UFC’s James Elliott: “The Irish fans are crucial to what’s happening within Europe”

The UFC announced today that James Elliott is the new Vice President and General Manager of the UFC for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). The position was held by David Allen in the past until his departure earlier on in the summer.

Andrew McGahon caught up with James Elliott earlier on today and he had some very good news regarding the UFC’s future in Europe, as well as details on Croke Park and UFC television deals.

EMEA events have been showing in the UK and Ireland on PICK TV which is a free to air channel. Elliott said in regards to this deal “Pick were delighted with how the shows have rated and the responses they’ve gotten from everybody, both viewers and commercial partners. We’re always interested in trying to find free to air partners to help with the exposure of the sport exactly the same with what’s been done with 3e in Ireland.”

The 3e deal has been a largely successful one for the UFC. Last year UFC Dublin McGregor vs Brandao because 3e’s most watched sporting event in the channel’s history with a 340,200 peak viewers and a total of 600,000. McGregor’s fight earlier on this year with Denis Siver reached 9.3% of the available viewing population with a total of 382,700 tuning in for that.

“The ratings that we’ve had on 3e are among the strongest they’ve ever had. They continue to grow and interestingly they continue to grow across fights with no Irish fighters so it’s becoming a UFC phenomenon as opposed to an Irish sporting phenomenon which is something we’re really looking to build on.

“The Irish fans are crucial to what’s happening within Europe at the moment and the appetite the fans have for the sport itself, has been noticed by all corners of the globe. We’re looking for the best way to serve those fans and our deal with 3e runs until July 2016 and hopefully we will be in a position to continue to serve the people in Ireland in a similar way once we get the new TV contracts in place.

UFC Dublin Poirier vs Duffy sold out for the UFC in just 60 seconds according to the press release the UFC sent out today. Yet nothing has been revealed for how fans that missed out on the tickets will be able to view the event. Will it be live on 3e? Delayed on BT or exclusive on Fight Pass?

“We’re in the final stages of finalising those arrangements and will be in a position to reveal that to everybody next week, but one thing I would say is we are working very hard to make sure as many people can see it because there’s a lot of people who didn’t get tickets.

Elliott is arriving into the position at an interesting time for the UFC in Europe. After two sell outs in the 3 Arena in the space is 15 months the UFC still have their eyes set on a Croke Park event. Elliott attended the UFC Dublin event last year and including European Cup Finals and World Cups and he said it was “without a doubt, the best sporting event I’ve ever been to”

“I can only imagine how fantastic Croke Park would be.. I think we would have a queue around the world to try get tickets for that event. It’s definitely something we’re still looking at, there are climate issues and logistical challenges and timings and how it will affect PPV’s. It’s absolutely on the agenda for us we’ve looked at it before were looking at it now. I’m sure we’re going to look at it again and continue to do so, It’s definitely a feather that all of us within the UFC, not just me want to have in our caps.

With the potential of Croke Park happening and the UFC already selling out a stadium in Stockholm earlier in the year. It seems there could be a change in the EMEA landscape with higher profile events as opposed to 6/8 events a year.

“All of our events are big events, we treat them all as such, with the same amount of care and attention. What we’re looking to do is build a sustainable business in EMEA. We’ve only been to a handful of places so far. We want to widen that net and grow the sport in Europe. We’re only limited in terms of what we can do in times and resources. In a dream scenario we’ve big events on a regular basis within Europe and I absolutely believe that is within sight.

Typically this is the time the UFC brass sit down and plan the early stages and events for 2016. When asked about a number of EMEA events penciled in for next year Elliott said “They’ll have more news on that by the end of the year but the UFC are extremely committed to their expansion within Europe and serving the growing MMA community they have in Europe and they are focused on delivering quality content and events.”