UFC coming to South Africa

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Yesterday UFC president Dana White announced that South Africa was next up in the UFC's worldwide expansion tour.

The growth of South African MMA, spearheaded by the EFC, has obviously been noticed by the worlds major MMA production, and though the announcement came as a surprise to me, it really oughtn't have.

Dana White had the following to say about South African MMA:

Actually, mixed martial arts is huge in South Africa right now. There’s a show down there now that I just heard about that is doing 1.2 million viewers every time it’s on. So the sport is booming all over the world, and yeah, South Africa is next. That’s where we’re going.

It is likely that the UFC will begin with a TV deal to bring UFC events to South African television, and if this is well received, investigate the possibility of doing a live event in the country. The UFC is a huge promotion, and will likely received some attention, but it is rather unlikely that they will bring their superstars to South Africa in the near future.

While its great to get the attention of the major world players, I don't imagine this move will have much of an affect on the South African MMA scene in the short term.

Posted in: Dana White, EFC, UFC