Targeting domestic rage in the cage

The Ultimate Fighting Championship is keen to develop a galaxy of homegrown stars to grow its brand in China.

"It is not a secret that is the formula to success - having locally relevant heroes is the way that sports brands grow," said Kevin Chang, UFC's vice-president for Asia Pacific.

"We'll probably start to develop and invest in more athletes in China and the region because there are simply more people in the sport now. We're still deciding how we'll go about doing this."

UFC currently has a fighter development program in place in China, with scouts identifying promising talent before sending them to train in the United States.

Almost all the Chinese fighters on Saturday's UFC Shanghai Fight Night card - the MMA promotion's debut on the China mainland - were selected through that process.

UFC is also taking on the Chinese market via social media, with a new partnership with Air Asia central to that strategy.

"Social media is in our DNA and Air Asia is definitely very strong in social media. They have the same approach and attitude in utilizing the platform to reach consumers and be in tune with them," said Chang.

According to Kathleen Tan, president of Air Asia's North Asia operation, the company has a social-media base of about 50 million people.

Tan noted that UFC's strong fan base, largely comprised of people from the same demographics the airline is targeting, would prove vital to Air Asia's efforts to break into the North American market.

In June, the carrier launched weekly flights to Hawaii, its first US destination.

The collaboration will also see the establishment of a scholarship for an Asia-based MMA fighter to train at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas, Nevada. The recipient will be announced in 2018.

Merchandizing is another area UFC will explore to engage consumers, and priority will be given to setting up an online store on one of China's major e-commerce platforms, said Chang.

When asked if UFC is concerned about the competition posed by key rival the ONE Championship, Chang said his organization would be solely focused on its own operations and is not looking to go head-to-head with the Singapore-based promotion.

In June, ONE Championship CEO and chairman Chatri Sityo lashed out at UFC after it claimed that ONE's straw-weight star Angela Lee was not good enough to fight for the American organization.

Chatri claimed ONE is a much larger organization than UFC in Asia, and that the latter's values did not resonate in the region.

"We don't think of it as a competition with other MMA promotions," said Chang.

"We know where we stand in the world of MMA.

"ONE FC and other regional and domestic promotions are part of a healthy MMA eco-system.

"What ONE FC is doing is great, but we're going to do what we do and they're going to do what they do.

"We'll let the fans decide who they like."