John Morgan of MMAJunkie reports on the latest news regarding the UFC in Afghanistan. Dana White has expressed his desire to hold an event for the troops in the war-torn nation, but can the UFC pull it off?
“We actually want to go right into Afghanistan and put on an event in the middle of all the [expletive],” White said. “It’s going to happen. … Anything can happen if you want it to happen bad enough.”
Afghanistan, of course, has been a constant war zone since the U.S. military first launched Operation Enduring Freedom in 2001.
White said he can’t pinpoint exactly when the promotion would visit the country. Truthfully, it’s not completely up to him to decide.
“We’re working on it right now, and it’s so crazy,” White said. “It’s going to be so freaky that they can’t tell us exactly when and where it’s going to be. The military is going to let us know when we can do it.
“It’s going to be crazy, man. We’re going to go right into the middle of this thing and put on an event.”
Payout Perspective:
Dana White’s desire to host a UFC event in Afghanistan is admirable, but is it realistic? I’m not convinced that it will happen any time soon.
Here are a few of the potential roadblocks that I have identified, whether they be legitimate or potential issues, that might prohibit the UFC from holding a fight in Afghanistan under its current security conditions:
1. Holding an event in Afghanistan would likely increase the threat level in the country, which means extensive planning would need to be done in order to conceal the date and location of the fights and reinforce the location’s security. The enormity of that task becomes more evident when you consider the sheer number of people involved in running an event and the age of communication we live in.
1A. Increased threat levels also imply increased danger to the very military personnel the UFC is trying to support.
2. Thus, how do you convince the fighters to participate?
3. How does the UFC coordinate the set-up of the venue and filming of the event? Surely, live broadcasting is out of the question given their need to “get in and get out.”
4. If an attack were to occur, it would likely delay the event by at least a few days (if not weeks or indefinitely). What would that do to the fighters in terms of their weight cuts or mental states? Would the UFC and its fighters be willing to stick around, if hostilities flared up and all hell started to break loose?
5. If an attack were to occur during an event and casualties were to occur, how would the UFC deal with it? Moreover, if it were to lose some of its own personnel (fighters or executives), what are the implications? How would the UFC deal with the families, with moving forward, etc.?
It’s probably doable, but the UFC unquestionably has a lot of work to do. Thus, while its goal is admirable, I’m not sure that the UFC wouldn’t be better served focusing its energy else where – especially on the philanthropic side – to make a bigger impact.
I actually agree with it all Kelsey. Why even having a wish to promote in Afghanistan in the first place is odd – what are the long term goals – I don’t see any.
Way too risky and not a key market anyway. Very odd!
Philanthropic? That’s a wierd choice of words in the context of supporting the Good Guys in a War Zone…unless this is a hidden political message of some sort, which I’d hope it is not.
I am a sergeant too and is currently considering going back into the army which means I will go to either Iraq or Afghanistan. I am also a huge MMA fan and have run my own promotion in Denmark (among a lot of other things) and to be quite honest the UFC can support our troops in a far better way. It’s not really rocket science that this is a crazy wish for the UFC. I guess it’s just one of DW’s onwn personal and crazy ideas which wasn’t a part of the planning in the first place!
Rich,
Is it not?
The UFC isn’t going to sell any tickets and may not even be able to broadcast the event. Thus, it will almost certainly be the case that costs exceed revenues. None of which is the point.
An event in Afghanistan is a gesture of goodwill (to the Good Guys) – essentially the definition of philanthropy.
Kelsey
I can’t really see why there should be any major problems with the UFC doing this, the WWE have been doing the same thing for years now with no problems.
Fair enough. Thanks for the explaination.
If they just bring in a few fights without the typical setup they should be able to get this one going. Don’t they have stars and celebrities show up at these places occasionally?
I see your 5 points.
1. As it has for WWE since going there every year since 2003
1A. As it has for the WWE since 2003
2. Asking them and not forcing them like WWE since 2003
3. The same way WWE has been doing since 2003
4.. They’d likely still fight regardless of weight issues.
5. No one has ever died during a USO tour. If it happens it happens. It is the risk you take to put on the shows there.
Keep in mind that the UFC now has the UFC army on as a sponsor. This could go back to giving your sponsors more bang for their buck. For the person considering joining the military, having the possibility of seeing the UFC during a tour could be a great selling point. Which is why the Army is using the UFC to reach these people in the first place. So that is the reasoning for a Afghan event more than any suggested publicity stunt.
But like Kelly said there are tons of risks and i dont think its worth the risk. But its important to realize this is not going to be a huge PPV. Its going to have low level fighters like the last event the UFC ran for the troops with Sanchez vs Riggs as a headliner. I dont think it would be hard to fill the card as there is no expectations of talent like that of a PPV. But if something did go wrong the negative publicity the UFC got could be a nightmare. Imagine papers arounf the country blaming the UFC and the increased attention it brought for getting people killed. Thats not something you can shake easily.