Interviewing Sven Bean, local MMA Event promoter, talent recruiter and industry consultant is a "delicious" experience. After all - his primary sponsor is Brothers BBQ so Dan Magnie, President of ColoradoFightEvents.com and I had the pleasure of sitting down the Sven at Brothers' Englewood location for a fabulous dinner and even better conversation.
Sven is a very young 40 years old. In appearance, I would have pegged him for at least 5 years younger except for the chronology of his history that needed at least his number of years to have accomplished. He has been married to his best friend and biggest supporter, Lisa for 18 years. MMA may not be her passion but Sven is her passion so she supports him entirely. He volunteers that he wouldn't be anywhere without her - he calls her his "right hand man". Sven and Lisa have two children, a 17 year old son, Zack, and an 11 year old daughter Leah. This all may sound pretty conventional but that doesn't begin to describe the start-up years.
Sven grew up in Bailey, Co. and was, by his own description, a scrappy street-fight-savvy wild child. He had an attitude that came from being picked-on due to having a smaller than average stature which drove him to participate in his high school wrestling program for four years.
Years later, in 1992, Sven hosted a party for about a dozen of his tough group of friends where they watched the UFC on television for the first time. Royce Gracie mesmerized the young Sven as he put every one of his opponents on the ground. Sven was hooked!
In spite of a limited college education, Sven had achieved business success as an entrepreneur that provided project management services for corporate office layouts. After his televised introduction to Gracie in 1992, Sven had the good fortune to cross paths in a Blockbuster store with his martial arts idol, Clarence Thatch who was easily recognizable in his gee and black belt. That first introduction became a three hour conversation that developed into a friendship that still thrives today.
Enlisting Thatch as his MMA coach, Bean set his sights on achieving the Sebaki title - a style of closed-fist bare knuckle fighting. After a serious ski-board accident caused a setback to Sven's fighting career, Lisa made the compelling argument that Sven needed to focus on being a businessman and a father -
nota fighter. In spite of the physical setbacks, Sven continued to hang out in the gym. Even though he no longer participated in the ring, he became the gym "big brother", offering a business perspective to improve the coordination of local fight programs.
As evidenced by his relationship with Clarence Thatch, Sven always turned to the best to coach him to the top of his chosen craft. As he set his sights on show promotion, he volunteered to assist the largest USWF promoter of the time, Steve Nelson. Nelson ran his events in Amarillo Texas, a moderate sized community of 100,000 people. Sven bought his own plane ticket to Amarillo and became a diligent student in the promotion game as Nelson's shadow. Sven observed wisely that the success of Nelson's Amarillo location was that it became the biggest event in a smallish city -- drawing an audience of 10,000 - 10% of the entire population.
When Sven returned to Colorado to launch his own venues, he rejected Denver as a location because it was too big and focused on the 9,000 seat World Arena in Colorado Springs for his first Ring of Fire show. Sven had sold his office layout business to finance this show and in spite of a great card of fighters, a week before the event had sold less than 100 tickets. Ultimately, he was forced to cancel this first event and took a $17,000 beating/lesson. Only a few weeks later, Sven co-promoted a "brawl" in Broomfield which launched him to host his first successful Ring of Fire in March 2000 at Red & Jerrys in Sheridan Co. Red & Jerrys had a capacity of 300 and 700 people showed up. Sven had achieved the first of his subsequent successes.
Flash forward to today: September 15, 2007 at the Broomfield Events Center Sven will host his 30 th Ring of Fire. He has been an event coordinator of at least 60 events. He has been chosen as the exclusive fight promoter at the Broomfield Events Center and is currently working on a TV deal. Sven no longer needs a different day job. He has combined his professional business sense with his love of the sport. He has made promotion a viable career rather than just a hobby.
When asked if Sven sees MMA now as where the WWF was two decades ago, Sven becomes adamant that MMA is a true sport with athletes always working to perfect their skills. He is strident that MMA is not a spectacle - that a spectacle is defined as a one-time occurrence, MMA is the mastery of a sport.
Sven also speaks with great respect about Josef Mason, the current Colorado boxing commissioner. The purpose of the boxing commission is to assure the safety of the fighters. Prior to the UFC being regulated in Colorado, Josef Mason took it upon himself to learn about the sport and he ultimately became a fan. He brought MMA legitimacy to Colorado. Sven places his own responsibility as the figure who brings the magic, respect, promotion and sponsorship to the fighters. His tenure with MMA has brought him national visibility with the UFC consulting with him on which fighters are ready for their UFC debut.
Dan Magnie of ColoradoFightEvents.com asked Sven how he chooses which amateurs are selected for Ring of Fire and other professional bouts. Sven has a business partnership with Carlos Carvahlo in Vail where they produce matches under the trade name of Battle Quest. This separate entity acts as a feeder show to professional matches.
When asked where Sven sees himself 5 years from now, he expects to still be involved in the sport and aims to be one of the top three national promoters. As a believer that this sport still has limitless potential with bigger paydays for all participants, it will be no surprise to this fan when Sven meets or exceeds that goal.