|
 And the changes for the sport, which was once denounced as
"human cockfighting" by US senator John McCain, are being well
received.
At the end of a Sunday night fight a great roar ripped through
the Globen arena in Stockholm as UFC light heavyweight Alexander
"The Mauler" Gustafsson finally downed Glover Teixeira for good
in the fifth round.
It had been a gruelling battle in front of a partisan home
crowd, with the hometown favorite eventually sending the
Brazilian crashing to floor. For once, the 12,668 fans at the
Swedish event did not have to stay up all night to see their
hero in action.
The last time Gustafsson fought in Stockholm - a knockout loss
to Anthony Johnson - it was in the early hours of the morning to
suit the American TV audience that is the UFC's bread and
butter.
"No excuses, I lost that fight to Anthony, but it's not fun for
anyone to fight late nights, early mornings. This fits me much
better," Gustafsson told a media conference after the event.
This time, Gustafsson stepped into the octagon at around half
past nine in the evening in Sweden - or around midday back at
the UFC headquarters in Las Vegas, Nevada.
"In a perfect world, all of our European fights would be in
prime time for our broadcast partners here," Joe Carr, the UFC's
senior vice president of international business, told Reuters.
Discussions with American broadcast partner Fox Sports led to
some early Sunday slots in the US that enabled the UFC to run
events like the one in Stockholm at local time.
GROWING IMPORTANCE
The problem for the UFC is that title fights are done on
pay-per-view TV in the US, and even when they take place in
Europe, they follow American scheduling.
"Last year we had a championship fight in Manchester with
(British fighter Michael) Bisping, but that was on in the middle
of the night in the UK and Europe, which really doesn't do much
for us there," Carr explained.
However, Europe is growing in importance for the flagship
organization of mixed martial arts.
"Since 2013, 2014 our total rights revenue in Europe has
tripled, it's grown pretty quickly. We have a few new deals, but
the market is not mature when compared to other markets, so we
have a ton of room for growth."
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 For 28-year-old Robin Berg, the six-hour drive from his home
in Oslo, Norway, to the Swedish capital to see a fight card
featuring Scandinavian fighters running on local time was a
small sacrifice.
"It's brilliant," said Berg, a recruitment consultant who has
been a fan of the UFC since 2010 and regularly stays up all
night to watch fights from the USA.
"I believe Europe will grow as a place for martial arts. The
biggest talents previously came from Brazil and the USA, but
more and more of them are coming from Europe," he said.
UFC executive Carr said that "talent development and finding
local heroes" are essential to successful European events, and
there were several other Nordic-based fighters on the Stockholm
bill to attract fans like Berg.
Indeed, four of the UFC's 11 current champions are Europeans,
including lightweight title-holder Conor McGregor, who is the
biggest draw the sport currently has.
Spurred on by his popularity, the sport has become mainstream, with
fight gyms offering boxing and Brazilian jiu- jitsu opening in
cities all over Europe.
The UFC has also scheduled fight nights in Scotland, Poland and
Netherlands this year, and a new TV deal in the US will take
European considerations into account, Carr says.
"It's about ensuring the quality of the events and ensuring those
events are in prime time, and not doing big shows at three or six in
the morning there," he told Reuters.
For Gustafsson, the victory itself wasn't enough - he went down on
one knee and proposed to his girlfriend Moa in the octagon directly
after the bout.
With drama like that, ratings should not be a worry.
(Reporting by Philip O'Connor; Editing by Andrew Bolton)
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