The UFC has been hiring a ton of international talent as of late. Their latest signing is Neil Wane out of the UK. There’s a video here of him beating some poor sap’s head in.
I like the idea of bringing a bunch of new talent in for obvious reasons, but I think UFC is doing it because they think it will help them expand abroad. Frankly, I don’t really see that being the case. Fans abroad want to see the stars that they can’t see on a regular basis. They may enjoy Michael Bisping, but if they had to choose between a Bisping fight and a Liddell fight, I’m positive UK fans would choose the Liddell fight. UFC 79 almost doubled UFC 78 in views in the UK, and 78 featured Bisping in the biggest fight of his career. This seems to be more evidence of them not really having a coherent game plan in Europe.