Last weekend’s co-main at UFC 248 featured a UFC women’s strawweight title weight between Weili Zhang and Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
The fight is now being widely viewed as the greatest women’s MMA fight in history, with UFC president Dana White calling it “one of the best fights” he has seen, period. After a highly action-packed 25-minute contest it was Zhang who got her hand raised in a close split-decision victory over Jedrzejczyk. This was her 1st UFC title defence, since she became the first ever Chinese UFC champion with a win over the former champion Jessica Andrade.
It has now been reported that the fight did some serious number in China. According to a recent episode of the Ramsey Dewey Podcast, which was recorded in Shanghai, China, the Chinese broadcaster PPTV generated $57.5 million (£44.6m) from their subscribers for the UFC 248 co-main event.
“Only yesterday PPTV got, I think, 400 million yen” TJ, who was Dewey’s guest revealed.
According to Dewey’s guest, TJ, the Chinese broadcaster PPTV pays the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) around $7 million (£5.4m) for broadcasting rights in China. It has now been revealed that the broadcaster made over $57.5 million (£44.6m) from their subscribers that watched the UFC 248 co-main event featuring Zhang.
The UFC have been aggressively breaking into new markets around the world and China is clearly a big one for them. It was reported by the New York Post that the UFC is hoping to more than double their profits with PPTV, raising the price of broadcasting rights from $7 million (£5.4m) to $20 million (£15.5m) per year for a 5-year period.
The companies success in global markets heavily relies on the success of their fighters. UFC president Dana White recently stated that he believes Weili Zhang has massive potential for superstardom and that the Chinese champion will get the same promotional push as other high profile fights, such as Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor.
With other MMA promotions such as ONE Championship trying to establish a foothold in one of the most lucrative markets for combat sports in Asia, the UFC are clearly trying to get a piece of the pie for themselves by becoming the market leaders in China and other countries within the region.
This article first appeared on CLOSEDGUARDMEDIA.com on 11th March, 2020.
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