The UFC will span the globe and become one of the biggest sports organizations in the world. Anyone who denies this is a fool.
UFC president Dana White is even making plans for the inevitable moment when the amount of capable fighters far outstrips the UFC’s capacity to put on fight cards. He hopes to have regional UFC’s in nations around the world that act as feeder leagues to the main global UFC.
To some, this may seem like pure nonsense. Their line of thinking is that the regional UFC’s will dilute the fight cards even more and further overstretch the UFC’s resources.
This is a flawed notion.
Dana White’s ultimate dream is to have an international variant of The Ultimate Fighter that’s almost analogous to the World Cup, except it’s fighting rather than soccer.
He’s coming closer and closer to achieving that dream. TUF Brazil is in full swing, and a TUF: UK vs. Australia is in the works, as is a voyage to India. Events in Macau and Singapore are also planned.
These locales will extend an already considerable list of foreign places frequented by the UFC, which includes Canada, Japan, Ireland, the UK, Australia, Brazil, Sweden, Germany and the UAE.
The UFC has been able to succeed in so many places and cross cultural barriers because of the product. Everyone understands fighting—everyone.
So when people say that the UFC’s growth cannot continue or that they are watering their product down or any number of other criticisms seen on MMA websites, forums or YouTube comments, they’re wrong.
When critics said the UFC couldn’t be salvaged, Zuffa salvaged it. When critics said the UFC could never get on a major network because of the “brutal” subject matter, Zuffa got it onto a major network. Now, when critics are saying that the UFC can never achieve global love and recognition, it’s in the process of doing just that.
The UFC will continue to bring its product into new markets, will plant the seed of MMA there and foster the sport’s growth by creating local “UFCs” that are satellites of the global UFC, where the best of the best fight to determine who is the greatest in all the world while fans from towns and cities across the Earth cheer them on.
This is the fate of the UFC; all who deny this are blinded by ideological baggage (Pride will never die!), foolishness (combat sports can never be popular!) or both.
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