Taking the UFC to its Next Billion: Raising the Profile and Reach of the Ultimate MMA Promotion

The UFC has become a titanic sports brand. Considering that mixed martial arts is relatively niche when you bring in the likes of football, basketball, American football, baseball, cricket, ice hockey, athletics, and even fellow combat sport, boxing, it’s clear that Dana White has done a superb job of bringing UFC to the top.

With White himself saying that the UFC made more than $1 billion in revenue on its 2021/22 books, estimates for the promotion’s value range from $4 billion all of the way to $10 billion. Still, there’s always room to grow for the predominantly US-facing promotion that has become so good at converting those who are curious about MMA into PPV customers.

Taking the biggest shows on the road

Indeed, the US is the largest proven market for sports customers, with its closed-off major leagues valued in the billions. Still, as the biggest MMA promotion in the world, and one that draws in talents from everywhere to challenge for legitimately named ‘world’ titles, the UFC should seek to host major fights overseas more.

Right now, this is a particularly poignant point given the listed hometowns of the best fighters in the UFC. Of the top-five pound-for-pound fighters in the men’s and women’s rankings, only two were down as having a US hometown: Rose Namajunas and Julianna Peña.

With the rest of the top-ranked stars having hometowns listed as Australia, Russia, Jamaica, Nigeria, Nigeria, Brazil, Kyrgyzstan, and China, there’s an opportunity to stage huge stadium shows in relatively new markets. While Brazil has hosted 38 events and Australia has held 16 (not all numbered), the rest combine for nine – all in China and Russia.

Get the brand on hundreds of sites in an engaging way

For a brand that’s so good at marketing, the UFC is currently skipping on one of the biggest areas for engaging brand placement – and there’s more than enough space for it to barge into the game now. The world of online slots is forever evolving and growing, but two themes are very evident on leading platforms. These are that there are very few combat-oriented slots, and that licensed slots invariably become successful.

Boasting over 900 slots, Mr Q is a good place to see this in action. The combat slots are Rooster Rumble and Spartacus and the licensed games rank very well. There are three Rick and Morty slots, two for Narcos and Beetlejuice, one for The Goonies, Top Cat, Ted and Sausage Party, and there’s even a dedicated Maradona slot. By infusing some of its stars, a UFC slot could do very well and grow its audience.

Making the video games an annual release

The UFC and EA Sports are in a ten-year deal that carries through to 2030. Since the new agreement was announced in November 2020, EA hasn’t released a single game under the UFC banner. The last was in August 2020 in the form of UFC 4. While title holders may only fight once or twice per year, much of the rest of the UFC changes a lot through 12 months, so more regular releases in the UFC game series would hold weight.

The CEO of EA, Andrew Wilson, once said that UFC doesn’t feel like an annual release, but rather one that gets a new instalment every two years or so. In the interview, he said that it’s down to how long it takes to “build a truly innovative game in that genre,” and yet, FIFA, Madden, and NHL barely change with each annual release. Given the way that they update, surely the ever-growing brand of UFC could merit a more regular release to raise its profile.

By going to new cities, getting in on the slots game, and pushing EA for much more regular releases, the UFC has plenty of scope to increase the reach and allure of the promotion.