UFC investor docs show how Brazil eclipsed Canada as MMA 'mecca,' reveals money on table overseas

The UFC has invested heavily over the past decade to become an international powerhouse while holding events, striking TV deals and opening field offices in four different countries.

Yet according to investor documents obtained by MMAjunkie, the newly acquired promotion thinks there’s a lot more overseas growth possible, if this past year’s performance is any indication.

The UFC enlisted a pair of syndicated data firms – Nielsen Sports (formerly Repucom) and Scarborough – to identify 260 million worldwide fans in 2015. But while 85 percent of those fans lived outside the U.S., they produced only 13 percent of the promotion’s revenue.

To illustrate the difference, a world map breaks down by territory the number of UFC fans vs. media rights fees generated this past year. It shows many of the most well-known international markets lagged far behind the U.S. in the money they made.

Despite UFC offices in Canada and the U.K. and years of investment, the countries underperformed in TV rights fees compared to the U.S. market, with the former drawing just $2 million from 4 million fans and the latter $5 million from 6 million fans.

Australia, a regular stop on the UFC’s yearly schedule, did just $2 million alongside the same number of fans.

The figures do not include pay-per-view income, which is separated in another revenue stream in the documents.

Looking at the map, it’s easy to see why Canada, once touted as MMA’s “mecca,” was replaced by Brazil as the promotion’s favored nation. As the promotion shifted focus to the South American country and beefed up its event schedule and produced a Brazilian edition of “The Ultimate Fighter,” it racked up $40 million in rights fees from a reported 37 million fans.

Through 2018, the UFC is scheduled to make another $32.1 million in rights fees from two media partners, Combate, a premium subscription channel, and Globo, the nation’s largest broadcast network.

The map also illustrates why executives were so bullish on expanding into emerging markets such as Russia, China and EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa). According to the map, the promotion extracted just $500,000 in TV revenue in Russia from 13 million fans, and $5.4 million from 37 million in China.

Of course, not all media markets are created equal, as the UFC has found. The promotion isn’t necessarily embraced every time the octagon travels to a new international city. Amid concerns of violence, politicians have opposed events. Countries with government-owned media have been hesitant to embrace the sport, or they’ve been unwilling to come to the table.

Stateside, the UFC attributes its strong performance to a consumer-friendly demographic of millennials, who have more expendable income to purchase pay-per-view events and cable TV. The presentation claims it grew that audience by 7-10 percent this past year.

In other territories, those same millennials may not be accustomed to paying upward of $100 per month to consume content. While the map suggests there’s a huge potential upside, it also could be interpreted as a statement on how the UFC has struggled to sell an American product to a foreign audience.

That’s where the UFC’s new owners, led by WME-IMG, feel they can make an impact. The entertainment powerhouse sells the international rights for a variety of highly sought-after content, from the NFL to the Premier League and NASCAR. Those properties, in theory, could provide leverage when new deals are hammered out. Just as WME-IMG expects to attract bigger numbers when domestic TV rights are renegotiated, the international market is expected to bolster revenues under the new ownership.

As it stands now, there are millions of viewers who can be leveraged.

For more on the business strategy laid out by the UFC in the wake of its $4 billion sale to WME-IMG, check out the previous stories on MMAjunkie:

For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.