White: We did everything wrong in Europe for 13 years, but not any more
“We’ve done everything the wrong way out there for the past 13 years, and now we got it right,” said Dana White. “Now we fixed it, and we got it right.”
At the UFC 171 post fight media scrum, UFC president Dana White explained that the UFC has formerly catered to the North American time slots, and that as a result, the sport in for example Europe was pushed to fringes.
With the debut of UFC Fight Pass, things have changed. International events can now be optimized for the host country, and not for a viewership on some other part of the planet.
“We’re going into Europe, and we’re going into these other countries and we’re localizing these shows, putting them on free TV, and doing all these things,” said White as transcribed by BE. “That’s how we built the market here, that’s how we built the market in Brazil, Canada, and that’s how we will build the market in Europe. We’ve done everything the wrong way out there for the past 13 years, and now we got it right. Now we fixed it, and we got it right.”
“Now we’re going to localize it, and bring it in – you know, if you want to stay a fringe sport, go on at three o’clock in the morning or four o’clock in the morning on TV. That’s how you stay a fringe sport. You go on primetime in their local area on the big networks, and that’s how you build a business, and that’s what we’re doing there.”
“When people talk about too many fights, yeah, maybe there’s too many fights for the Americans – not in Europe, not in Australia, not in a lot of these other countries that are starving for it.”
