The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is the largest mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company in the world that hosts most of the top-ranked fighters in the sport and produces events worldwide.
UFC vice president of regulatory affairs Mark Ratner would like to see a single agency take the lead in regulating international events, overseeing officials, conducting drug tests and enforcing the unified rules of MMA. He said the promotion is pushing for an "international federation" to do the job.
Events in Canada, Australia and – next month – Sweden, are regulated by an independent regulatory body. But in places where no athletic commission exists, the promotion has taken that role for events in the U.K., Brazil and Japan.
"We'd like to get it over to France, and someday to Brazil and to Italy, so we have one set of rules, one set of medical standards," Ratner told MMAjunkie.com Radio.
"That's our long-term goal. We do need a worldwide federation."
France, Italy and Spain are among the international destinations the promotion is actively targeting for future shows.
There were seven international events on the UFC's calendar in 2010 and six in 2011. The promotion is on track to top those numbers this year with six events already in the books or scheduled. In addition to live events, international editions of the UFC's flagship reality show "The Ultimate Fighter" are now underway with filming underway in Brazil and an "Australia vs. UK" season in the works. Executives hope eventually to create a grand-prix tournament of international "TUF" contestants.
"We want to keep growing the sport," Ratner said. "The reason we self-regulate is that there's no commissions in certain countries, so in order to grow the sport, we have to put them on.
"But I would just as soon have an independent body regulating these fights."
