The UFC welcomes the economic fallout from the Parisian event on September 3

More than 15,000 spectators, 3.4 million euros in revenue from ticketing (a record for the Accor Arena) and 33.4 million euros in economic benefits for the Paris region… These are the main figures from the economic impact study of UFC Paris revealed by the American organization on Thursday. For Lawrence Epstein, executive vice-president and director of operations of the league, the event, after years of struggle for the regularization of sport in France, was a success and the arrival of other competing leagues in Paris or elsewhere is anything but a brake on the development of the UFC and MMA.

“How do you assess your first visit to Paris?
It will go down as one of my favorite events in UFC history. We worked for so long on the regulation of sport… A lot of people thought that we should have organized an event in France earlier than we did. Unfortunately, there was the pandemic. But we knew it was going to be a special time so we had to do it at exactly the right time. And it paid off: the fans were incredible, the city of Paris is incredible! We are really happy with the result.

How to understand the figure of 33.4 million euros in benefits for the Paris region?
The figure represents the total economic impact of our event: which includes employee salaries, taxes paid and spending on flights and hotels for those visiting Paris. Our events attract a considerable crowd from the region concerned, from other regions but also from abroad who come to the host city to spend money. We also strive to promote our host city in all of our event media, including broadcast by showing the city’s venues to more than 900 million households worldwide, or coverage of matchups between our athletes in emblematic places, such as the Eiffel Tower.

Did you anticipate that the second French event will probably be less publicized than the first, unless you may have a fight for a belt?
Sure ! The first event in a new country is special, but every UFC event we host in France will be. The athletes will be different, but the atmosphere will be as amazing as any of our events around the world.

It is said that the UFC is losing ground compared to other organizations… The PFL in particular has announced that it will come to Paris next September. A direct competitor on the date you want, right?
We think it’s great that other MMA organizations are following in our footsteps and hosting events in France. We want this sport to flourish and gain popularity. And other organizations are helping to make it happen. It is very good.

How’s the UFC business doing? What is the goal for 2023 globally?
Business is going very well, thank you! We want to grow even more in 2023, we are looking to put on the best fights for our fans and mount as many live events as possible internationally. We have already returned to Brazil for the first event of the year. At the same time, we launched a fully localized version of UFC Fight Pass in Brazil to live stream our events. We also plan to open a performance institute in Mexico this year. There are many exciting things happening and many more to come.

Can you already tell us the next date for UFC Paris? Will there be another French city visited before?
We haven’t finalized the date for this year, but we’re hoping to run another event around September 2023. Just like we do in other countries – England, for example, we’re still trying to go in London in March – we will strive to keep this regular spot on the UFC schedule. We will also explore other cities. We have such a huge fan base all over the country, in cities like Marseille and Lyon. It would be great to host an event there. »