Ratner reveals why UFC decided on return to Germany
“To grow the sport, you have to keep educating,” Ratner said. “We want to do business in Germany. We want…
“To grow the sport, you have to keep educating,” Ratner said. “We want to do business in Germany. We want to show the people and the newspaper people…that’s the only way to do it. If you just walk away and say, ‘Gee, they won’t let us be on TV,’ it doesn’t make sense. So we’re just going to keep pushing. It was the right decision and I’m glad we did it.”
Holding fights in places like Germany and the U.K., where there’s no oversight from local commissions like there is in the U.S., puts Ratner in a familiar position. The former head of the Nevada State Athletic Commission said he has no problem with ensuring that the UFC regulates itself overseas, acting as a “quasi-commission,” though he’d prefer to have external regulation.
“I’d rather have the sport regulated wherever we go, but to grow the sport we’ve got to do these things and self-regulate and I think we’re making inroads that way. Eventually I would hope that the British Boxing Board would get involved more, as well as the German Boxing Federation, and adopt the sport of mixed martial arts.”