UFC has hired ex-Man City boss to take the brand to the world markets Cook, 50, needn't worry about interest. Over the past seven years the sport has grown exponentially, exploding in popularity and creating new fans in Brazil, Asia, Australia and Europe. In the US it has become one of the most viewed sports. Last year, the Fox television network signed a seven-year deal with the UFC worth $700 million. The biggest televised events are screened in 150 countries and reach half a billion viewers. We have a pure product, and that product is real, it's authentic. How that product reaches its fans and consumers is key, either live, on television or through social networking, which is very much a part of this sport. But at the end of it, it's about the athletes. In Europe,we are looking to develop local heroes. In Europe, we love our guy to go out there and challenge the greatest in the world. Time is everything in sport. Thus it could be a perfect moment for Cook to make a dramatic impact for the UFC in the UK. Michael Bisping - perhaps Britain's most popular fighter - has clawed his way to the top of the middleweight division and is poised to challenge the seemingly invincible Brazilian Anderson Silva for a title fight. Bisping outsells boxing stars such as Amir Khan when he fights in Britain and a fight with the greatest martial artist of all time would see him follow his friends, former world boxing champions Ricky Hatton and David Haye, and move outdoors to a stadium super-fight. Cook was animated in describing the experience of sitting feet away from Silva as he defended the UFC middleweight title in Las Vegas in July against all-American Chael Sonnen. "I watched it through the eyes of a fan," he explained. I bumped into a group of footballers there - two of whom I'd signed for Manchester City and one I tried to sign. Sami Nasri, Kaka and Ronaldo are huge fans of the sport. They were gripped. As is Craig Bellamy, incidentally. And of course Mario Balotelli. Only a couple of months ago, Mario said if he hadn't been a footballer, he would have loved to have been a UFC fighter. The point is that great athletes recognise other great athletes. They all follow the same principles: fitness, focus, dedication. The UFC is a pure product. We have an audience, drama, unpredictability. No one is pretending to the consumer. There is talent, arenas, commercial opportunities. For me, the principles were the same at Nike and Man City. Now it's the UFC. The great thing is that the owners Lorenzo Fertitta and Dana White - unlike those who buy a football club as an interest in a sport - have invested in the UFC and are defining a new sport and creating a new industry. It's groundbreaking, and I can't wait to get started.