UFC continues to raise its global presence

Exploring the first live fight show in Russia. A Dublin fight event that projects to attract a record 80,000 fans. And preproduction efforts for new “The Ultimate Fighter” TV reality shows in the Middle East and Japan.

Ultimate Fighting Championship, the Las Vegas-based mixed martial arts promotion and media organization, is continuing to boost its global presence for 2015 after staging a record 22 live fight events outside the United States in 2014.

UFC’s live event, reality TV show and media partnerships have already spread to Asia, the Middle East and Europe. UFC has 70 staff employees in offices in London, Singapore, Toronto and Sao Paulo, Brazil They are capable of independently marketing, staging and promoting fight shows in foreign markets.

In 2015, UFC will stage 23 live fight shows outside the United States — one more than the 22 in the U.S. In 2013, UFC staged 10 foreign live fight events.

UFC has a new chief global officer, Garry Cook, who transferred from its London office, to orchestrate the MMA organization’s vast global empire from its Las Vegas headquarters on West Sahara Avenue.

“As we grow as a business, we’re moving from a fight promoter to a world-renowned sports media and entertainment company,” said Cook, who began his new gig in August. Before joining UFC in September 2012, Cook worked 12 years at Nike and also served as chief executive of the Manchester City soccer club in England’s Premier League.

UFC has hired Ken Berger, formerly of IMG, to oversee the Asia office and has promoted David Allen to oversee Europe, the Middle East and Africa from its London office. UFC is seeking an executive to run its office in Brazil.

The positions do not necessarily need to be filled with business leaders from the fight business.

For example, the UFC office in Canada is run by the former commissioner of the Canadian Football League, Tom Wright.

Lorenzo Fertitta, CEO of Zuffa LLC, which manages UFC, highlighted several new foreign initiatives for 2015:

■ Activating its newly signed sponsorship deal with global retailer Reebok to sell UFC logo gear, clothing and merchandise in more than 10,000 retail stores around the world.

■ Using 3 percent of the Reebok revenue to pay for a “Fight for Peace” program in London and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to help troubled youths and train them in martial arts.

■ Expanding the UFC gym business in London; Saudi Arabia; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Brazil; and Germany. In the United States, UFC has 130 commercial gyms and plans to expand to 300.

■ Targeting priority markets in Russia, where UFC cut its first TV broadcast deal there with a free, over-the-air government-owned broadcaster to deliver UFC programming to 55 million households; South Korea, where there is a strong roster of fighters; Scotland, and a Latin American country such as Panama or Costa Rica.

■ Preproduction launch of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality shows in Japan and the Middle East. “The Ultimate Fighter” has been produced in foreign local markets such as China, Canada, Brazil, Australia and United Kingdom.

■ Focusing on the markets with media deals such as Brazil, Mexico and Latin America.

Cook said UFC’s biggest new global markets are China, India and Russia. He sees growing UFC in sub-Saharan Africa through the gateway of South Africa.

“The Ultimate Fighter” TV show in China was launched at the end of 2013 and rolled through 2014. The 12 episode-series with Chinese national broadcasters was a one-shot deal, UFC Chief Content Officer Marshall Zelaznik said.

January also marks the end of the first year for UFC’s “Fight Pass” subscription website, which costs $9.99 a month.

Zelaznik said “Fight Pass” subscription sales around the world mirror UFC’s revenue in those countries. He said the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland were the top Fight Pass markets. Subscription sales typically spike before live fight events.

“Fight Pass” is a content platform that augments UFC programming on Fox and its affiliated TV channels.