Steve Miller: Called Out MMA FounderFor part two of my interview with Called Out MMA founder Steve Miller, we take a closer look at the model that the southern Califonia based promotion is instituting in their endeavor to shake up the North American MMA scene. From present philosophies to future plans, he goes into detail about his views on the sport in general as it relates to his vision and involvement. He leaves no doubt as to their ability to rise from relative obscurity to major player.

In less than a year, Steve Miller has taken a small operation that played second fiddle to a deep pocketed entity and locked up the business talent that it had, molding his own vision of what a mixed martial arts organization should be all the while. But just who are Called Out? What do they represent? Alongside the rapidly evolving areas of fan community and sports media, Miller's own vision seems to align perfectly.

Not only are the fans shifting toward the mainstream, but also the sport itself lends itself a limited but growing similarity to main stream sports media. Steve Miller hopes to play a role in the shift toward major sport acceptance with his promotion while simultaneously appealing to a broad scope of fans.

“One of the things that we're doing and it's a very big part of our core values...Just in the last 8 years this thing has exploded, become the fastest growing sport in the world. I think because of that, one of the things that's been sacrificed is quality control,” Miller pointed out, “The average, typical MMA fan, until maybe 5 years ago, was a guy in a wife beater t-shirt wearing a mullet, in a lifted truck with a gun rack, for the most part. It's still the demographic of 18-45 male but within that demographic, it's expanded tremendously. Now, you go to any law firm of 10 lawyers, 7 of them are going to be big MMA fans.”

Miller isn't too far off in his perception of the average MMA fan's shift in identity. A recent study showed that the sport's fans were predominantly from the upper-middle class, a far cry from the lower-middle class that the “no hold barred era” consisted of. But that's not all, where females were once oblivious to the sport, they are now beginning to jump on board, even before the recent foothold that women's MMA has gained.

“[MMA] hasn't expanded the way it should outside of the male. There's a contradiction to what you'll get just surveying public opinion. We've done some polls, walking around the malls, standing outside of different shows and there's a huge amount of females who are big MMA fans. What we set out to make, one of our objectives is if MMA is going to become a mainstream sport, then there's things that have to be addressed outside of mainstream popularity,” Miller suggested out, leading into yet another area that MMA is currently growing in, “I still want that MMA fan to be there, I still want that 35 year old beer gut, blue collar, hardcore fan to be there, I want that guy but I want him to bring his wife and his 12 year old kid [to the show].”

Miller went on to highlight that this tasteful approach can encourage parents to bring their children to events or watch them on television. A philosophy not shared by most organizations. Make no mistake, though, he is not interested in holding a church service for his events. “We're not reserved to the point where we are going to force our values down your throat,” he notes. He aims to co-promote class.

A large gray area exists in correlating MMA with family friendly entertainment. Miller hopes that through Called Out MMA's shows, they can more clearly distinguish the sport from its current gratuitous stigma, opting for tasteful sexiness over blatant exhibitionism. In this way, Called Out seeks to provide an atmosphere where every walk of life can be entertained without being offended, at least sexually.

“Our experience has been that the wife will stay home and watch it, she'll talk the talk, she likes the game, but she don't want to attend the fight cause she's weirded out. Half the time, she's watching the fight but there's T&A bouncing all over the place and she just isn't comfortable with that.”

Miller believes that this mentality is what not only his promotion, but mixed martial arts as a collective needs to attract the interest of the average family. That in itself has a built-in appeal to large corporate sponsors, a market that he hopes to corner or at least enter into.

Called Out hasn't sat on their hands at all since its inception. They've established themselves in a hotbed of the sport's growth in America and managed to overcome pitfalls that has already spelled doom for many other companies like them. In persevering, they are positioned to explode much like the sport they represent. A lot of that has to do with Miller's vision moving forward as well as his understanding of the business at the fighters' level.

These guys (and gals) are serious about their endeavors. Miller highlighted a long-term approach to their business model.

“We're not just putting together a fight, we're building a company, a corporation,” he said, not a hint of reservation in his tone, “We know, every MMA fighter out there, if he's got a license, he's within arm's reach of a club level show, Indian reservations, casino, hotel, banquet room, anybody can get to a fight. The gap between that and a UFC or Strikeforce level is monumental. 99% of the guys that fight on the club level will never bridge that gap. They'll fight in club shows for 4 or 5 years then they'll just get burned out, training their butt off for 700 bucks and they just move on to something else.

Citizens Business Bank Arena: Ontario, California Home of Called Out MMA“Our place is to go into mid-range venues, 6-10 or 11,000 seats and give full production value. Give the guys the feel like they're fighting UFC. It's full blown production, jumbo-tron and all, and pay them better than they'd get paid at a club show.”

Excessive for a fight company that is less than a year old? Not exactly. Miller believes in a concept of laying the foundation on the middle tier as opposed to building toward it as a goal.

“We went right into this 11,000 seat arena and filled it to near-half capacity. Everything that goes to Staples Center, The Honda Center, goes [to Citizens Business Bank Arena] as well. It's a full blown sports arena. It's a little more expensive to do it that way but in my own experience in the industry, and in doing our due diligence, is that we've found out that once you start off at a casino or club show level, once that's your brand identity, it's almost impossible to get above that. So you've got to bite the bullet to come in and establish as a standard right off the bat 'this is our identity, this is who we are'. That pulled us a step above [that level].”

There is no mistaking Steve Miller's desire to be a major player in the MMA landscape. But their proposed role doesn't include direct competition with the big boys of UFC and Strikeforce, the #1 and #2 MMA companies respectively.

“We don't have any illusions at all that we're going to compete with UFC. If anything we're huge UFC fans because those guys made it possible for the rest of us to do what we do. They pioneered this thing. Have nothing but good things to say about them.

We don't think we're going to rise up and be Strikeforce's contender, these guys have been at it for 15 years as a promotional company. They've earned their keep. They've walked the walk.

What we do know is that we're going to step in the middle of that gap [between club and major shows] and our shows will stay regional shows. We have the entire US segmented off into 6 regions. Every year we launch in the next region. We'll hold 6 shows a year in that region, maximize it, then keep going in that region. Each region functions independently.”

Obviously, Called Out MMA lacks the notoriety of many industry mainstays such as King of the Cage or Ring of Combat, both considered to be on the club level. While Miller seeks to keep his promotion above that club level, they pose no direct threat to the old school club organizations or the time-tested power players either. Consequently, Miller foresees Called Out as a perfect feeder promotion for those “major league” promotions.

Miller then reflected on his last show, emphasizing how they have already begun to settle into the middle tier.

“We had one show, August 15th, [2009], that we can claim exclusive rights to. I lost 3 fighters that fought on my card. That tells me that the representatives for WEC and UFC were at my fight, since they didn't fight anywhere else after me. That's fine with me. I hated to lose them but I don't mind being that guy. If I'm the place where Strikeforce or UFC wants to come and look for a guy who is ready to go to the next level then I'm thrilled with it. We can make a lot of money by filling that [role]. I don't mind being known as a Triple A promotion.”

"Georgi K" Karakhanyan: Will be fighting on Called Out II on January 24thWho were those fighters? In a few words: blue chip prospects. Georgi Karakhanyan was lost to Bellator FC and Jay Silva and Chad George, who won his first fight, were lost to the UFC. But according to Miller, those losses are also his gains.

“It was bittersweet. It was a bummer but at the same time, it also speaks to the fact that we are already who we set out to be, in a sense. We have already began meeting our goals as a business.”

He also mentioned that they are working on securing a date for this year in Dallas, TX. This would represent their second regional home and an arena deal is already in the works, along with a fight-card that includes some names from their first show as well as some well-kept secrets in the form of hot prospect fighters.

Miller's company sports non-exclusive contracts and is also open to co-promotion again in the future, “But it's got to make sense. We aren't going to partner with a company that is going to fold like our first time out.”

Called Out MMA already has partnerships with many of the large MMA gyms in the area including Pinnacle MMA, No Limit MMA, and Ontario, CA based Millennia MMA, among others. These partnerships, Miller believes, are key to his success as a promoter. With that in mind, he seeks to remain in the good graces of those gyms and their fighters.

“After our second show was postponed, we understandably frustrated a lot of guys. But I don't believe any of those guys are done with us. After our January 24th show's success, many of those fighters are still under contract and will be ready to [fight with] us again.”

Miller's philosophies are both sound and enlightened and their goals are both impressive an attainable. Family-friendly, fun, and a positive message are all aspirations for Called Out that everyone in the company shares. Those aspirations are universally believed to be the root to their future successes. Miller himself believes his fighters are, and always should be both “warriors and professionals.” Undeniably so, he is ready to take the MMA world by storm.

What does he have to say to his doubters? “Mediocrity will always attack excellence.”

Miller's laid-back demeanor and unwavering positive view of both the world and MMA as a sport serve to augment a built-in promoter's look and voice. Speaking to him, one gets the sense that he has already established a successful company that boasts longevity. It seems that only time stands in the way of that reality coming to fruition. For a man who strays from the principles that would earn him enemies, it's almost a perfect irony that his company's moniker insinuates a direct threat of confrontation. Or maybe that isn't an irony at all. Perhaps it's a metaphor for a passive aggressive approach to announcing their arrival to the mixed martial arts scene. Whatever the case, you've just been Called Out.

Next week I will be taking an in-depth look at Called Out MMA II's fight card headlined by a surefire barnburner bout between Albert Rios and Alberto Crane. I will be talking with matchmaker Mike Rush and may even have an interview with one of the fighters from their card on January 24th. So stay tuned to ThrowThemBows and MMARecap for more coverage in the coming weeks.

For more info, check out Called Out MMA's Website

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