Dana White Thinks Expansion

Ultimate Fighting Championship 80 will take place on Jan. 19 in Newcastle, England. B.J. Penn and Joe Stevenson will go at it for the light heavy weight championship.Dana White spent much of his talking about plans for the UFC in 2008. White had some interesting views about whats to come for the sport and his organization.

“I take two guys and put them in the Octagon and they can use any martial art they want. It translates through all different cultural barriers, language barriers... people love fighting.”

He continued, “I think that this thing can be global. I think that this thing can be the biggest sport in the world. I already know it's the most exciting sport in the world.”

“My light at the end of the tunnel?” pondered White. “We're going into Newcastle for the first time and there's like 700 tickets left. The thing is going to be sold out, 10,000 fans there. And everywhere we've gone in the U.K., we've sold out.”

Other areas of interest are New York and Hawaii. In MMA’s brief history, much of it has occurred in Hawaii, and the state is regarded for its fan base that spreads like an epidemic. And New York has a storied history in combat sports, particularly in boxing, but has not officially opened up to mixed martial arts.

“The last fight that we did (UFC 79), we did a closed circuit in Madison Square Garden,” said White. “It was a very successful event. We're focusing on New York and I'm very confident that we'll have New York done by 2009.”

In closing he had this to say:“There are 32 states total in the United States that regulate MMA. Thirteen of them opened up last year. At that rate, we're knocking them down quick. We've done a lot of big things over the last seven years and I think the next seven are going to be even better.”