UFC Going Global: Next Stop - Germany

It seems like a long time ago now when the UFC was confided only to America and the one trip to England for UFC 38: Brawl at the Hall seemed like a one off affair that could never return - back when the lightweight division was scrapped!

But the UFC has come a long way since then with massive pay per view sales and more fighters than ever of an increasingly high level. With all these things come a wider fan base and UFC President Dana White intends to cater for the new fans by expanding the event to more countries around the world.

Luckily for us in the UK the UFC has held several events already in Manchester, London and Ireland and looks to continue the trend. More recently the organization moved to Montreal to cater to the huge number of fans for welterweight champion Georges St Pierre where the UFC scored a neat $5.2 million live gate. “The Montreal event was big all the way round” comments Mr. White, “We broke records with the venue. I think we broke every record in the venue’s history. Pay-per views went very well, everything was good.”

Apparently the next target for the UFC is Germany. Since MMA was recently legalized in France and fighters on the UFC's roster include Cheick Kongo and Jess Liaudin Dana White was question about an interest there at a recent press conference.

Dana didn’t seem too interested just yet however and pointed in other directions “We’re focused on Germany, the Philippines and Australia next” following a question into Berlin as a possible location he replied “We’re working on it right now. Germany is what we’re looking at next.” “The Philippines is definitely happening.”

Whites’ last possible consideration was for Brazil which is one of the breeding grounds of MMA and of course Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, with Vale Tudo tournaments being rather old news there. “We’re seriously looking at Brazil right now because there’s a lot of interesting economical things going on down there right now.”

Dana discarded comparisons with the NFL and their problems breaking into Europe. “Nobody gives a **** about football in Europe.” “It (MMA) translates through all different cultural barriers...people love fighting.”

No dates were given for the future forays into the mentioned areas but the prospect will certainly wet the mouths of fans worldwide.