I used to be able to get Dana White on the phone pretty easily, a text or phone call if not immediately answered would be returned in the very near future, but now the president of our organization is so busy, it’s much harder to reach him.
I think that with the new FOX deal and with the popularity constantly growing, the sport hasn’t even come close to reaching its peak. Every country in the world is jumping on board the MMA bandwagon and they each bring their own style of martial arts to the table—and that is definitely something to look forward to.
In Japan, they have karate, in Korea they have Tae Kwon Do, in the United States they have western boxing and wrestling and as the sport grows we are going to see more and more of these styles entering the cage, which will make things very interesting going forward.
When the sport does go global and the UFC is in every country, I wonder what will happen to the depth of each division.
Right now, we have primarily American, Brazilian, Canadian and Japanese fighters on the world-class level. However, when the guys from say, India or, I don’t know, Colombia, start reaching a high level with well-rounded skill sets, will there be enough opportunities for each fighter to ascend through the rankings?
I think maybe regional titles may be a decent idea to be put in place, like an Asian UFC champion, a European UFC champion and just go down the line like that when these regions start developing the talent to justify such a thing. You can do all these things with the sport as it grows.
However, I feel convinced that no matter how big the sport grows that there can only be one world title, only one world champion. But how interesting is it to consider the different ways that the UFC will deal with the future as this sport continues to grow?
I think that with the new FOX deal and with the popularity constantly growing, the sport hasn’t even come close to reaching its peak. Every country in the world is jumping on board the MMA bandwagon and they each bring their own style of martial arts to the table—and that is definitely something to look forward to.
In Japan, they have karate, in Korea they have Tae Kwon Do, in the United States they have western boxing and wrestling and as the sport grows we are going to see more and more of these styles entering the cage, which will make things very interesting going forward.
When the sport does go global and the UFC is in every country, I wonder what will happen to the depth of each division.
Right now, we have primarily American, Brazilian, Canadian and Japanese fighters on the world-class level. However, when the guys from say, India or, I don’t know, Colombia, start reaching a high level with well-rounded skill sets, will there be enough opportunities for each fighter to ascend through the rankings?
I think maybe regional titles may be a decent idea to be put in place, like an Asian UFC champion, a European UFC champion and just go down the line like that when these regions start developing the talent to justify such a thing. You can do all these things with the sport as it grows.
However, I feel convinced that no matter how big the sport grows that there can only be one world title, only one world champion. But how interesting is it to consider the different ways that the UFC will deal with the future as this sport continues to grow?
