UFC plans super fights in Manila

By next year, Filipino mixed martial arts fans could watch some of their idols fight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship live on local soil.

Zuffa, LLC, an international media company that owns the UFC, chair and chief executive officer Lorenzo Fertitta recently announced plans to bring the UFC to RP possibly in May next year, hoping to use it as a launching pad to penetrate markets in Southeast Asia.

“One of the reasons we’re here is we hope to use the Philippines as a launching board for all of Southeast Asia, and the way to do it is by bringing the UFC to Manila,” said Fertitta in yesterday’s media briefing at the Manila Peninsula in Makati City.

“We are hoping to hold it in the summer time, possibly around May. And we’ll be working on that over the couple of days to try to pull that together and we’re very excited on the possibility of bringing the UFC to Manila,” he added.

Fertitta, who bought the UFC seven years back and transformed it to the world’s premier fight organization, arrived early yesterday from the US in his private jet to meet top executives of television giant ABS-CBN.

Balls, ABS-CBN’s cable sports channel, and UHL channel Studio 23 have been airing UFC fights since early this year. The legends themselves – Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell against Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva – were pitted in its premier show.

“Our relationship with Balls network started in the beginning of this year with the epic fight of Chuck Lidell and Wanderlei Silva where Chuck won that fight,” said Fertitta, ranked 380th on Forbes Magazine’s list of 400 richest Americans in its September issue with an estimated fortune worth $1.3 billion.

“And since that time the sports mixed martial arts and UFC have become very, very popular here in the Philippines. The sport continues to grow and successfully building a legion of UFC fans here.”

The charismatic Liddell, one of the most popular figures in UFC history, in fact, accompanied Fertitta along with his personal trainer Ian Parkinson for a three-day promotional trip.

“We just got here and very happy to be here,” said the former light heavyweight champion, who had an open workout at the Mall of Asia yesterday.

“We’re here to promote the UFC and show the people how it is to train as a UFC fighter, showing them the discipline,” he added.

Aside from Southeast Asia, UFC, which usually holds events only in the US, Canada, Ireland and England, is also planning to expand to Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Russia and some countries from Western Europe.