Washington, Jun 12 (PTI) Ahead of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) cagefights on the White House lawns, the US Department of State inked a pact with the mixed martial arts promotion company to advance sports diplomacy initiatives across the world.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and UFC chief Dana White signed a novel memorandum of understanding (MoU) to launch a new public-private partnership to leverage UFC’s global platform to engage key audiences.
“You have one of the most recognisable American sports brands on the planet. So much of the American spirit is reflected in this American company,” Rubio said at the event to sign the MoU.
The State Department is harnessing the UFC’s massive global audience – more than 1 billion households across 165 countries in over 40 languages – as a soft-power ambassador for the US.
The signing comes ahead of Sunday’s UFC match on the South Lawn of the White House, which is being held on President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday to mark the 250th birthday of the US.
Recognising sports as a powerful tool of diplomacy, the partnership leverages UFC’s global platform to engage key audiences, enhance cultural exchange programmes through the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, and promote values such as discipline, perseverance, sportsmanship, and excellence, a State Department spokesman said.
UFC athletes and coaches will serve as sports ambassadors through the Department of State’s Sports Envoy programme, which will include leading training clinics for young international athletes, the spokesman said.
“Through this partnership, UFC will join other major American sports organisations and the American private sector in coordinating with the Department on major sporting and public diplomacy efforts during the Decade of Sport in America,” the State Department said.
Rubio spoke enthusiastically about the cagefight at the White House lawns on Sunday.
“The number of foreign leaders that want to come to this is unbelievable. It’s to the point where we may have a diplomatic crisis, because we can’t bring everybody,” Rubio said.
UFC’s Chief Operating Officer Lawrence Epstein said his organisation hosts 43 events per year, of which 17 or 18 are in jurisdictions around the world, and the fighters come from 75 different countries.
“We are a global brand and a global sport, but we are American at heart and our cultural values are American – that grit, that get up after you’ve been knocked down, that refusal to ever lose,” Epstein said. PTI SKU GRS GRS GRS
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