UAE will have its own Conor McGregor, UFC boss says
The UAE will soon produce a mixed martial artist with the potential to become an Emirati Conor McGregor, a senior UFC official predicted.
Lawrence Epstein, chief operating officer of the UFC, said the huge growth in popularity of the sport would be accelerated by Saturday’s title fight in Abu Dhabi, expected to be watched by millions of fans across the globe. And it is only a matter of time before a champion competitor emerges from the region, he believes, telling The National that it would be incredible to see a champion from the Emirates.
“There can, and I think there will be a champion from the Emirates, and that champion will have this entire country behind him,” he said. “That will lead to that athlete becoming a star throughout the world.”
He also revealed that the UFC, which has signed a deal with the Abu Dhabi Government to stage annual events in the Emirate up to 2023, may open a training centre in the UAE.
He said the company could even stage a version of its hit reality show, The Ultimate Fighter, in which up-and-coming fighters compete to win a UFC contract, in the Middle East.
“It would be incredible,” Mr Epstein said of the prospect of an Emirati UFC fighter.
“We’ve seen this phenomenon of a country getting behind an athlete and how that turns into a global phenomenon. Conor McGregor is a great example. He comes from, population-wise, a relatively small country.
“But he got Ireland behind him and that was a big part of him becoming a global superstar. I think the same thing can happen here. When it comes to the development of talent, we’re constantly trying to stimulate that. We’ve made significant investments in the United States by building the UFC Performance Institute, we’ve opened a second one in China and we’re looking to build more.
“We certainly envisage athletes from this region coming to Las Vegas or coming to China, or other facilities we build, to hone their skills, get better, and ultimately reach what we’re talking about, which is championship level.”
Dana White, the UFC president, said he believed the Middle East would produce a UFC champion within seven years.
Saturday’s event will be the third event the UFC has staged in Abu Dhabi, although the fight, a lightweight title unification bout between Khabib Nurmagomedov, from Russia, and Dustin Poirier, an American, will be by far the biggest yet held in the UAE. Nurmagomedov, 30, is the favourite. The UFC’s first Muslim champion will also be heavily supported by about 13,000 fight fans.
Mr Epstein said fans could expect bouts of a similar calibre over the course of the five-year deal, with an arena on Yas Island hosting the events. Two bouts between women fighters will be included on the card, a first for the UAE.
“We’re going to be doing major events in Abu Dhabi for the next five years,” Mr Epstein said. “We’re kicking it off with a title fight, a unification title fight, so it doesn’t get much bigger than this. I don’t think we could have kicked it off with a bigger, more relevant one for this particular market than having Khabib here, who has such a tremendous following throughout the region.”