By Padraig Donlon, FightBeat MMA Correspondent
Now that the UFC has bought out all the competing brands including the WEC, Pride and Strikeforce, they have a responsibility to help the sport of MMA grow worldwide.
To help achieve this, the UFC could set up various divisions globally. Imagine the UFC as division 1 hosted in the Americas, Pride as division 2 hosted in the Asia Pacific region, the WEC as division 3 hosted in Europe and Strikeforce as division 4 hosted in Africa and the Middle East.
They could take these individual divisions and have them hosted in different continents every year.
Ultimately, the MMA fan base would grow for the following reasons;
- Each continent would have their own major organisation.
- It allows for better fighters in the regions to be filtered up through the different divisions.
- Mega-bouts between division champions could occur regularly
In addition, the UFC could also host multiple TUF seasons in different continents, which would most likely have a net positive effect on the sport.
If the show was shot and broadcast in more countries, there would be a great opportunity for an amazing knockout tournament between the winners of each show from their representative countries; a TUF World Cup if you will.
This would also increase the selection of fighters the UFC has to choose from, as now simply appearing on the show and being somewhat interesting will get you a UFC contract.
Ultimately, this new divisional concept is a chance for each country to showcase their unique styles and for MMA to expand its horizons beyond the primary USA market.
Thoughts? Discuss in our MMA Forum.
