The UFC’s decision to include the UK as a destination on their promotional world tour appears to have paid off with Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson being interviewed about the sport on BBC News.
It’s exceptionally rare for the BBC to even acknowledge mixed martial arts existence, let alone invite two leading fighters into the studio for an in-depth chat so it’s likely to be seen as something of a moral victory for the UFC in the region.
The interview was full of the kind of questions you might expect under the circumstances – queries about the rules, the two men’s backgrounds, families and fighting disciplines – not anything surprising for hardcore fans, but good for the many people watching who probably don’t know the first thing about the sport.
‘Bones’ in particular came off very well, with the presenter Kate Silverton exclaiming at one point, “You seem too nice!”, while Gustafsson was a little more reserved, but avoided saying anything that would have presented the sport in a bad light.
So, a job well done and hopefully this wasn’t a one off from the BBC. Check out the full interview in the video below.
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