On August 27th, 2011, the Ranik Ultimate Fighting Federation championed years of efforts inproducing a government-partnered Mixed Martial Arts fighting promotion in
Wanting to know more about this aggressive start-up, I spoke with Co-founder Joel Resnick about how this fledgling MMA promotion is impacting the sport in China China , RUFF’s goals, and the future of MMA in China
LL: Firstof all, congratulations on concluding your inaugural MMA promotion. I understand you’ve been working on this project for almost three years.
JR: It’s actually been 4 years since we first came up with the idea for RUFF.
LL: Four years, there must have been some huge obstacles to overcome for it to take that long for RUFF: Genesis to finally be realized.
JR: Honestly, given that what we’re doing with MMA in China China
JR: In the case of the delay from March to August, we just needed the extra time to put on an MMA event that would live up to the high standards that we’ve set for RUFF, and ultimately, our patience, and the patience of Chinese MMA fans, was met with a first-rate event with some of the best fights I’ve seen.
LL: Given that so many people are interested in business in China
JR: Any time you’re doing something for the first time, there are inevitably going to be surprises that arise out of nowhere, and what we are doing with RUFF is unprecedented; no one has ever started a nationally-affiliated MMA organization like RUFF, where we’re partnering with the government to eventually award the first-ever MMA National Championship Belts.
LL: China
JR: We have partnered with the Wushu Administrative Center
