What can European fight fans expect from the UFC in the coming years?

(The UFC hosts four events on four continents in four weeks. MMAjunkie is in Stockholm, Rio de Janeiro, Auckland and Singapore from May 23 to June 18 for the 2017 MMA Road Show.)

STOCKHOLM – Building the UFC’s yearly event schedule is a complicated task. However, according to UFC Senior Vice President of International and Content Joe Carr, Europe has become an increasingly important consideration.

When the UFC first began its true international expansion efforts into Europe a decade ago, it struggled to build any real momentum. The live events did well, but grassroots efforts were still needed in certain markets.

Fast forward to current day, and the organization has three European-born champions: British middleweight titleholder Michael Bisping (30-7 MMA, 20-7 UFC), Dutch women’s featherweight champ Germaine de Randamie (7-3 MMA, 4-1 UFC), Polish strawweight titleholder Joanna Jedrzejczyk (14-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) and – perhaps the biggest star in the history of the sport – Irish lightweight champ Conor McGregor (21-3 MMA, 9-1 UFC).

Sunday’s UFC Fight Night 109 event, which takes place at Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, marks the UFC’s latest venture into Europe. With four Swedish-born fighters, including hometown hero and headliner Alexander Gustafsson, scheduled to fight, Carr said it’s just more proof the slow-and-steady approach has been the right one.

“When you look at the talent and the champions we have coming out of there, I think a lot of it has to do with us actually making that commitment a few years ago to start bringing events,” Carr told MMAjunkie. “We used to maybe go to the U.K. once here. Then we did one event in Scandinavia, and it was just very inconsistent. We decided, ‘Hey, we’re going to plant our flag in Europe, do five or six events a year, and really try to grow this sport and the business at the grassroots level.'”

While recent trips have included Germany, Croatia, the Netherlands, Scotland and others, others remain. Despite notable names such as Francis Ngannou, Cheick Kongo and Tom Duquesnoy coming out of France, MMA is still not legal in the country.

The UFC has spent years lobbying sanctioning bodies across the globe. However, some have been much more challenging than others. Carr said he’s optimistic about doing a show in France in the next 12 to 18 months.

“The content is already on air, and we have a TV deal, but it’s just about getting the politicians comfortable that, ‘Hey, we have the proper rules,'” Carr said. “It’s an education process too, though. I think the market’s just that far behind where people think it’s still kind of a lawless sport and they don’t realize, between the USADA drug testing and all the other work that we’re doing in the unified rules. It’s more of an education process.”

However, Europe isn’t the only focus. For Carr, figuring out a way to please everyone is the most challenging part and something that’s unlikely to get easier.

“The balance for us is that we have other markets we want to grow outside of Europe as well,” Carr said. “Do I think that we could do seven, eight, nine events a year (in Europe) and have the demand to do so? One hundred percent. But at the end of the day, we don’t want our overall calendar to have to go from 40 to 50 events overnight.”

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