Ariel Helwani of MMA.Fanhouse recently had UFC UK President Marshall Zelaznik onto his radio show to talk about the UFC in the UK amongst other things. Here are a few business notes from the interview:
- Zelaznik background: was a lawyer and came from working at PPV provider In-Demand; has always loved fights; Liddell vs. Couture II was his first live event and he was hooked.
- President of UK: had lunch with UFC marketing people, and asked how Dana was doing. He jokingly said he’d take job with the company, and minutes after the lunch had ended Dana White was calling him.
- UFC UK oversees all events outside North America: right now they’re focusing on Australia and finalizing everything for that. They’ll organize TV distribution throughout the world.
- Anywhere from 4-6 events outside NA next year (probably closer to four).
- Probably going back to Germany in 2010, but not sure any new markets in 2010 other than Australia (he noted it’s “tough to be everywhere”). Germany an important market they want to keep. Mentioned Italy (18 months) and Sweden “always on [their] list.”
- Fighting stereotypes: for most part in UK they’re over the cockfighting arguments. Recently just being covered by SKY news, which is big.
- ESPN coverage in UK aside from fight day: no equivalent to international sportscentre, but they’re talking about taking MMA live and airing it on ESPN UK. When it comes to UK TV coverage it’s very regional (BBC or Midland TV), but no real equivalent to sportscentre.
- Boxing vs. MMA: doesn’t think there is rivallry between boxing and mma on athlete level (small island, they all know each other and are friendly), but does exist on promoter level.
Interesting read.