Campbell McLaren

Campbell McLaren is an award-winning television producer and TV executive. He is the co-creator of the UFC and the CEO of Combate Americas, the first Hispanic MMA sports and media franchise.

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.

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.

McLaren began his career in New York at Caroline’s Comedy Club (now Caroline's on Broadway) 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 (UFC), which premiered on pay per view November 12, 1993.

McLaren's controversial marketing slogan “There Are No Rules” 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 One with the Ultimate Fighting Champion), on the cover of Mad Magazine, which featured McLaren as the promoter “Marky D Sodd,” and in the Denzel Washington film, Virtuosity.

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