Issue 114

May 2014

I would first like to take this opportunity to thank all of the fans who made the trip to the O2 Arena for the first EMEA card of 2014. It was a huge success and one we plan on replicating throughout the year.

Garry Cook

Executive vice president of UFC for Europe, Middle East and Africa talks titles and fan interaction

One of the most popular questions posed to myself and the team in London was regarding title belts. More specifically the possibility of future headlining fights, like Gustafsson vs. Manuwa, perhaps contesting a European or EMEA UFC championship belt.

But I’m not keen on the idea. Alexander Gustafsson is likely the number one pound-for-pound fighter in Europe right now, so why does he need a title to prove it?

The whole mentality of having numerous titles and champions comes from boxing, and I’m not sure we need to follow that model. We already have the rankings, and that’s surely a stronger system than diluting the UFC with belts.

I’d much rather see Gustafsson with the world title belt wrapped round his waist, representing Sweden, Europe and the EMEA region, than with a European belt.  

And Alexander is far from alone in his quest for world domination. It would be great to see Brad Pickett walking out in the Mandalay Bay to fight for the UFC flyweight world title, for instance. 

And, let’s not forget about the returning Conor McGregor. He’s basically carrying the hopes of a nation. He’s taken that battling Irish crown over from Steve Collins (former WBO super middleweight boxing champion). Conor is Irish fight sports today. He’s already taken the world by storm – and he’s not even in title contention yet.

So I don’t believe introducing a wave of European UFC belts is the way forward, at least certainly not right now. What we need to see is this continued evolution of talent taking on the world’s best from wherever they come from.

We are continuing to attract new audiences to MMA, especially here in the EMEA region, and so introducing regional title belts across so many weight divisions would just add more complexity to an already largely misunderstood sport. 

I was delighted with the fans’ response to the UFC Fight Night London event. That appreciation is what we are always striving for: to ensure the fans have the best and most enjoyable experience possible. 

Since I came in to this job 18 months ago we’ve had a plan, and that plan is still being rolled out. We have a vision, we know where we want to go. It’s all been mapped out, from the broadcast network to how we make it local. The UFC brand has to be local for local fans. And that helps us become a global business.

Events are only valuable to us, in EMEA, if they are in prime time TV slots. We have six events for 2014, including going into new territories so we can open up new markets. But it’s all about people. It’s people who develop our brand. 

When I arrived there were only five people based in London, and they were working on all the international events. They’d work an event in London, then they’d go to Macau, then they’d go to Brazil, and nobody was actually here giving the fans the stuff they wanted to see.

Whereas now we are providing that service to the fans, and the success of the O2 Arena event – selling out in four hours – is justification of that. And those were people’s ideas. It’s not the brand, not the UFC, but people who are working alongside me. 

We now have 16 people in the office, a strong team with diverse backgrounds – and not just in MMA. We are all committed to making a difference. We strive to make the fan experience better with every event, and London was a triumph in terms of the new frontier for us.

Anybody can stage a fight. But that’s not the experience we’re offering and never have. What is exclusive to the UFC is that access behind the curtain, giving fans the chance to interact with the fighters. That’s why we’ve been so successful. 

As for the future, well, along with experiencing more fight cards featuring more homegrown stars the number of events is only going to increase. 

We’re going to get to every major city in Europe. We’re eventually going to get out to Africa. And we’ll make our trips over to the Middle East more regular too.

Remember, this is the UFC and, as history has proven, anything is possible.