​WHAT IS UNION GP?

Union Grand Prix is the brainchild of President Dante Reed and originated as a one-off series of mixed martial arts tournaments and round robins. However, the interest and popularity quickly grew like wildfire and soon became a full fledged promotion. Union Grand Prix (commonly known as Union GP, UGP, or Union) has scouted and recruited throughout the globe to bring in the best cage-fighters on the market. From young rookies and prospects, to the seasoned veterans and icons, Union GP has established itself as the gold standard of MMA. Union GP, and it’s developmental promotion Everest MMA (eMMA), can be viewed exclusively on the Battleground Network, which is a multi-platform streaming service that provides a station and home to the best independent wrestling promotions and combat sports around the world. 

 

APPLICATION PROCESS

- APPLYING

With the addition of Everest MMA, there are a few options to take when applying. You could start off applying for Everest and build up a resume before being called up, or take your chances and dive right in with the seasoned fighters. The sim takes into account whether a fighter is a true rookie or has an established record, so it’s advised to start off in the smaller ranks before stepping onto the big stage, but it’s ultimately your call. When you are filling out your application, you will want to fill in your statistics that fits your character. You don't necessarily have to use every point (except during the tactics/strategy section), but it's there to use. 

 

- NUMBER OF CHARACTERS

You can have as many characters as you wish. All that is asked is that you are able to keep up with some form of promotion, be it Twitter activity, RPs, news articles, etc. You can even create an entire gym with multiple fighters spread throughout every division if you’d like, we just ask that you are able to keep them somewhat active and interesting to follow.

 

- STATISTIC & TACTICS AMENDMENTS

Handlers will be able to amend their statistics to their character. Sometimes, a fighter will progress or have setbacks in areas and migrate to different disciplines. During the months of March, June, September, and December, handlers will be able to reassess their stats as long as they stay within the 230 total points cap and go no further than a + or - 3 points per category. This is to help build some realistic progressions, as you wouldn't expect, for example,  a pure stand-up striker to fully evolve to a BJJ artist in a matter of a few months. However, during a fighter’s stint in Everest MMA, there will be no stat or tactic amendments allowed until they are promoted to Union.

 

- SPONSORS & GYMS

We ask that sponsors be either actual companies (IE Nike, Monster, Budweiser, etc.) or a fictional one that you can provide a logo for. As for gyms, we would like to have "e-fed" gyms be represented in Union GP, but we must ask that you have their permission to use their name before claiming them as your training facility.

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HOW ARE FIGHTS DETERMINED?

- SIMULATION

Simply put, the fights are decided by the statistics you provide in your application/re-tooled application. Every category will be used in an MMA simulation, and that program will decide the finish of the fight. Everyone gets the same amount of points to use, so it comes down to how a fighter is built and how well your tactics/strategy is. You are able to submit a temporary tactics revision to fine-tune your strategy against an opponent before the posted deadline on the card (Union GP fights only). However, just like in real life MMA, sometimes the better fighter comes up short. Whether it’s a flash KO out of nowhere, getting caught in a submission, or bad judging, the sim can sometimes produce some wild and controversial finishes, which will keep everyone, including the staff, in disbelief at times.

 

- ANGLED

The angled aspect of this promotion does not affect a fight outcome, but rather the matchmaking and rankings. How well you promote your fighter, your fights, and this company can sway the narrative of your fighter. Like in real life MMA, sometimes the trash talkers shoot up the rankings based on being in the spotlight constantly, while the quiet “actions speak for itself” types tend to take the long road to glory. Sometimes fans don't care about the rankings and only want to see the big money Super Fights. How well you promote on Twitter and in some cases RPs and CDs, will help dictate your rankings, and thus, get you the bigger fights. Role playing is not required, although it is encouraged to help establish your character in greater depths.

 

- OPENWEIGHT DIVISION ROLE PLAYS

We will be testing out a role play division, aka the “Openweight Division”. These bouts will be determined by written role plays, and scored by staff and/or volunteered judges. We will still be using the sim program to produce the fights, but they will be altered in a way to fit the judged winner instead of solely relying on statistics. The way a fight is finished will not be determined by how role plays are scored, so do not assume that if your fight ends in a first round KO, that you got absolutely demolished in the writing aspect. We will attempt to make these fights exciting and competitive, but at the end of  the day, we’re going to work with what we got. So, what this means, if you participate in challenging for this title (and maybe the division as a whole if we ever come to do non-title fights), you will still need to submit an application to provide statistics and a fight strategy so we can have something to work with in the sim program.

 

Now, as far as what we are looking for in the role plays, we’re not interested in seeing camp reports of fighters going through their training regimens. What we want to see is some character development and story building to hype the fight, the fighters, and give something the fans (readers) can get behind. The default parameters will be 1 RP with a 1,500 word count cap and use the following categories and scoring as follows:

 

OPENWEIGHT JUDGING CRITERIA

Each category will be scored in .5 point increments. The score of category will be added together for a total grade (maximum 60 points). Each total grade will then be averaged among all judging staff members for a final grade. Whoever has the highest final grade wins the match. Bonus points will be added after scores have been averaged among all judging staff members.

 

- CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT (10 points total)

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(10 points) Characters & Dialogue | Personalities that are distinctive, compelling, multi-layered, and unpredictable. A character and/cast with clear and active goals. Voices that are natural, succinct, and unique to each character. Use of language that effectively reveals character and moves the story forward.

 

- PROMO STRENGTH (20 points total)

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(10 points) Theme/Concept | The underlying message of the story as revealed through plot, dialogue, and visual elements. The idea behind the story. What the story is about. The “hook.”

 

(10 points) Match & Storyline Focus | A promo is after all, promoting a match. This is how well you convey the narrative and meaning of your match and any storylines or angles involved.

 

- STRUCTURE & READABILITY (30 points total)

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(10 points) Overall Structure / Plot & Pacing | The framework of the promo. Effective use of three-act (Beginning, Middle and End), odyssey, linear or non-linear story progression. The actions, events, conflicts, and turning points that propel the story/promo forward. How the promo unfolds (points for originality/unpredictability). The timing of the action, unfolding of plot elements and character development.

 

(10 points) Grammar | Spelling, punctuation, grammar, and usage.

 

(10 points) Style/Tone | Overall quality of the writing. Tone that is appropriate to the material and narrative that is distinct, interesting, entertaining, and effectively conveys the mood or “feel” of the story. This portion is where points are awarded for exceptional promos—those that display an incredible use of vocabulary, clever ideas, mature style, and so on.

 

CONTRACTS AND BONUSES

Every rookie fighter starts out with a Rookie Contract, which is a 6 fight deal worth $15,000 per fight. These numbers are an estimate from what an average real life fighter makes, scaled into an e-fed setting. Most real life fighters will typically have 3-4 fights per year, whereas here in Union GP, a fighter could theoretically fight every month, so these numbers will generally be smaller than what some real life contracts are publicly disclosed.  Negotiations for a new contract may begin at any time during their deals. Since role playing isn't required, the only way we can know for sure that your character is still with us is by renewing a contract. It is your responsibility to contact staff either through Twitter or the forum to discuss a new deal. If you don't renew your deal by the end of the deal, your fighter will be placed on the alumni/inactive list and will not be booked for another fight until a new deal is made.

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- UNION GP SHOW MONEY (PER FIGHT)

PRELIMS AND UNDERCARD ($10,000)

CO-MAIN EVENT ($25,000)

MAIN EVENT/TITLE FIGHT ($50,000)

 

- UNION GP WIN MONEY (PER FIGHT)

PRELIM AND UNDERCARD WIN ($10,000)

CO-MAIN EVENT WIN ($25,000)

MAIN EVENT/TITLE FIGHT WIN ($50,000)

 

TITLE WIN ($100,000)

SUCCESSFUL TITLE DEFENSE ($50,000)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT ($50,000)

PERFORMANCE OF THE NIGHT ($50,000)

 

- EVEREST MMA SHOW MONEY

PRELIMS AND UNDERCARD ($5,000)

CO-MAIN EVENT ($10,000)

MAIN EVENT/TITLE FIGHT ($20,000)

 

- EVEREST MMA WIN MONEY

PRELIM AND UNDERCARD WIN ($5,000)

CO-MAIN EVENT WIN ($10,000)

MAIN EVENT/TITLE FIGHT WIN ($20,000)

 

TITLE WIN ($20,000)

SUCCESSFUL TITLE DEFENSE ($20,000)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT ($10,000)

PERFORMANCE OF THE NIGHT ($10,000)

 

Example of a payout for a Union GP win: 

$15,000 (base) + $25,000 (Co-Main Event) + $25,000 (Win) + $50,000 (Performance of the Night) = $115,000 total.