UFC headed to Philippines in 2009
UFC.com’s Thomas Gerbasi reported today that over 4,000 fans came out to watch Chuck Liddell work out in the Mall of Asian in Pasay City in the Philippines on Sunday. Liddell and Lorenzo Fertitta were in the Philippines as part of a trip that has taken Fertitta to the United Kingdom, Dublin, France and Germany to work on the global expansion of the UFC product.
The UFC’s partnership with Filipino media company ABS-CBN has allowed the UFC to become more popular than even Fertitta imagined. The UFC is the top rated program on their sports network and has allowed the UFC brand to become very strong in the Filipino market.
So strong, in fact, that the UFC is eyeing summer of 2009 for a possible UFC show in Manila to be headlined by some of the UFC’s biggest stars along with local MMA flavor mixed into the card.
“It will be a combination of bringing over some of our stars and then hopefully having some local Filipino fighters, and maybe bringing in some of the guys from Japan and South Korea,” Fertitta told UFC.com.
When the UFC does make its first foray into the Philippines the one current fighter on the roster than you can definitely expect to see on the card is Brandon Vera. Vera, who is Filipino in heritage, is loved by the fans there and is a shoe-in to be on the card.
We will have more details on the card as they develop.
Adam Morgan is
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Does it occur to anyone else that the UFC should get a bit more of a stable foothold in countries they’re already in before they go venturing into new territories? It’s fairly evidant from ticket sales that Canada loves the UFC, and the tickets sell well enough in the states, but they’ve got room to grow not only in sales but also wide-spread acceptance. If it means they’ll be abandoning the veritible crap-shoot that the UK expansion has proven to be then I’m all for it, but otherwise I’d say they need to finish what they’re already working on.
Just yesterday I saw some bootleg UFC shirts here in Manila, haha. I also passed by Chuck’s HUGE billboard advertising his appearance. The UFC gets coverage from the mainstream media here especially when Brandon Vera fights. The WWE came here twice and they sold out even though the ticket prices were outrageously high for most Filipinos. Foreign acts that hold concerts here also do incredibly well.
The dude on BJ’s right is our Vice President http://www.ovp.gov.ph/
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Neil your an Idiot..
There is no doubt the UFC will do well in the Philippines. A friend of my travels there twice a year and says they’re nuts about fighting over there. Pretty much any level of combat fighting, human or animal, is viewed by masses as far as I know. According to said friend, fighting there is as simple as breathing. It just runs that deep in their culture.
If you’re going to accuse someone of being an idiot…
Why the Philippines? You would think the UFC would do a show in Japan after buying Pride and holding a ridiculous press conference lying to the people there about the big plans and future of the promotion. Then canceling all future shows firing all the staff and leaving several fighters in limbo until the contracts Zuffa acquired expired so they could go fight elsewhere.
Lorenzo Fertita Announced in a press conference here in the Phil that its almost 100% sure that theyre coming here in May. im so excited.
i went to the Chuck Liddell Open training thing and got in the VIP area ringside. If you want to see a couple of pics i have them posted at weoweoweo.deviantart.com.
Neil: to answer your question, I think you are underestimating the drawing power of the UFC. You pose an interesting question but they are certainly well on their way by now.
Places like Berlin, Moscow, Kiev, Abu Dabi,and a whole lot of people in plenty of other town’s will flock to their event’s like white on rice. Five year’s from now…just imagine dude. Go ahead and dream. How high is the sky?
Now here is something I would definitely want to see…. I was at WWE the first time they came and I’m sure as hell am going to the UFC fight… I hope to see a Liddell vs Ortiz Part III but surely Vera has to be in their somewhere…
Pimpin: Thanks for that delicious taste of sweet, sweet irony. F’real.
Davey: I think the UFC has outstanding drawing power, and though I’m sure they’ll do well enough in the Phillipines, that they shouldn’t spread themselves too thin. I won’t disagree that they’re doing well enough in the US, but their UK expansion efforts have been a failing effort. If people in the Phillipines are as nuts about fighting as you guys say, then all the better for the UFC, I just think that it might not be a bad idea to solidify their foothold where they’re already working. The Montreal show just about sold out over a weekend, and they’re ignoring them in lieu of the Phillipines? That just doesn’t make sense to me.