UFC hoping expansion into Asia is start of something big

• Macau is one of China's biggest hubs of gambling and tourism
• UFC says it's not quite the right time to go into mainland China

MACAU -- When former Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight champion Rich Franklin and former Strikeforce titleholder Cung Le step into the cage in the main event of Saturday's UFC on Fuel TV 6 in Macau (9 a.m. ET), it won't be for a title.

In fact, in a 185-pound championship picture that has been increasingly muddied recently, it's hard to figure what, if anything, the bout really means in terms of title implications. Franklin is 11-5 in the UFC and Le is 1-1.

Still, with the world's largest mixed martial arts promotion making its debut in Southeastern Asia, the company itself has much on the line.

"We could go in and host an event on the mainland next month, but China is so big — and my experience has been that when you go into mainland China for the first time, you want to go in really big," UFC Asia executive vice president and managing director Mark Fischer told USA TODAY Sports. "Macau is on Chinese soil, so in many ways it is our first event in China. But when we go into a big city like Beijing or Shanghai or Guangzhou — mainland China — we want to go in a very big way. We're not ready to do that."

With a population of more than 1.3 billion, China is the world's most populous country and boasts the globe's second-largest economy. Macau, along with Hong Kong, is one of the country's two special administrative regions and is an Asian hub of tourism and gambling. UFC officials in 2010 set up an office in Beijing, and in February the company hosted an event in suburban Tokyo, which marked the first time the promotion hosted a fight card in Asia in 12 years.

Now the company is targeting Asian markets such as China, Korea and the Philippines, and while martial arts long has played a role in many of those cultures, MMA has yet to take hold as it has in countries such as the USA, Canada and Brazil. Still, Fischer anticipates hosting several 2013 events in Asia.

"Our fan following in China has grown from 5% of the population a couple of years ago to 11, 12%, maybe even higher, in major cities," Fischer said. "Our viewership is up to 20million regulars a week. Our awareness has doubled to more than 50% in the major cities. There are sports institutes that are part of universities that have full-on MMA programs and a couple hundred fighters each. You didn't have that three or four years ago.

"We're hopefully getting to that point where we build up that demand for a big event in a big city in China and make that big bang. It's really just a question of time."

Morgan writes for MMAJunkie.com