Dana White Delusional

[Fourteen]

So DW throws out the statistic that the UFC is in 500 million homes currently and that they are soon to be in 1 Billion homes world wide. UFC 121 had what around 1 million buys. He thinks that MMA will be the biggest sport in the world within 10 years. Not only is that around half of the buys the biggest ever boxing fight has made, the last World Cup Final had 700 million viewers, not too bad Dana only 699 million more people to find. The UFC also does not rank in the top 10 sports leagues in the world for annual attendance. We can all watch the World Series, World Cup, Superbowl, Stanley Cup Finals as part of our t.v deals. MMA is far far away from being anywhere near the biggest sport in the world. With a guy like Dana in charge and coming away with such idiotic comments this sports is going nowhere big for a long time.

[BType13x2]

I'm pretty sure he was talking about having 500 million viewers world wide and not being in 500 million homes.

 

Then again I don't think that MMA has 500 million viewers at this point either. As a sport I think its lucky to have 100 million viewers.

[Kiel]

So DW throws out the statistic that the UFC is in 500 million homes currently and that they are soon to be in 1 Billion homes world wide. UFC 121 had what around 1 million buys. He thinks that MMA will be the biggest sport in the world within 10 years. Not only is that around half of the buys the biggest ever boxing fight has made' date=' the last World Cup Final had 700 million viewers, not too bad Dana only 699 million more people to find. The UFC also does not rank in the top 10 sports leagues in the world for annual attendance. We can all watch the World Series, World Cup, Superbowl, Stanley Cup Finals as part of our t.v deals. MMA is far far away from being anywhere near the biggest sport in the world. With a guy like Dana in charge and coming away with such idiotic comments this sports is going nowhere big for a long time.[/quote']

 

So are you a fan or not? Trash the guy who is trying to improve the sport but on an MMA forum?

[Turok]

MMA is not as popular as DW wants you to beleive. only ufc fan boys beleive everything Dana tells them. people with a brain can see that this is not true. it will never be as popular as the top 5 sports in the world.

[Fourteen]

So are you a fan or not? Trash the guy who is trying to improve the sport but on an MMA forum?

 

He is not helping the sport by coming away with such outlandish statements, anyone with a bit of common sense knows MMA will never be as big as Football/Soccer/Basketball/Baseball The top leagues in each of these sports all have around 32 teams right? All covering a different region of any given country, MMA or more specifically the UFC would have to be holding 16 events weekly in different major cities in the biggest stadiums to be pulling the money/attendance these leagues are.

[darkthrone99]

So DW throws out the statistic that the UFC is in 500 million homes currently and that they are soon to be in 1 Billion homes world wide. UFC 121 had what around 1 million buys. He thinks that MMA will be the biggest sport in the world within 10 years. Not only is that around half of the buys the biggest ever boxing fight has made' date=' the last World Cup Final had 700 million viewers, not too bad Dana only 699 million more people to find. The UFC also does not rank in the top 10 sports leagues in the world for annual attendance. We can all watch the World Series, World Cup, Superbowl, Stanley Cup Finals as part of our t.v deals. MMA is far far away from being anywhere near the biggest sport in the world. With a guy like Dana in charge and coming away with such idiotic comments this sports is going nowhere big for a long time.[/quote']

 

Ye, I gotta agree. Dana's comments about the UFC and MMA in general are ludicrous. Firstly, the market is obviously saturated in the US and Canada as the PPV buys would suggest. Secondly, expanding into Australia for instance is completely pointless as there are only 20 million people there, even though it's the size of the US. Also, his reckoning that the UFC is getting really popular in the UK and the rest of Europe is a complete fallacy I assure you. It's the same fans there were years ago and I have honestly never heard anyone in the UK openly talking about the UFC or MMA in general so it's not growing at all. Quite honestly I'm not surprised as the UFC is basically becoming a takedown championship and is getting increasingly hard to sell.

 

And he's kidding himself if he thinks he's going to get anywhere in India or China. Has he ever tried to business with an indian or a *****? You can't get a ****ing penny out of them so how he's gonna get your average indochink to part with their hard earned money to watch a wrestling match is beyond me.

[dfwGSP]

DW is right on this one. Fighting is the one sport that occurs naturally amongst people. It's a sport all countries can relate to.

[Fourteen]

MMA is not as popular as DW wants you to beleive. only ufc fan boys beleive everything Dana tells them. people with a brain can see that this is not true. it will never be as popular as the top 5 sports in the world.

 

Smart man, Dana White has made this aura around himself where a huge amount of UFC fans ill believe if he says it, its true.

[Fourteen]

DW is right on this one. Fighting is the one sport that occurs naturally amongst people. It's a sport all countries can relate to.

 

The last World Cup we had, 32 different nations, the most nationalities in a UFC event is around 10, MMA will never appeal to a bigger audience. Chances are your average kid in China or Lithuania would rather kick a ball about or play some basketball with 10 friends than learn how to get out of a kimura.

[dfwGSP]

The last World Cup we had' date=' 32 different nations, the most nationalities in a UFC event is around 10, MMA will never appeal to a bigger audience. Chances are your average kid in China or Lithuania would rather kick a ball about or play some basketball with 10 friends than learn how to get out of a kimura.[/quote']

 

The world cup is older than the UFC. Martial arts are in every country, and it's only a matter of time before mixed martial arts follows.

[Fourteen]

The world cup is older than the UFC. Martial arts are in every country' date=' and it's only a matter of time before mixed martial arts follows.[/quote']

 

Martial Arts have been around for thousands of years,do you know where Pancrase comes from? No? Check it out.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pankration

[dfwGSP]

Martial Arts have been around for thousands of years' date='do you know where Pancrase comes from? No? Check it out.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pankration[/quote']

 

I never said otherwise. That just plays into my argument. Now you see why DW has a point.

[Fourteen]

I never said otherwise. That just plays into my argument. Now you see why DW has a point.

 

Because Pankration is still a sport? Football (soccer) has grown every year since it was invented in the 19th Century. 22 people can participate in one game and play again the next day, fighting can only be done between two people and then you can only safely do it 5/6 times a year (as far as MMA, far less in boxing). Combat sports hit its peak when Mike Tyson was the world heavyweight champion, MMA will never be accepted by the majority of people and that is why it will never be Football/Soccer/Baseball/Basketball or Ice Hockey.

[darkthrone99]

Because Pankration is still a sport? Football (soccer) has grown every year since it was invented in the 19th Century. 22 people can participate in one game and play again the next day' date=' fighting can only be done between two people and then you can only safely do it 5/6 times a year (as far as MMA, far less in boxing). Combat sports hit its peak when Mike Tyson was the world heavyweight champion, MMA will never be accepted by the majority of people and that is why it will never be Football/Soccer/Baseball/Basketball or Ice Hockey.[/quote']

 

Exactly and why the f*ck would someone with really good genetics for athletic pursuits want to get into the worst paying pro sport in the world? The UFC hype's itself as the NBA of MMA yet they pay new fightes less than someone in a reasonable office job would earn. And the fighters have gotta pay multiple coaches and training expenses. The money is simply too low to entice a lot of people to do it. People involved in underground fights can earn more than a low level ufc fighter.

[Magnus007]

I wonder if UFC is worth as much cash as a single Soccer-Club like Manchester United/Barcelona/Milan etc. even, I very much doubt it.

The existence of UFC as a totally dominant company within the "MMA-sport" shows how un-developed the sport are, that in itself makes growing much abroad impossible, except as a freak-show on cable.

MMA is growing though, outside the UFC too, but it will take a lot of change and a lot of time to rival the more traditional sports.(it need to be completely natural for a kid to start training MMA for example = needs to be accepted amongst parents as a real sport, something boxing have yet to accomplish one might add..., this is the only way to get true top-competition though, something we have yet to see and something that explains how washed out wrestlers can come dominate the MMA-circuit without much added training at all )(that gotta be my longest parenthesis to date lol)

[Fourteen]

I wonder if UFC is worth as much cash as a single Soccer-Club like Manchester United/Barcelona/Milan etc. even' date=' I very much doubt it.

The existence of UFC as a totally dominant company within the "MMA-sport" shows how un-developed the sport are, that in itself makes growing much abroad impossible, except as a freak-show on cable.

MMA is growing though, outside the UFC too, but it will take a lot of change and a lot of time to rival the more traditional sports.(it need to be completely natural for a kid to start training MMA for example = needs to be accepted amongst parents as a real sport, something boxing have yet to accomplish one might add..., this is the only way to get true top-competition though, something we have yet to see and something that explains how washed out wrestlers can come dominate the MMA-circuit without much added training at all )(that gotta be my longest parenthesis to date lol)[/quote']

 

Good point, and also with the likes of Manchester United they can bring in 70,000 fans every on any given Saturday,Sunday, Tuesday or Wednesday, there is also Manchester City who can bring in 45,000, over 110,000 people in one city just for two teams the UFC had to cancel an event recently in Utah cause it couldn't sell, that should have been a huge wake up call to the UFC.

[SUN_TZUX]

So DW throws out the statistic that the UFC is in 500 million homes currently and that they are soon to be in 1 Billion homes world wide. UFC 121 had what around 1 million buys. He thinks that MMA will be the biggest sport in the world within 10 years. Not only is that around half of the buys the biggest ever boxing fight has made' date=' the last World Cup Final had 700 million viewers, not too bad Dana only 699 million more people to find. The UFC also does not rank in the top 10 sports leagues in the world for annual attendance. We can all watch the World Series, World Cup, Superbowl, Stanley Cup Finals as part of our t.v deals. MMA is far far away from being anywhere near the biggest sport in the world. With a guy like Dana in charge and coming away with such idiotic comments this sports is going nowhere big for a long time.[/quote']

 

your delesional, ufc had the most ppv buys in the last year, ufc ppv events in Europe are free on espn, and there expanding in other country's so plus them so he is correct

those ppv numbers are for america only,ufc 100 was 1.7 million ppv buys

[dfwGSP]

Because Pankration is still a sport? Football (soccer) has grown every year since it was invented in the 19th Century. 22 people can participate in one game and play again the next day' date=' fighting can only be done between two people and then you can only safely do it 5/6 times a year (as far as MMA, far less in boxing). Combat sports hit its peak when Mike Tyson was the world heavyweight champion, MMA will never be accepted by the majority of people and that is why it will never be Football/Soccer/Baseball/Basketball or Ice Hockey.[/quote']

 

My point was that martial arts has the history already. MMA has grown every year as well, and will continue to do so. Soccer is big in poor countries, where as MMA can be big in every country.

[Fourteen]

your delesional' date=' ufc had the most ppv buys in the last year, ufc ppv events in Europe are free on espn, and there expanding in other country's so plus them so he is correct

those ppv numbers are for america only,ufc 100 was 1.7 million ppv buys[/quote']

 

No sir i live in Scotland and i pay ?9 a month for ESPN, its an extra optional to pay along with Sky TV so don't argue with me that i get it for free. Yeah expanding into India i hear, there are what 1 Billion people in India, its a very impoverished country, the average person makes $3000 a year, we'll see how many PPV buys come from there. In theory every single person in the world COULD do something, ACTUALLY doing it is different. When it comes down to cricket and MMA 99.9% of Indians will spend their money on cricket.

[D_Cato]

Dana White instructs everyone to say that MMA is the fastest growing sport in the world. I can see that it actually is with my own eyes. Just look around you how many MMA related shirts are on kids these days. Go to Wal-Mart, and see how many they have for sale. Look at the action figures, and the video game sales. MMA is the fastest growing sport no doubt about that, but it will probably never be as big as the NFL, or MLB, or even FIFA, but I wouldn't be suprised if it grew to be as popular as NHL, NBA, and whatever the letters are for Golf, at least when those sports are in bad years like right now(not like Gretzky/Jordan years). I think MMA will for sure be the most popular combat sport it if it isn't already(probably is).

 

I think if they had more free events they would be a lot more popular, and I think the fact that TUF is one of the only good reality shows on tv helps a lot, because people could still watch TUF even if they don't like MMA, and if they are watching TUF it won't be long till they love MMA. MMA is for sure growing the evidence is all around us.

[Fourteen]

My point was that martial arts has the history already. MMA has grown every year as well' date=' and will continue to do so. Soccer is big in poor countries, where as MMA can be big in every country.[/quote']

 

More people live in countries like Brazil and India than the likes of the UK and Germany and they are already set on their sports. Kids in Brazil play football (soccer) with anything they can find, buying MMA gear costs money, kids in India play cricket with rocks and sticks but paying for Judo lessons will cost money they don't have. The UK will always be a Football/Rugby/Cricket country too, the USA? Baseball/Gridiron Football/Basketball. MMA will be fine but it will never be one of the big 5 even big 10 sports in the world.

[Fourteen]

Dana White instructs everyone to say that MMA is the fastest growing sport in the world. I can see that it actually is with my own eyes. Just look around you how many MMA related shirts are on kids these days. Go to Wal-Mart' date=' and see how many they have for sale. Look at the action figures, and the video game sales. MMA is the fastest growing sport no doubt about that, but it will probably never be as big as the NFL, or MLB, or even FIFA, but I wouldn't be suprised if it grew to be as popular as NHL, NBA, and whatever the letters are for Golf, at least when those sports are in bad years like right now(not like Gretzky/Jordan years). I think MMA will for sure be the most popular combat sport it if it isn't already(probably is).

 

I think if they had more free events they would be a lot more popular, and I think the fact that TUF is one of the only good reality shows on tv helps a lot, because people could still watch TUF even if they don't like MMA, and if they are watching TUF it won't be long till they love MMA. MMA is for sure growing the evidence is all around us.[/quote']

 

Walk around any major city in europe any weekend and all you will see is Football colors, walk around certain cities in India and the kid is bareback, by saying "i've seen loads of people wearing tapout or silver star" is a stupid point to make in this argument.

[dfwGSP]

More people live in countries like Brazil and India than the likes of the UK and Germany and they are already set on their sports. Kids in Brazil play football (soccer) with anything they can find' date=' buying MMA gear costs money, kids in India play cricket with rocks and sticks but paying for Judo lessons will cost money they don't have. The UK will always be a Football/Rugby/Cricket country too, the USA? Baseball/Gridiron Football/Basketball. MMA will be fine but it will never be one of the big 5 even big 10 sports in the world.[/quote']

 

I'm not saying it's gauranteed to happen, but it's not farfetched. In my eyes MMA should have been a sport a long time ago, and it's going to get it's due.

[Fourteen]

I'm not saying it's gauranteed to happen' date=' but it's not farfetched. In my eyes MMA should have been a sport a long time ago, and it's going to get it's due.[/quote']

 

It's not farfetched? MMA is a hard enough thing to get accepted by the wider community and the casual sports fan and the people in charge of the organizations want to destroy each other, it can't happen while the UFC is run the way it is, the "hardcore fans" do not help matters either, on these forums today a huge amount of threads are about firing Nik Lentz or how bad the Judging is, when the core fans don't accept the sport for what it is how are the rest of the world meant to see it?

[dfwGSP]

It's not farfetched? MMA is a hard enough thing to get accepted by the wider community and the casual sports fan and the people in charge of the organizations want to destroy each other' date=' it can't happen while the UFC is run the way it is, the "hardcore fans" do not help matters either, on these forums today a huge amount of threads are about firing Nik Lentz or how bad the Judging is, when the core fans don't accept the sport for what it is how are the rest of the world meant to see it?[/quote']

 

But that's just forums. The sport generates revenue in all sorts of ways. And money speaks louder than anything.

[Fourteen]

But that's just forums. The sport generates revenue in all sorts of ways. And money speaks louder than anything.

 

When the company that is allegedly claiming to be spearheading the "fastest growing sport in the world" has to move an event because they can't sell any tickets, it has a lot to worry about. If it can't sell tickets in new markets its in serious trouble. The money they offer isn't even enough to draw in the best fighter in the world, the UFC was too arrogant to co-promote with M1 Global, are you aware how huge a step that would have been for making MMA huge?

[dfwGSP]

When the company that is allegedly claiming to be spearheading the "fastest growing sport in the world" has to move an event because they can't sell any tickets' date=' it has a lot to worry about. If it can't sell tickets in new markets its in serious trouble. The money they offer isn't even enough to draw in the best fighter in the world, the UFC was too arrogant to co-promote with M1 Global, are you aware how huge a step that would have been for making MMA huge?[/quote']

 

I never said UFC would be the reason, and I agree with a lot of what you said. But I still have faith that the world will open up to it. No proof, just faith.

[BType13x2]

When the company that is allegedly claiming to be spearheading the "fastest growing sport in the world" has to move an event because they can't sell any tickets' date=' it has a lot to worry about. If it can't sell tickets in new markets its in serious trouble. The money they offer isn't even enough to draw in the best fighter in the world, the UFC was too arrogant to co-promote with M1 Global, are you aware how huge a step that would have been for making MMA huge?[/quote']

 

It would have definitely opened up and exposed Russia + the eastern block countries to the UFC which would have probably offset what it cost them to co-promote with M1 regardless if they kept Fedor or not after a 4 fight deal.

[Fourteen]

I never said UFC would be the reason' date=' and I agree with a lot of what you said. But I still have faith that the world will open up to it. [i']No proof, just faith[/i].

 

Fair enough, i won't argue with that, everyone is entitled to faith.

[BType13x2]

i know a billion sounds crazy but didnt he say a ufc would be in a billion homes couldnt that just mean the ability for a billion people to turn on tv an all have a channel with ufc playing......not a billion pvp sales

i dunno just sayin

 

I don't think that is how he meant it with PPV's or with having the UFC available to a billion homes.

 

I think he honestly meant that MMA and the UFC would have a billion viewers... which is honestly hoping for way too much.

[D_Cato]

Walk around any major city in europe any weekend and all you will see is Football colors' date=' walk around certain cities in India and the kid is bareback, by saying "i've seen loads of people wearing tapout or silver star" is a stupid point to make in this argument.[/quote']

 

Well I live in the U.S., and I can see the growth with my own eyes. Seeing more MMA related merchandise available is a big indicator of popularity, and growth. I also see standing room only in the sports bars where before they were not that busy. UFC 121 was on the same night as Mizzou vs Sooners, and the sports bar I was at had one small tv for the game, and UFC for everything else, and I live in mid Missouri.

 

Maybe Europe just doesn't like MMA as much as the Amercas, or it just hasn't had time yet or something. I think MMA will always be more popular here in the Americas(U.S., Canada, Brazil, ect.). Just because you don't see MMA growing in your neck of the woods doesn't mean it ain't in mine. I see as much MMA merch around now as I did WWF merch in the late 98-03(Attitude era Stone Cold/Rock heyday), and that is a big deal.

[Strokerman]

You're missing the point. Dana is an American. And as an American he has no need to think about this "world" you speak of. Heck, I'm not even sure if you can prove to me there's anything beyond these "oceans", or as we Americans like to refer to them: The Ends of the Earth. Furthermore, what the hell is soccer? This is some weird game that we're told people in the made-up world of Europe and Africa enjoy. Here in reality no one likes that crap.

[Fourteen]

Well I live in the U.S.' date=' and I can see the growth with my own eyes. Seeing more MMA related merchandise available is a big indicator of popularity, and growth. I also see standing room only in the sports bars where before they were not that busy. UFC 121 was on the same night as Mizzou vs Sooners, and the sports bar I was at had one small tv for the game, and UFC for everything else, and I live in mid Missouri.

 

Maybe Europe just doesn't like MMA as much as the Amercas, or it just hasn't had time yet or something. I think MMA will always be more popular here in the Americas(U.S., Canada, Brazil, ect.). Just because you don't see MMA growing in your neck of the woods doesn't mean it ain't in mine. I see as much MMA merch around now as I did WWF merch in the late 98-03(Attitude era Stone Cold/Rock heyday), and that is a big deal.[/quote']

 

How many people live in the US? How many of these people are males aged 18-50? Thats always going to be where the biggest market for MMA is US ages 18-50. Obviously there will be others but that is the largest group and it always will, Football (soccer) will always be the biggest sport in Europe and South America and it will always be Cricket in India/Pakistan. The Aussie/NZ market as well will always be Cricket/Rugby/Sailing, MMA can join the party but they will never be at the level of these other sports popularity wise.

[Fourteen]

HAHAHA

 

SOCCER LOL

 

kinda like watchin Lyoto fight his twin.......puts me to -_-zZZzz

 

700 Million people who watched the World Cup Final disagree

[Spiccoli]

If you look at basic cable? How many homes watch TUF or Unleashed, free pay per views etc. Multiply that with the rest of the world. 500 million 'homes' is easy. "Viewers" is a different stat. In other words "in homes" is not "viewers" actually tuned in. Dana is playing with words to promote the sport. TV stations do it all the time to promote themselves.

[No_Pantaloons]

Clearly hes exaggerating a bit, but I think he's projecting by the how much mma has grown as a sport in the last 10-15 years. I remember the first fight I saw was World Combat Championship 1: 10/17/1995, and man I can't even find a copy of that now, even on the internet, but you gotta admire how far its come since then.

 

It really has exploded into the main-stream and it could be much bigger then a lot of sports given time. It mixes so many things from all parts of the world, that unlike baseball, hockey and such, its not region bound. It can penetrate places that other sports can't, like soccer in the US or baseball in asia.

 

Don't hate dana cause his numbers are off, just take the message he's trying to get across, and that is mma is big and getting much bigger on a world scale.

[Fourteen]

Clearly hes exaggerating a bit' date=' but I think he's projecting by the how much mma has grown as a sport in the last 10-15 years. I remember the first fight I saw was World Combat Championship 1: 10/17/1995, and man I can't even find a copy of that now, even on the internet, but you gotta admire how far its come since then.

 

It really has exploded into the main-stream and it could be much bigger then a lot of sports given time. It mixes so many things from all parts of the world, that unlike baseball, hockey and such, its not region bound. It can penetrate places that other sports can't, like soccer in the US or baseball in asia.

 

Don't hate dana cause his numbers are off, just take the message he's trying to get across, and that is mma is big and getting much bigger on a world scale.[/quote']

 

Did you really just say baseball isn't big in asia?

/facepalm

[UFCCagerattler]

Hard to believe he pays his fighter so little.

[rynan]

So DW throws out the statistic that the UFC is in 500 million homes currently and that they are soon to be in 1 Billion homes world wide. UFC 121 had what around 1 million buys. He thinks that MMA will be the biggest sport in the world within 10 years. Not only is that around half of the buys the biggest ever boxing fight has made' date=' the last World Cup Final had 700 million viewers, not too bad Dana only 699 million more people to find. The UFC also does not rank in the top 10 sports leagues in the world for annual attendance. We can all watch the World Series, World Cup, Superbowl, Stanley Cup Finals as part of our t.v deals. MMA is far far away from being anywhere near the biggest sport in the world. With a guy like Dana in charge and coming away with such idiotic comments this sports is going nowhere big for a long time.[/quote']

 

For starters, I haven't read the story so I'm going to make a couple of assumptions:

 

1. The '1 million' PPV buys you are referring to, I would guess, are numbers for the US only. The rest of the world would be contributing significantly more than that.

2. 500 million viewers is entirely possible considering all of the UFC shows out there that aren't PPV. Ultimate Fighter, UFC Unleashed, etc. This makes the sport much more accessible to the casual channel flicker.

3. Of course 'UFC' is not in the top 10 leagues in the world for annual attendance. They only do about 14 events per year. All other major sports have hundreds of events each year which will obviously boost their attendance numbers well above anything the UFC can or ever will achieve. This doesn't mean there are less people watching it though, it simply means there's less seats available for people to sit in.

[Fourteen]

disagree wit what? he sayin "LOL SOCCER" or disagree with me fallin a sleep? plus half those guys are in countrys with like 2 channels so its watch world cup or oprah.

 

I don't like stereotypes but you are a "typical american". Tell me a country that only has 2 channels? Even if that turned out to be true do you think it would be Oprah? No one outside of your country gives a **** about Oprah. Where as every World Cup there are 32 Nations with a vested interest and hundreds more supporting, try and leave the US at least once in your life, you will be amazed.

[MysticKJ]

Dana is referring to PPVs, Spike TV, and Versus events/shows...

[slavic12]

im pretty sure that between watch TUF, PPV, unleashed, WEC(maybe), fight nights, between those in 500 million households

[GSP_4_PM]

I would like to give some ppl reading this post an example.

 

I recently moved to Hong Kong from Ontario Canada. I arrived in Hong Kong shortly before the World Cup, and was amazed at how many ppl were watching the matches. Every street I walked down had a match on the T.V. with everyone watching. It didn't matter what age/sex/race, everyone was watching. All of the bars were packed at all times. I only know of two bars in Hong Kong that air UFC and when I talk to someone about UFC they look at me like I have two heads. No1 here really cares that much about it, there is a fan base for MMA and MA in Hong Kong but not really one for UFC.

 

So here is an example of DW hyping the sport to seem more than what it is.

 

"We are excited to sign a deal with ASN and to distribute UFC on this HD sports channel," UFC president Dana White stated in the official release. "Asia is a huge market for us; it has a deep-rooted history and appreciation for the martial arts. We are thrilled to be working with ASN and to deliver the UFC to all of our fans in Asia."

 

http://mmajunkie.com/news/18233/ufc-announces-asian-boradcast-deal-with-hong-kong-based-all-sports-network.mma

[rynan]

I would like to give some ppl reading this post an example.

 

I recently moved to Hong Kong from Ontario Canada. I arrived in Hong Kong shortly before the World Cup' date=' and was amazed at how many ppl were watching the matches. Every street I walked down had a match on the T.V. with everyone watching. It didn't matter what age/sex/race, everyone was watching. All of the bars were packed at all times. I only know of two bars in Hong Kong that air UFC and when I talk to someone about UFC they look at me like I have two heads. No1 here really cares that much about it, there is a fan base for MMA and MA in Hong Kong but not really one for UFC.

 

So here is an example of DW hyping the sport to seem more than what it is.

 

"We are excited to sign a deal with ASN and to distribute UFC on this HD sports channel," UFC president Dana White stated in the official release. "Asia is a huge market for us; it has a deep-rooted history and appreciation for the martial arts. We are thrilled to be working with ASN and to deliver the UFC to all of our fans in Asia."

 

http://mmajunkie.com/news/18233/ufc-announces-asian-boradcast-deal-with-hong-kong-based-all-sports-network.mma[/quote']

 

 

On the contrary, I was in the Philippines recently and nearly everyone I mentioned UFC to was into it and followed the events closely.

[Jbrahams]

maybe I will see how I feel in 10 years

[GSP_4_PM]

On the contrary' date=' I was in the Philippines recently and nearly everyone I mentioned UFC to was into it and followed the events closely.[/quote']

 

Expats or locals or both ? I can't see their being that much of a difference from the Philippines and HK.

Even the expats from the UK and Australia living here don't really care about it.

[rynan]

Expats or locals or both ? I can't see their being that much of a difference from the Philippines and HK.

Even the expats from the UK and Australia living here don't really care about it.

 

All locals.

[LesIsANar]

So DW throws out the statistic that the UFC is in 500 million homes currently and that they are soon to be in 1 Billion homes world wide. UFC 121 had what around 1 million buys. He thinks that MMA will be the biggest sport in the world within 10 years. Not only is that around half of the buys the biggest ever boxing fight has made' date=' the last World Cup Final had 700 million viewers, not too bad Dana only 699 million more people to find. The UFC also does not rank in the top 10 sports leagues in the world for annual attendance. We can all watch the World Series, World Cup, Superbowl, Stanley Cup Finals as part of our t.v deals. MMA is far far away from being anywhere near the biggest sport in the world. With a guy like Dana in charge and coming away with such idiotic comments this sports is going nowhere big for a long time.[/quote']

 

And you know this because you've seen the numbers? Ahh ofc! that's why!

 

I'm pretty sure he was talking about having 500 million viewers world wide and not being in 500 million homes.

 

Then again I don't think that MMA has 500 million viewers at this point either. As a sport I think its lucky to have 100 million viewers.

 

I think this is about right