Silva hopes to make World Series of Fighting relevant every day

World Series of Fighting will almost certainly never supplant the Ultimate Fighting Championship in terms of market share in the world of professional mixed martial arts.

That doesn’t mean the Las Vegas-based organization won’t put up a fight.

Carlos Silva, who took over as CEO of WSOF in July, has a vision to further establish the organization’s footprint.

“I see us as one of the three major leagues which I think is important for us,” Silva said Thursday in advance of Saturday night’s WSOF card at Hard Rock Hotel. “To be there supporting our partners like NBC and continuing to be consistent is a very important thing for us. I don’t know that WSOF was always the most consistent. As a young organization you’re going to have ups and downs. I’ve been in startups my whole career and World Series of FIghting is still a startup. (Matchmaker Ray Sefo) has really done a good job stepping up and putting our fights together. I bring a media piece so we have a good senior team now that creates consistency and I think consistency wins in sports.”

Silva joined the organization in July.

He was in Las Vegas for the Hard Rock event, which will air on NBC Sports Network. David Branch will defend the middleweight belt against Clifford Starks and Jon Fitch will fight Joao Zeferino for the vacant welterweight title.

Also, Las Vegans Vinny Magalhaes and Danny Davis Jr. will be in action on the main card.

Silva says putting on good, competitive fights will always be the main focus of the organization. He has an extensive history in the digital sports world and saw potential in WSOF.

“I’ve kind of been around and known about the fighting space and I just think what’s happened over the last 10 or so years, I think it’s a top five sport now,” he said. “Getting the opportunity to jump into an organization that I think had a lot of growth potential was a good opportunity so I dove in.”

He also added a key piece from the big boy on the block when he hired former UFC executive Michael Mersch as WSOF’s COO and General Counsel last month.

“Because WSOF is in our 30th event on Saturday, it does bring back a little of what Mike saw going back five, six and seven years and gives us the opportunity to go left when maybe some of these other things tried to go right,” Silva said. “The media landscape is different. There’s opportunities in digital and streaming. Television is a different place with DVR and how do you deliver ratings. Live sports is more important to TV than it’s ever been. I’m going to rely on Mike in a big way to help us navigate those things that Mike is maybe getting a chance to see for the second time.

“Sometimes you can be smart again or maybe even smarter the second time.”

In addition to his time at the UFC, Mersch served as General Counsel for the Nevada Attorney General where he worked with the Nevada Athletic Commission.

He said he’s excited for the opportunity to be involved with an organization on a broader level.

“I’ve been in combat sports for a long time. I think I bring to the table a lot of the regulatory side of expertise as well as the business side of things involving combat sports and MMA in particular,” he said. “So I’ve got one foot in the legal side of things and the other foot in the operations side of things and the third foot in the business development side of things. Obviously when I was with the UFC it was much more compartmentalized and much more specific things I was working on, being the COO for the World Series of Fighting allows me to help grow the brand in every facet.”

Silva and Mersch both acknowledged the organization must do more in the digital age than just put two good fighters in the cage and hope people watch.

“I think one of the biggest things that needs to continue to happen is not just to have excitement the night of the fights,” Silva said. “There’s got to be excitement on that Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday after the fight. So we have to continue to make stars and bring digital content to them every day. A big part of my background is in the digital world so I understand that and putting all those pieces together in today’s world from streaming our weigh-ins and undercards to streaming around the world doing stuff with IMG on television in other markets, it’s all of those pieces with NBC at the center as the hub of our wheel. We’ve got to continue to build out those spokes so people know about our athletes. It’s a big part of what we’ve been doing, but it’s really what 2016 is about for us.”

WSOF has been able to build stars, particularly lightweight champion Justin Gaethje.

The unbeaten 27-year-old has wreaked havoc on the division and his fights are now appointment television. But with his contract expected to expire soon, there has been much speculation he will make the leap to the UFC.

Silva knows the realities of the business, but said at some point WSOF can’t just allow fighters it develops to consistently walk away.

“In the sports business, there’s always the possibility you can build a star and lose him and that’s the case in every sport,” he said. “But one of the foundations of World Series of Fighting is developing fighters and cultivating them up through their young career. Guys like Gaethje have really become stars and he’s been with us from the beginning. We want justin to be our champion for as long as he can keep winning.”

That would help Silva a great deal toward accomplishing his main goals.

“I think for us it’s to be part of the MMA fabric every single day. When I see us trending on Twitter the day before a fight or the day before weigh-ins, I think it’s great. But I want to be relevant with our fighters and our content every single day,” he said. “I don’t want to be an event company where we’re relevant 12 or 14 times a year. I want us to be relevant every single day. We’re not there yet, but that’s what we’re working toward. We use our events as sort of the big fireworks that certainly help, but it’s everything we do in between that sort of raises the boat every day.”

The presence of Mersch can help and he’s excited to be a part of a building process again.

“I liken where this company is to where the UFC was back in the early days when I started. It was a much different company, a much smaller company and we have a lot of those same challenges, but also the fun the UFC had back in the day as well, not that it isn’t now, but it’s different,” he said. “We have a lot of great fighters and we’re looking to build that brand and expand it to where it can become an everyday topic versus just an event-by-event topic.”

Silva hopes he can make that happen.

Saturday’s event airs live at 8:30 p.m.

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj