Tuesday, June 14, 2011

UFC?s Global Expansion

<B>By CHRISTOS POLYDOROU<BR>
MMANEWS.COM Staff Writer</B><BR><BR>

Undeniably, ever since the UFC transformed from sensational spectacle to the organized sport that it is today, its global marketability has also grown drastically. It has, in fact, grown to such extend that in the last two years, the UFC has already travelled out of the US a total of ten times, while UFC 134 is scheduled to take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in August 2011 and another future event is rumored to take place in late 2011 in Canada yet again.<BR><BR>

For the most part, the UFC?s venture to global grounds has been a financial success with UFC 129 having a record-breaking gate attendance of &000000000005572400000055,724. Often-times called by UFC President Dana White the ?mecca of the Mixed Martial Arts,? Canada has steadily become a valuable marketing platform for the sport of MMA and particularly to the UFC, mainly due to the popularity of its welterweight frontrunner, the ever so popular and rated pound-for-pound number one fighter in the world, George ?Rush? St Pierre.<BR><BR>

Yet Dana White and the UFC promotion are not satisfied with merely taking over the American continent, but are planning to endeavour newer grounds and possibly bigger markets overseas in addition to those already conquered. At the UFC 131 pre-fight conference, White reported that there will be events taking place in Sweden and China in the near future stating that the organization?s global success is essentially due to the fact that ?fighting is the one sport that crosses borders very well.? The UFC has also done a great job in securing talent from all over the world, particularly marquee fighters like aforementioned St Pierre, Anderson Silva, Cain Velasquez, George Sotiropoulos and Dennis Siver, among a great many others, all capable to attract huge sales revenue in their respective international markets or even most likely anywhere else in the world as well.<BR><BR>

Dana also asserted at the press-conference that worldwide recession has not yet had a significant impact on the UFC, if any, and the sport of MMA is becoming ever so popular all around the world. With the recent acquisition of Strikeforce, the two biggest MMA organizations have now joined forces under the Zuffa, LLC banner bringing each a rich talent pool and a world of opportunities for prospective blockbuster fights.<BR><BR>

Yet, as the Ultimate Fighting Championship marches forth to new locations and previously unexplored markets with relative ease, there is still one major US pay-rolling arena that has eluded the organization for several years, namely that of Madison Square Garden in the state of New York. The UFC?s first and last, as of yet, event to be held in New York was in Buffalo on September 1995, though the UFC President has publically proclaimed that this may be the definitive year during which the worldwide phenomenon may finally break into the New York market as well.<BR><BR>

Source: http://www.mmanews.com/home.php

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