Business of MMA: SuckerPunch Entertainment, Part One

The social network savvy MMA super-group

If it feels like SuckerPunch Entertainment has come out of nowhere to emerge as one of the premier MMA management agencies in the sport, founder Brian Butler-Au will be a happy man. That was his vision for the company that started with one client just a few short years ago.

“We called it SuckerPunch Entertainment because my plan was to come out of left field and hit everybody real hard so they end up saying, `Where’d these guys come from?'” recalls Butler-Au, speaking with Heavy MMA for this profile earlier in the week.

The reasoning behind the name is fitting and crafty. How he arrived at the name, however, is a little less original.

“We were trying to come up with a name for the company. A friend from high school plays in this band called English Beat — he was on tour with them — and we went to go see them play. There was this guy standing in front of me and his shirt said Sucker-Punch Bar or Sucker-Punch Saloon and I thought that was pretty catchy.”

The fact that he stumbled into the name of what is now a burgeoning super-group of proven managers and talented fighters is apropos when you consider how Butler-Au came to be a manager in the sport in the first place. Word to the wise — don’t call him an agent; “I actually don’t like to be called an agent. In the Hollywood set, I guess an agent is the cool thing to be called, but man, do not call me that; I’m a manager.”

Before being swept into mixed martial arts, Butler-Au owned an operated his own ad agency on the East Coast, working with Fortune 500 companies, as well as the NHL and NFL.

“We were a boutique agency,” explains the 40-year-old who now manages the careers of fighters like Pat Barry, Felice Herrig, and Bellator standout Pat Curran. “Our specialty was branding, marketing, broadcast and internet, and I was very successful there.

“What ended up happening was, I just started training at a local gym because I couldn’t stand going to a regular gym and lifting weights and running on treadmills. The gym that I was training at put on these small, local shows, and the owner recognized that I had advertising and marketing capabilities and asked if I could help out with one of his shows.

“So I did, and within the next couple of shows, we actually had a TV deal; the show had grown significantly, and we were bringing in fighters from all over the world. At one of the shows, I brought in Jens Pulver to be a guest, do a meet and greet, do some commentating.

“Jens and I hit it off. He was not back in the WEC at the time — he was just coming off the TUF show, being a coach with BJ Penn. After that show, a couple weeks later, Jens gave me a call and he said, `I like the way you operate, you and me kind of hit it off. I’m going back to the WEC, I’m wondering if you could kind of help me out with some of my marketing.’

“I told him I’d give it a shot, and I ended up getting him sponsored by Activision with Call of Duty 4, Paramount Pictures for the movie Cloverfield, PC Gamer Magazine; kind of everything right up his alley of gaming and stuff like that. I think a lot of people took notice at the level of sponsorship he ended up having, and at that point I started getting calls.”

On that first night working with Pulver — WEC 31 where he defeated Cub Swanson — Butler-Au met fellow UFC vet Jeff Curran, and eventually began working with “The Big Frog” and various fighters training out of his Chicago-based gym.

“It just came to a point where enough fighters started coming on where I had to make the decision to make the jump over. At the time that I had to make the decision, I was definitely not making the income that I was making at my ad agency, but I felt that I was on this path and fate had sent me there because all the right doors kept opening for m; I kept meeting all the right people, I kept doing business in an ethical fashion like I had done with my ad agency.”

That ethical approach to things was one of the factors that lead Bryan Hamper and Shu Hirata, fellow managers with impressive credentials and client lists of their own, to join forces with Butler-Au earlier this year in what Hamper calls “SuckerPunch Version 2.0.”

“He’s a very, very classy guy and he’s an ethical person,” offered Hamper of his new partner. “So what stood out is the way he conducted his business, and the way he treated his clients. It mirrored a lot of the same things that I do with my business, so right away we clicked. We talked about how could we help each other and it just grew into what it is now.”

Hamper — who continues to handle the careers of WEC-turned-UFC stars Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone and Leonard “Bad Boy” Garcia, among others — was also drawn to the extensive effort Butler-Au and SuckerPunch put into social media.

“The exposure that he’s getting his clients is second to none in the industry. I really think that SuckerPunch is bringing the sport into a new age. The quality of products that they put out for the their clients and sponsors is second to none, and that’s a huge value add when you’re talking to potential endorsers. You’re talking about what can we do to help your brand, how can we brand your client with our product. He does a really great job with that, and that was the first thing that really stuck out.”

Though Butler-Au admits there are some fighters on the SuckerPunch roster who need a little more direction and encouragement to take to Facebook and Twitter more frequently, he’s also got social networking stalwarts Herrig and Barry on his side, making up for the lesser numbers of their teammates in steady doses of 140-character goodness. It’s about more than just being seen on social networking sites to Butler-Au as well.

“I’m not riding Pat Barry for social media; that guy’s hilarious,” laughed Butler-Au. “But if there is an opportunity where I tell Pat that we have a program coming up, this sponsor is going to be working with you and I need you to do this, he’ll take it and find a funny way to put out the message that I want him to put out, and he’ll put it out in his own way.

“I think the social media side of things is extremely important because it’s an instant value that the fighter can give back to the sponsor and make the sponsor feel happy. Let’s face it: you can get some companies that will get excited and come on board just to get their logo on TV. But at the end of the day, to get the ROI for the sponsor, it’s not about just that one hit the night of the fight.

“We try to come up with campaigns and strategies that are beyond the scope of just fighting in the cage that night. One of the things I think we do really well, like I said, is the social media side of things, and I think that is just going to continue to grow and blow up.”

Hamper concurs, and believes that the newly formed triumvirate of managers assembled under the SuckerPunch Entertainment banner are able to deliver for their clients — both fighters and sponsors — in ways some other agencies cannot.

“I feel like we’re putting out a product right now that is rivaling any of our competitors. We all have different relationships in the industry with different people, so it was able to give us a better market reach. We’re able to control a larger market share, so we have a better pulse on the industry as far as what’s happening, what are the industry standards, what’s going on there?

“We get to hear things before other people do, so having a three-pronged attack, I feel like we’re kind of deep-rooted in the MMA scene right now, so anything that happens, we pretty much know about it. So we’re able to offer you opportunities that other people aren’t exposed to, and it’s directly correlated to our team being more active.

“We’re coming up and bringing new business into the MMA world which is what we’ve always looked to do. With the MMA-specific sponsors, it’s a smaller pool. We’re constantly looking to bring new sponsors to the sport, which in return is exposing you to a whole new demographic, a whole new market of people that are becoming fans of the sport as a result.”

Check out Part Two of our Business of MMA profile on SuckerPunch Entertainment tomorrow, focusing on the future direction of both the company, the industry and the sport.

Other profiles in the Business of MMA series:

Authentic Sports Management
Alchemist Management – Part One and Part Two

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