markets itself: Anderson Silva UFC Fighter The Ultimate Fighting Championship, known as UFC, was founded in Denver, Colorado, in 1993 by Rorion Gracie, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighter, and Davie Arthur, an American publicist. Gracie wanted to create a championship to prove that the Jiu-Jitsu was the most complete martial arts. At that time, in UFC events, athletes used to fight several times in one night, until only one was the winner. The main idea was to show the strength of Jiu-Jitsu, so there were no weight categories and all martial arts were allowed; a sumo wrestler could face an expert in karate athletes. There were almost no rules and, as a result, it not recognized as a sport (Correia ¶ 01). In 2001, the brothers Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, owners of a chain of casinos in Las Vegas, bought the event. The two brothers promoted many changes in the UFC: they stipulated 31 rules, and the athletes were divided into five categories according to weight. It was also determined that each fighter would participate in only one fight per night. After buying the event, the brothers invested considerably in promoting it and the result is that today, in each edition, the event reaches 351 million homes in 130 different countries . In the U.S., over the past three years, the UFC has grown by 30% its fan base, which is estimated to be 31 million in U.S. and 61 million around the world (Esteves ¶ 04). According to CNBC, the brand Ultimate Fight acquired by new owners in 2001 for "only" two million dollars, today is worth more than $ 1 billion (CNBC sec 03). Even though the UFC was originally created by a Brazilian fighter, the importance of this championship in Brazil was almost none. However, this situation changed in 2011 and the sport became really famous and popular in Brazil. There are several reasons that contributed for this chance. However, one of the most important was the work done by Anderson Silva, and this is the reason why Anderson Silva was chosen for the completion of this assignment. Anderson Silva is a Brazilian martial fighter who is the current UFC Middleweight Champion. Silva is considered a phenomenon in this segment, since he is the fighter with the largest number of consecutive victories in UFC history: he does not lose a fight since 2006. Because of his performance, Anderson Silva became known all around the world, but in Brazil. Considering this, the CEO of the UFC realized that Anderson Silva could be “used” as an entry key for a big consumers market like Brazil. The strategy adopted to introduce the UFC in Brazil was first to bring the attention to Anderson Silva and only after that to the UFC as a whole. They had a bold strategy, since they were planning to target a sport considered extremely violent to families. In order to bring the attention to the fighter, it was paramount to work on the image of Anderson Silva and for that Silva went through an extreme makeover. According to his agents, in order to address the family target market, it was necessary to humanize the athlete. It was important to show that despite the fact that the sport involves a lot of violence, the athlete is not a violent person. To achieve this strategy, Silva start going to popular Brazilian TV shows in order to have media appearances unrelated to the sports universe. Silva was presenting himself as a good father of five kids, a good husband, a regular man who sees the professional fight nor as an exacerbation of violence, but as a way to control himself, understands limits, have discipline, and be a leader. If by one side Anderson was helping to introduce the UFC in Brazil, he was also increasing his own value. Not only he was responsible for making a lot of people start watching the UFC, but he was also bringing the attention of companies to him. The result is that companies outside the sports’ area decided to associate their image to his. In 2011, companies like Burger King, Nike, and Budweiser closed deals with the athlete. It is possible to see that Anderson and his agents understood the importance of being market oriented. They understood also that “the sport industry exists to satisfy the needs of three different types of consumers: spectators, participants, and sponsors” (Shank 11). Regarding Anderson Silva’s efforts in personal marketing, his website is very interactive, it enables fans to join his fan club and also it is used to sell UFC souvenirs, such as, jerseys, clothing, accessories, and cards. Another method used by him to reinforce his humanized side is to keep connected with the consumers, which in the case are his fans, through social media. He has a Twitter account in which he publishes all the news about him and his fights. He also has a Facebook account in which he provides a space for his fans to interact not only with him but also among themselves. As a result, Middleweight champion Anderson Silva won one more title. According to the website Fight Streams, which monitors the profiles of the fighters on Twitter, Silva is the fighter with the biggest number of followers (Veja ¶ 01-02). Anderson is now the leading sports marketing name for the Brazilian UFC. Furthermore, he is one of the top names in sport. No other fighter has an image so valued, charismatic, and winning in the Country. Anderson Silva has a global image, largely due to the UFC to be a global product and for all the marketing effort to build his figure. Anderson is considered to be one of the athletes that best managers his strategies and is more alike a company; Anderson Silva became a brand and the management is investing hard in marketing and in the brand personality.