Garry Cook is no stranger to Abu Dhabi having played an integral role in convincing Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, to put his money into Premier League club Manchester City.
The sports administrator left his role as the club’s CEO under something of a cloud in September 2011 but was back in the capital last month to help launch UFC’s Abu Dhabi Fight Night.
UFC is returning to Yas Island on April 11 for the first time in four years, and Sport360°’s Martyn Thomas took the opportunity to catch up with Cook, the organisation’s Executive Vice President and Managing Director of Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
In the two years you have been with UFC how has the sport grown and what do you do as a company to ensure it expands into new markets?
We were an American company that was creating content for a television network in America and that’s always going to restrict you. We were limited to two or three events a year and it didn't really work. So, my proposal to Lorenzo Fertitta and Dana White at the time was that if you really want to build and grow you have to find a way to meet the needs of the local consumers. So it’s that old adage of being global but acting locally.
If you think about our business we’re in four areas. We sell television product to networks, well, 97 per cent of our content was after three in the morning so that doesn’t help. We’re in the business of hosting events, the most we’d ever done in a year was three. We’re also in the business of attracting commercial partners, but commercial partners for television networks in America are very different than those that would be required here.
Then the fourth part of that is telling the story of the brand and communicating what the sport is all about, which is about awareness and education. So we’ve put a plan together that covers all four of those, we’re going to have six events growing to 12 events over the next couple of years. We’ve sold all of our content to local television networks during prime time and more importantly than that we’ve got the networks creating magazine shows with local talent.
So, the business plan now is to tailor content for local markets?
Very much so, because we know that EMEA is not a place, it’s multiple countries, it’s multiple cultures, it’s multiple languages and there are nuances that are very different in Germany than they are in France or Spain or Italy because the cultures are very different so you have to make sure that you’re meeting the local needs while at the same time maintaining the integrity of what the grassroots of this business are. However, success has been coming from Brazil, Mexico, Canada. Fifty-five per cent of our digital traffic now comes from outside of the United States.
Has the interest in the sport surprised you?
I was introduced to it by the footballers. When I was at Manchester City, every one of the players had an affinity and was a fan of the sport. I think a lot of that stems from their aspiration to be as fit as the fighters, I think all athletes look at the fighters as mentally and physically stronger than any other sport. So I was introduced to it that way.
An interesting story, when we were in Los Angeles on tour we couldn’t get any of the players to go anywhere but then we went to the UFC gym to meet Tito Ortiz and a few of the other guys and everybody wanted to go. We just put on a show in London and sold 16,000 tickets at the largest arena in Europe in 48 hours. These events are selling quicker than some of the big artists in the music industry. I’m also surprised by the demographic of the fans. My daughter is 16, went to an all-girls school in England and she’s a fan. It’s remarkable.
Have you got a target regarding tickets sales for the Abu Dhabi event?
We would hope that it sells out, I would see no reason why it wouldn’t because there’s been a long gap as everybody’s pointed out. I think the expectation then is for people not to just think that this is a one-off, I think there is going to be a repeat and there’s going to be a continual development of the business.
We’re launching this year a game with EA Sports. One of the big regions for that type of product, virtual gaming, is here in the Middle East. So we could have events here upcoming where you have a physical event, you have a virtual world title, you have fitness competitions and challenges. So the sport is not just going to be related to watching the spectacle – although that is a major part of it – it’s actually how do you then extend that business and make people connect with it other than just getting in the octagon themselves.
Do you ever envisage a full-time UFC office located in the UAE?
Really our partnership with Flash is all about that. How do we develop talent on the ground to be working on the business on a daily basis because obviously we don’t have the scale to get out to all these regions. Yes, absolutely I believe that will be the case but as importantly as that is the sport is continuing to grow and there isn’t any reason why the Middle East, and particularly the UAE, cannot be a part of that and actually lead the way.
You have had dealings with Abu Dhabi before in your role at City. How do you look back on your time with the club?
With great affection. I can say that 80 per cent of my satisfaction came from working with the Abu Dhabi guys. Khaldoon Al Mubarak (City chairman) is a colossal individual with tremendous experience and I learnt a lot from him. I think personally it drains you because you are a public figure in a world that seems to be relentless, particularly the media who tend to work really hard to bring anything that is remotely successful down a peg or two.
I found that very hard and when you have to try to change a culture of mediocrity to one of ambition you are going to get criticism, which is okay for a while but after a period of time it can drain you and impact on your personal life. Professionally, I loved it, but personally there are some things you regret.
You used Manchester United’s reputation when pitching to the Abu Dhabi United Group. Do you think City have now surpassed their neighbours?
Manchester is a football brand, if London was the home of football then I would say that the heart of football was in Manchester. There are only a few cities in the world that share two teams and have that cross-city rivalry, and that helps. I think the world now knows about Manchester City, the world now knows about Etihad Airways, the world now knows about Abu Dhabi. And I think if Manchester City was a proxy brand for the nation then it seems to have ticked a lot of boxes.
Abu Dhabi Fight Night tickets are available at www.ticketmaster.ae
