UFC President Talks Expansion Into China

The global expansion of the UFC is no great secret, but on Thursday, UFC president Dana White once again confirmed the company's goal to move further into Asia as the Chinese market is opening up sooner rather than later.

Just last week, the UFC announced a deal that will put the mixed martial arts giant on Sohu.com, a leading website in China that will broadcast the UFC to millions of people worldwide.

White attributes the deal to get into China to the new partners the UFC have in Abu Dhabi, and that putting an event on in Beijing is a priority as well.

"We're very happy. We just did this deal with Abu Dhabi, through that we knew these guys were going to be great strategic partners," White said. "China is on our hit list right now, that's where we're going next now that we've got Sohu."

The website, Sohu.com, according a reporter from China who was at the press conference on Thursday, says the site gets nearly 2 billion visitors worldwide, though that number hasn’t been independently confirmed.

According to the UFC president, the website deal in China is bigger than a TV deal because of how shows are viewed there.

"Sohu is the most powerful website in China. Basically in China, the way that it works over there, all the 18 to 34 year old males don't watch TV. They go to this website and watch all their television, and we just did a major deal with these guys and we're really pumped about it," he commented.

As the show in Abu Dhabi quickly approaches in April, and with UFC 109 being the inaugural event for the company to be shown on Sohu.com, an event in China can't be too far behind, and the promotion isn’t stopping there.

“We’re very aggressive right now on China, South Korea, and India. Those are the three we’re going after right now,” said White, before adding, “India... 300 million males 18 to 34... so we love India and we’re going to South Korea.”

And fear not South America, you’re back on the radar.

“Brazil wasn’t that attractive to us in the beginning,” admitted White. “Now that the Olympics are going there, we’re very into Brazil now.”

So don’t expect the UFC to slow its global expansion any time soon

http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=10666&zoneid=13

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So we have gotten the first taste of the UFC world domination plan that will be going into effect

this could be awkward.

the only mma promotion in China is Art of War, and its part funded by the chinese government.

If they want to compete with the chinese government funded promotion then that isnt a good idea.

i have alot of chinese friends and most of them never heard of mma and if they did they said is was very obscure sport there. so i dont know if thats such a good idea just yet.

It might do well in Hong Kong, and perhaps Macau. But that's it.

I assume the lads in China, just have to go on the website and pay to watch UFC 109.


It will be interesting to see what sort of numbers tune in from China tonight to see this, and how much they have to pay.

Oh, and Dana's statement is full of nonsense.

Anfields5thKing wrote:Oh, and Dana's statement is full of nonsense.

What part of it?

Sohu is the most powerful website in China. Basically in China, the way that it works over there, all the 18 to 34 year old males don't watch TV. They go to this website and watch all their television, and we just did a major deal with these guys and we're really pumped about it," he commented.

THIS PART! COMPLETE AND UTTER SHITE! "The way it works over there" HOW THE FUCK WOULD HE KNOW!? "All the 18-34 year old males don't watch TV" ALL OF THEM? WHAT COMPLETE AND UTTER SHITE! PATHETIC ATTEMPT TO COVER UP THEM NOT BEING ABLE TO GET A TV DEAL! WHAT A DICK!

“We’re very aggressive right now on China, South Korea, and India. Those are the three we’re going after right now,” said White, before adding, “India... 300 million males 18 to 34... so we love India and we’re going to South Korea.”

THIS PART. TRYING TO MAKE MONEY IN INDIA??? EVER HEARD OF POVERTY DANA!? SOUTH KOREA IS LOCKED IN WITH JAPAN. UNLESS ITS IN A RING THE KOREANS WON'T CARE.

“Brazil wasn’t that attractive to us in the beginning,” admitted White. “Now that the Olympics are going there, we’re very into Brazil now.”

AND THIS PART! SHOWS WHAT A DICK HE REALLY IS! HE DOESN'T CARE ABOUT MMA AT ALL! ALL HE CARES ABOUT IS MONEY, DOESN'T CARE IF THE SPORT IS DEAD IN 5 YEARS AS LONG AS HE GETS A HEALTHY BANK BALANCE! BRAZIL AND JAPAN ARE THE TWO COUNTRIES THEY SHOULD BE TARGETING! THESE ARE COUNTRIES WITH EXISTING FANBASES OF MILLIONS! BUT DANA THINKS ITS BETTER TO GO TO POVERTY STRICKEN COUNTRIES AND COUNTRIES WHERE NOBODY CARES ABOUT MMA! AS CHESTY SAID, MOST CHINESE PEOPLE HAVEN'T EVEN HEARD OF THE SPORT! WHAT A DICKHEAD! I'M SICK OF DANA AND HIS SHIT. HE SHOULD FUCK OFF BACK TO BOXING! OR GO TO PRO WRESTLING WHERE HE BELONGS!


Sorry bout the caps, wasn't shouting at you KJ.

Ahh right.

Actually Sohu have effectively muscled Google out of China, although Google are claiming they're withdrawing as a stand against the Government censorship of the internet and dictatorship of its people. It was quite a big story a few weeks back.

Since the government controls the programming on network television it's believed the younger generation does find entertainment alternatives online. There's also a group set up to test what domains the Chinese government has tried to block called The Great Firewall Of China and offers proxies to get around the government block. So there's a thirst for information and media outside of the Chinese government's control.

Sohu have a dedicated UFC page here http://s.sohu.com/bojishipin/

South Korea is insanely well connected when it comes to broadband internet. They have speeds that make our broadband look like 14k modems. That doesn't mean they're receptive fans of MMA though.

However you're right on the demographics, 300 million in India doesn't tell us who has access (or rather who can afford access) to UFC events programming.

And Brazil even before the successful Olympic bid had been predicted to become a Top 5 global economy in 10-15 years I believe (that might be one of the reasons it got the successful bid). I can't really fault the UFC for not going there if they were going to lose a ton of money doing it.

They lose a shitload of money every time they hold events in the UK. They are losing a fortune on the Australia event. The Dubai event is only making money because they are getting paid insanely well by the oil barons.

I agree with everything you said. But on the chinese issue, not every 18-34 male uses that site. I'd say 60% at least don't use it. For Dana to say "the way it works over there is..." despite never having been is just incredibly arrogant. It's like he's talking to a bunch of kids. As if he knows things that others don't.

If MMA was going to be a big thing in Korea, it would be already. Spirit MC was a great organization with links to Pride but it never really drew big crowds.

Would the fact that 110 is PPV not mean that they would be making more money for 110 than they did for 105? What extra cost have they to incur for an australia event than for an event in Britian or ireland? It cant be promotional cost as tickets were sold out in hours (i think) for 110.

You know more about this business aspect than me, so i just want to know how you think they will be loosing a fortune for 110.

Generally speaking a lot of these Asian countries only have interest in sports that are in the Olympics, because it's a huge propaganda coup if they have athletes win medals on a world stage like that.

I've actually been trying to work out the demos that use sohu in China. What I do know is:

2 billion users (aka unique hits) a day is completely false, and maybe it was mistranslated, since it's probably closer to 2 million and that's if you generously round up. There are only about 1.7 billion in the world who are online.

I'm going to do some more research tomorrow and try to have an article up by Monday on the truths of Sohu's reach and traffic rank.

Oh, and UFC make money on UK events now and have for some time. They lost on UFC 70, 75 and possibly one or two after that.

It's worth losing money initially if you know the economy of that country (generally speaking) is good and can turn a profit a bit later. The British Pound and Australian Dollar are still among the top currencies in the world. Brazil wasn't worth going into until it's economy improved, and as said it looks like that's going to happen in the next decade considerably.

apparently the gross income for 2007 was US$ 35 million.

doesnt seem like too much to me.

redmeanie77 wrote:Would the fact that 110 is PPV not mean that they would be making more money for 110 than they did for 105? What extra cost have they to incur for an australia event than for an event in Britian or ireland? It cant be promotional cost as tickets were sold out in hours (i think) for 110.

You know more about this business aspect than me, so i just want to know how you think they will be loosing a fortune for 110.

It could be they over spend on the advertising campaigns. Billboards, tv and radio spots, the works. Even a sell out crowd might not cover marketing if they went overboard (as they did in earlier UK events. Ton of advertising on the London Underground costs a bomb as it is).

manschesthair_utd wrote:apparently the gross income for 2007 was US$ 35 million.

doesnt seem like too much to me.

Gross income for what?

KJGould wrote:

manschesthair_utd wrote:apparently the gross income for 2007 was US$ 35 million.

doesnt seem like too much to me.

Gross income for what?

Sohu.com Inc.

manschesthair_utd wrote:

KJGould wrote:

manschesthair_utd wrote:apparently the gross income for 2007 was US$ 35 million.

doesnt seem like too much to me.

Gross income for what?

Sohu.com Inc.

Ah right, now I'm following you.

"UFC 105: Couture vs. Vera," Saturday night's event earned another place in the UFC history books.

With 16,693 spectators packed into Manchester Evening News Arena, UFC 105 became the highest-attended European event in the history of the UFC.

Dana white revealed the figures at Saturday night's post-event press conference while also praising the U.K. crowd for their grasp of the finer points of MMA.

"We ended up breaking a record tonight," White said. "This ended up being the biggest event in Europe, ever.

"We broke our European attendance record tonight with 16,693. The previous record was 16,235, which was in London (at UFC 75), and the last MEN Arena (event at UFC 70) was 15,114."

"We did a $2 million gate, and I think we broke a merchandise record, too," White said.

While White was pleased with financial results of the show, the UFC exec also said he was amazed at how quickly European fans have picked up the intricacies of mixed martial arts.

"I came here six or seven years ago to try and kick start mixed martial arts in the U.K.," White said. "When I came over here, nobody knew what it was. There really wasn't any talent over here. In just six or seven years, we pack a stadium like this tonight.

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Obviously this doesnt say what profit the UFC made for 105, but from the figures reported and Dana's comments, UFC in the UK is heading into the right direction.

Advertising costs, staging costs, production costs, salaries, transportation, accomadation. The 3,000 tickets the UFC give away to every event. There's no way the UFC are making a dime in the UK. Couture will have gotten about 750,000 for his appearance alone. I read an interview with the guy who heads up the UK branch of the UFC before the Sanchez-Daddy fight and he said they lose millions on each UK event but that's it's worthwhile to help "grow the brand".

PPV is the only thing making money for the UFC.

I love the way Dana credits himself with creating MMA in the UK. No-one knew what it was? What a dickhead!

It's strange that the Australian UFC is on PPV given the time difference, i have my doubts that it'll draw much, unless it's on in the middle of the afternoon in Australia.

And if that website is getting 2 million hits per day, they're not unique hits. 2 billion is a classic claim though!

Australian event is 3pm local time, so it works out the same time as normal for the USA.

Clearly not having the event for the australian fans then, just another attempt to make money.

I didnt know where else to post this, but i read that UFC 108 did 450,000 PPV buys, that is mighty impressive considering all the injuries, and lack of star names on the card.
It is a drop from 107 which did 620,000 buys. But that card did have the likes of BJ,Mir,Florian, Fitch etc....


http://mmajunkie.com/news/17830/white-bearish-on-ufc-109-ppv-buys-relief-on-way-with-lesnars-likely-july-return.mma