The organization of MMA fights at the White House for Donald Trump’s 80th birthday “cost the taxpayer a lot of money” and this event will undoubtedly remain unique, because which president would be “crooked enough” to repeat it, Ciryl Gane asked on Wednesday.
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On June 16, the Frenchman won against Alex Pereira by knocking him out in the second round, a performance allowing him to capture the UFC intermediate heavyweight belt, under the eyes of the American president who was celebrating his birthday.
“The White House was an event that will only happen once in a lifetime, in a career, and I would even say in the history of the UFC perhaps because I don’t know the next president who will be crooked enough to once again create this kind of event which cost the taxpayer very dearly,” declared Ciryl Gane smiling during a Sport Definition organized by the public investment bank Bpifrance.
“The UFC, through its fights, through its programs, manages to reach almost a billion people, it’s something extraordinary. I believe that on social networks, MMA is the most watched sport before football, that is revealing,” he stressed.
Ciryl Gane highlighted the fact that “MMA is a very young sport, legalized barely six years ago in France, but a real social phenomenon, it is from 7 to 77 years old, it affects everyone”.
“But today there is a lot of work to do on the structure. We already have very good events, particularly in France with the Ares league, but there is structuring to be done, there is still a lack of infrastructure directly linked to my sport, performance centers, training for coaches, referees, agents,” he added.
Ciryl Gane felt that “there is really business to be done there, it is real sports business, the UFC today is a war machine and we are trying to get closer to this war machine and today we are doing it perfectly with Ares”.
