Campbell McLaren


Campbell McLaren is a television producer and TV executive. He is the co-creator of the UFC. ESPN claimed he is the 10th most influential person in UFC history and that "his influence on the promotion cannot be overstated." McLaren was responsible for marketing the first UFC shows and subsequently became responsible for the entire operation.
McLaren is currently the CEO of Combate Americas, the first Hispanic MMA sports and media franchise. McLaren contends that Combate Americas is on track to be the number two sport behind soccer for Hispanics worldwide.

Early life

McLaren was born in Scotland and emigrated to the United States when he was six years old. His father was a former RAF Flight Officer and hospital executive and his mother was a Presbyterian Church administrator.

Education

McLaren went to primary school in Cowie, Scotland, elementary school and middle school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and high school in Indianapolis, Indiana.
He received an AB from the University of California, Berkeley. He also studied video production at MIT, with documentarian Richard Leacock.

Professional life and creation of the UFC

McLaren began his career in New York at Caroline’s Comedy Club as talent director. He began producing TV shows for cable, network, and pay-per-view in 1989, winning awards including the Cable Ace and the Imagen Award.
In 1993, McLaren was the head of programming for SEG, BMG’s pay-per-view television company. He received a call from Art Davie representing Rorion Gracie and his “War of the Worlds,” a martial arts tournament idea. McLaren envisioned a reality version of the hit video game Mortal Kombat, and immediately put the concept into development. The result was the Ultimate Fighting Championship, which premiered on pay per view November 12, 1993.
McLaren developed the controversial marketing slogan “There Are No Rules”. This along with his notorious interview in the New York Times, "Death is Cheap: Maybe It's Just 14.95," launched the franchise and delivered a high pay-per-view buyrate. Public interest and the popularity of the UFC increased leading to its appearance on Friends, the cover of Mad Magazine, and in the Denzel Washington film, Virtuosity.
In 2000, McLaren and David Isaacs, with whom he worked on the early UFCs, founded the VC backed College TV Network, Zilo, which was an early version of a user-generated content programming network. Zilo launched Collegehumor.com with the TV series Sex Violence Collegehumor.com
Campbell McLaren also launched the Iron Ring, an MMA competition reality series, with Floyd Mayweather, Ludacris, Nelly, and T.I..

Combate Americas

Campbell McLaren is currently CEO of Combate Americas, the first Hispanic MMA sports and media franchise.
Campbell McLaren created Combate Americas in 2011. Beginning as a reality show on Mun2, Combate Americas fights air in the United States, Latin America, Brazil and Spain.
“I saw that there was a huge group of sports fans that didn't have anything to root for. Combate fit perfectly into the demographics of the US/Hispanic World,” McLaren said of creating a Hispanic franchise.
Focusing on country against country rivalries, Combate Americas brings the excitement of Soccer to MMA. McLaren created a COPA COMBATE, an eight man tournament, pitting country against country. It aired on the 24th anniversary of UFC 1.
“Combate is MMA with a Spanish flavor... we’ve always said we’re presenting a thoroughly authentic Hispanic product, and we stuck to that,” explains McLaren.
Combate Americas has grown rapidly, both on Television and streaming live on social media. Their second annual Copa Combate had better ratings than Bellator. The inaugural event of 2019 outperformed their competitors, on Paramount, ESPN 2 and TNT as well as Telemundo Boxing, getting 610,000 viewers on Univision and UDN, despite its midnight ET timeslot. In a press release, the company claimed the event in Hidalgo, Texas on June 26th, was the highest rated MMA event of the night and beat both the UFC and Bellator.

Filmography

YearFilmCredit
1988The Jelly Donut Saga Producer
1989Trick or GeekProducer
1989Party of TwoProducer
1990Teacher TeacherProducer
1990Nothing UpstairsExecutive Producer
1990Eppy's EmporiumProducer
1992Free to Laugh: A Comedy and Music Special for Amnesty InternationalProducer
1993Andrew Dice Clay: No ApologiesProducer
1993UFC 1: The BeginningExecutive Producer
1993Iron Maiden: Raising HellExecutive Producer
1994UFC 2: No Way OutExecutive Producer
1994UFC 3: The American DreamExecutive Producer
1994UFC 4: Revenge of the WarriorsExecutive Producer
1995UFC 5:The Return of the BeastExecutive Producer
1995UFC 6: Clash of the TitansExecutive Producer
1995UFC: Ultimate Ultimate 1995Executive Producer
1996UFC 9: Motor City MadnessExecutive Producer
1996UFC 10: The TournamentExecutive Producer
1996UFC 11: The Proving GroundExecutive Producer
1999Paul McCartney & Friends Live: PETA's Millennium ConcertCo-Executive Producer
2000The InvestigatorsExecutive Producer
2008Iron Ring Executive Producer
2011Tu Nite con Lorenzo Parro Executive Producer
2011Off Bowery Executive Producer
2011-Combate AmericasExecutive Producer