The UFC has made another move to expand into the Japanese market.
At a press conference on Monday officials from the UFC, NTT Plala and TV Bank announced a deal that would allow the UFC greater access to Japanese fans bringing in it’s pay-per-views and other programming such as “The Ultimate Fighter” and it’s Ultimate Fight Night events.
NTT Plala will provide Japanese fans with “on demand” services which will include all UFC events and offer past content including the Pride Fighting Championship shows which have been unavailable in the past.
TV Bank will provide the “online content” for the fans of Japan to access UFC programming on the internet, they will also offer similar content to fans on their mobile phones.
Sherdog.com was on top of the story this morning translating comments.
“I’m really thrilled by this opportunity to bring the global leader of mixed martial arts — the Ultimate Fighting Championship — and build it in a region where many martial arts originated. Japan is the most advanced and important market for us in Asia so far,” Zuffa LLC Asia Executive Vice President and Managing Director Mark Fischer said in a statement to the press. “This is a very important step for the growth of the UFC in Japan. Our new media platforms will enable more fans across Japan to access exciting UFC action, news, highlights and features in more ways than ever before.”
“It’s a step-by-step process. It doesn’t happen overnight,” said Fischer. “We want to build up a good fan base, grow our media exposure, and we want fighters from different nationalities in the UFC before marketing to that nation and bringing in the big event. That big event will be more successful then, and I think that’s what we’re doing here in Japan.
“Today is a very important step in both expanding the number of Japanese fighters in the UFC as well as expanding our media platforms to bring the UFC to more fans than ever before,” he added. “We want to make sure that any fan who wants to watch the UFC has the best access they can and, at the same time, reach new fans.”