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Wednesday, Jun 27, 2012

ONE FC President Victor Cui: “This Is A World Class Show. It’s Why We Have A 10-Year Televison Deal With ESPN.”

ONE FC President Victor Cui

By Tom Taylor

Last weekend, ONE FC held its fourth show, entitled “Destiny of Warriors,” from Stadium Negara, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Like its predecessors, this ONE FC card was a great success, due largely to the experience and dedication of the organization’s president, Victor Cui. Just hours before ONE FC: Destiny of Warriors, Cui spoke with Full Contact Fighter to discuss the early success of his promotion and the direction he hopes to take it in the future.

ONE FC held its inaugural event in September 2011, making the organization less than a year old today. While ONE FC is still in its infancy, Cui says the promotion has already developed a dedicated following. According to the promotion’s president, the MMA community’s reception of ONE FC has been extremely positive.

“We’ve been getting so much fan support and great emails from people from around the world,” Cui said. “My Facebook page probably gets 200 emails a day, and I can’t even read my emails anymore. It’s unfortunate. We get emails from fighters and fans and agents that want to be a part of one FC and want to connect with us. Overwhelmingly, the response has been really good. “

Along with the positive feedback, Cui says he receives frequent requests from fans who want ONE FC to visit their home country.

“We get a lot of people asking when we’re going to have events in their country out here in Asia. People are like, ‘Well, why aren’t you coming out to Vietnam? Why aren’t you up here in Hong Kong? When are you coming to Taiwan?’ So that’s encouraging.”

Asian fans are not the only ones begging for more from ONE FC, Cui says.

“A lot of international fans in North America are wondering when are we going to be on television there, and that deal is in the works, it’s coming soon. But our focus right now has always been about Asia, and delivering ONE FC to Asian fans and letting them experience MMA. In due time we’ll be in television in the States, but our focus right now is Asia.”

A look at a ONE FC live event audience

ONE FC: Destiny of Warriors was sandwiched between two UFC cards- UFC on FX 4 and UFC 147- in a position most blossoming MMA promotions would not want to be in. Despite ONE FC’s presence in a UFC-weighted-weekend, Cui says his promotion’s Asian focus allows him to worry less about competition from the UFC.

“Our fan base is largely in Asia right now, and that’s why we sell out stadiums when we hold our events out here. For most of our fans, ONE FC is the number one show for them to watch. There’s of course the hardcore MMA fans like myself and people who are just trying to consume as much MMA as they can, wherever they can, but most of our fans [are] new MMA fans, where the first time they’ve ever enjoyed or embraced MMA is through ONE FC. Those are the fans that have been really loyal to us and are tuning in and buying our Pay-Per-Views and buying our tickets. What’s really happened overseas or in North America on a twenty-six-hour flight away is not really that relevant to our Asian fans.”

The presence of two UFC events in one weekend has many fans thinking that the UFC is overextending itself. In Cui’s professional opinion as a big-time fight promoter, this might not be the case.

“I’d love to see a show every weekend. I think it’s great. I think it’s great for fighters, it’s great for fans, I think it’s good. Of course, when you love the sport, you want more of it.”

Former UFC and Strikeforce star "Babalu" Sobral (right) submitted Tatsuya Mizuno (left) at the latest ONE FC event

While Cui might not plan on shoehorning two ONE FC events into a single weekend anytime soon, he is developing a fairly busy schedule for ONE FC in the near future, simply because he believes the demand exists.

“For ONE FC, you’ve got eight events, and next year 18, so that’s also a very busy calendar. It’s really just about how much demand is in the market and what everybody wants. It’s fantastic for us to come into a brand new city like KL (Kuala Lumpur) and sell out a good several days or a week before the event. This market here is notorious for not supporting new sporting events or having empty venues, so it’s a good sign for us. If I could, I’d come here multiple times a year. So I can understand what the UFC’s doing.”

“For ONE FC, you’ve got eight events, and next year 18, so that’s also a very busy calendar. It’s really just about how much demand is in the market and what everybody wants. It’s fantastic for us to come into a brand new city like KL (Kuala Lumpur) and sell out a good several days or a week before the event. This market here is notorious for not supporting new sporting events or having empty venues, so it’s a good sign for us. If I could, I’d come here multiple times a year. So I can understand what the UFC’s doing.”

Given ONE FC’s early success, they have been compared to the UFC and have even been referred to as the UFC of Asia. ONE FC, however, is a unique organization, and its Asia-centric approach makes it quite different from the globally expanding UFC. Still, Cui says he does not find being constantly compared to the UFC tiresome.

“I completely understand it (the comparisons). The UFC is a fantastic organization. Dana White and Lorenzo (Fertitta)—they’ve done a lot for the sport. Some of the best fighters in the world are over there so I completely understand, it makes sense. But for me, I focus on what I know. I’m an expert on the Asian market. I’ve been doing business at events all across Asia for the better half of the last decade. Our home base is out here in Asia and we’re doing what we can.”

Part of what makes ONE FC so strong in the early stages of its development is its roster. The promotion’s arsenal already boasts the likes of Renato “Babalu” Sobral and Roger Huerta, who both fought at ONE FC: Destiny of Warriors. The promotion is also home to notables like Melvin Manhoef, Phil Baroni, Rolles Gracie, and Zorobabel Moreira, and a slew of Asian favourites like Shinya Aoki, Yuya Shirai, Ole Laursen, and Eduard Folayang.

The strength of ONE FC’s roster can be partly attributed to the Cui-created ONE FC network, an alliance of Asian organizations and gyms that allows for cross-promotion and an easy flow of talent across the Asian MMA market. Recently, to foster the growth of this network, Cui hosted an Asian MMA summit; an event he says was extremely successful.

“We just had a really successful summit a couple of weeks ago, with two hundred people out in Singapore that I hosted. Every single person in the ONE FC network and basically every promoter, every event of any significance was there, every gym, sponsors, equipment partners, businesses, everyone. It was fantastic. We got together for a few days to network and connect, talk about our future plans and how we’ll manage both the opportunities and challenges of the explosive awareness and growth of MMA in Asia,” Cui said.  “That’s just the beginning. We’re going to hold more of these summits and expos and just keep expanding.”

The turnout and success of ONE FC’s shows and the Asian MMA summit Cui hosted begins to put to rest the recent gossip that Asia can no longer support mainstream MMA. While Cui agrees Asian MMA might have hit a snag, he is eager to resuscitate the thriving MMA scene that once existed in Asia.

“We are really in a state of flux, but what’s exciting for me is that we’re bringing new fans to this sport. If you’re an MMA fan, you’ve been dying to see world-class MMA on television and world-class live MMA events. Those guys all come watch ONE FC anyway, but a big chunk of our fans are new MMA fans who have never experienced it before. Finally, they get the chance to cheer for a local hero,” Cui said.  The ONE FC president vows to keep the fans coming back by delivering shows that are entertaining from start to finish.

“You arrive, there’s a red carpet, you’ve got hundreds of paparazzi photographers that are on the red carpet, and you sort of walk it like a Grammy show. It’s really a night to come out to because it’s the biggest show in town. We’ve got a lot of fan interactive experiences with sponsors—our newest sponsor is Chevrolet,” Cui said. “Our ring girls are hugely popular; they’re there for pictures with fans.” And as exciting as the walk into the stadium is at a ONE FC show, Cui says it’s the experience inside the stadium that is the true pièce de résistance.

“You enter the stadium, and it’s like a rock concert atmosphere that makes the hair on your arms stand on end. It’s electrifying. The lights are going, and it’s a full on sports entertainment experience for our fans the moment they step through those doors,” he said.

“This is a world class show. It’s why we have a 10-year television deal with ESPN. It’s why broadcasters from around the world are buying our content as well. My background is in sports media and events and entertainment, so putting [on] a quality and world-class show is second nature for me and my team.”

posted by FCF Staff @ 12:32 pm
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