MMA Pioneer Gary Goodridge shares his thoughts on promoting MMA in Africa (Exclusive)

Gary Goodridge has committed himself to growing the sport of MMA in Africa as he embarks on his newest venture with African Fighting Championship (AFC).

The MMA pioneer is currently serving as the promotion's president and is preparing for AFC 2: Clash of the Titans, which takes place on April 30. During an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda MMA, Goodridge shared his thoughts on why he chose Africa and mentioned that the continent has an impressive talent pool.

He said:

"I believe that Africa is an untappped market for this [MMA]. You have to go where nobody...has something going on over there. There's a lot of other groups that are there, but I'm planning on trying to take over. Their blueprint's already been made for success." [1:13 - 1:38]

'Big Daddy' also brought up that like other countries and states, there were hurdles in getting MMA legalized on the continent. Goodridge mentioned that there is an education process because of the negative perception of the sport, saying:

"The exact same [as in Canada], 'it's too violent, we don't do that, it's too violent that you don't wanna stop it,' The exact same thing the UFC went through here in North America...Of course, they see it on TV, but they don't like doing that...But I gotta teach the public what it's all about and move from there." [6:02 - 6:32]

There is a lot of potential with the MMA market in Africa, which is apparent with the number of African fighters that have won the UFC championship, including Francis Ngannou, Kamaru Usman, and middleweight champion Israel Adesanya.

Check out the full interview:

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Gary Goodridge weighs in on unique concept for AFC 2: Clash of the Titans

Gary Goodridge weighed in on the unique concept for AFC 2: Clash of the Titans as there will be a nation vs. nation element to the event.

During the affromentioned interview, the UFC 8 tournament runner-up explained the thought process behind the nation vs. nation concept and mentioned that he believes it can be a recipe for success, saying:

"We [AFC board] sat down and we discussed what's the best for AFC and we decided, 'yeah, that sounds good' [nation vs. nation]. All of our fights are gonna be each country facing each other...Our base is in Kenya, so it will be Kenya going around or if it's far away then I'll them two together." [2:00 - 2:25]