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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
The UFC's continued efforts at global expansion are expected to reach new heights in 2011, and UFC President Dana White on Tuesday hinted at a couple of the efforts the organization is looking to unveil during the year.
According to White in a media conference call on Tuesday, the organization is a few months out from announcing new television deals that will put the UFC into a billion homes worldwide. Currently the organization reaches half that number around the world; but their plans go well beyond that.
During the call White revealed plans for the UFC's first ever international edition of their reality program The Ultimate Fighter. The UFC's plan is to run country specific editions of the reality series all over the world, and their first target is the Philippines.
Prior to today's revelation, the organization had discussed a desire to bring international TUF shows to Canada, Mexico, England, Brazil, the Middle East and more, but White said the PPhilippines is where they are looking to begin.
The international versions will be geared towards the home markets, an effort to continue building MMA stars around the world and to continue the UFC's reach in said markets. However, the international editions will likely be made available to U.S. fans in some capacity, likely on UltimateFighter.com.
Penick's Analysis: White also discussed on the call that there will be a time in the near future where the UFC will run events in separate countries simultaneously, and having TUF to begin developing some homegrown stars for different countries will be a good first step in beginning this process. They'll be looking to establish UFC feeder leagues in these countries, so that they can run "UFC" branded events in multiple countries and expand the sport worldwide. By doing so, when the big show travels overseas, they'll have talent that has "graduated" from these localized shows that they are able to bring into the major events airing in the U.S. These are lofty plans, and they've only just begun, but the story over the next decade will be just how much the UFC is able to accomplish in this area in building their brand worldwide.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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