Lorenzo Fertitta just returned from a trip to India. He talks about the knowledge of MMA in the country and when the first live show may be there.

Here are some highlights:

“That’s a market that we think has a lot of potential, but we are literally starting from ground zero,” Fertitta said at a recent media luncheon. “People really don’t know anything about this sport or UFC. But the thing that’s interesting about it is, we look at it kind of similar to Brazil. We look at, they’re obviously both part of the BRIC nations, strong economies, a lot of natural resources, and up-and-coming young educated class of people that are starting to emerge.

“We’ve got to bring the product there, but then we’ve also got to get past the fact that we kind of have this hit-and-run strategy. We’ll (bring an event there) and we’ll kill it, but then we’re not back until when? I don’t even know, we don’t even have anything scheduled. So how do we build a sustainable program with fight series in primetime in relevant cities that make sense on an ongoing basis? So, for instance, working on the gameplan for next year in Brazil, outside of just the pay-per-views, we’re probably going to do five or six fights there. Some kind of Ultimate Fight Night things, and that’s how we built a sustainable program here in the U.S.”

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