With many of the world’s martial arts originating in Asia, most UFC fans figured it was just a matter of time before the mixed martial arts organization would head there to hold cards. UFC president Dana White recently confirmed that he plans on taking his show on the road to the Far East in the near future.

With a new American television deal in its back pocket, the UFC is pretty stable in the U.S. and Canada for the time being and also has its foot solidly in the door in Great Britain and Australia. Lorenzo Fertitta, CEO of the UFC, said the company is now planning on growing globally to make sure its long-term future is just as solid as the present.

Fertitta said the UFC plans on holding cards in Macau, China in 2012 and then the next year hopes to break new ground in Singapore as it makes its way across the Asian continent. He said the organization has been laying a lot of ground work in China and they’re going to dip their toe in the water to test things out, but are hoping it turns into something more permanent.

He said the show in Macau will depend on what dates work with local Chinese authorities and the broadcasters around the world, but it should take place next year. He added that the UFC recognizes Singapore as a growing market and they’ve been focusing on that nation for some time now for an event in 2013, possibly at the Marina Bay Sands, which is a popular Singapore casino-resort.

It took the UFC a little while to get up and running since the first few years of broadcasts weren’t on mainstream television networks. But you can now see UFC events in over 130 different nations across the globe. In America alone, the seven-year deal it signed with Fox in August rakes in close to $100 million each year. The first card aired on Nov.12 when heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez lost his title to Brazil’s Junior dos Santos by first-round KO in the main event.

Fertitta and his brother paid just $2 million for the UFC in 2001 and have turned it into one of the world’s most popular and recognizable sports organizations. However, some fans still see MMA as nothing more than sheer brutality with little skill and several American states refuse to sanction fights, including New York.

The company started out under the Fertittas with four employees in 2001 and now has about 300 people working for it with offices in Toronto, Las Vegas, London, and Beijing. They’re planning on opening another in Sao Paolo, Brazil and Mumbai, India in the next year or two. In addition, the pay-per-view numbers for the UFC were about 40,000 a year a decade ago and have now grown to approximately seven million, making the company the biggest pay-per-view provider in the world.

Fertitta realizes he’d have a better shot at cracking Chinese market if the UFC had a Chinese fighter to draw crowds. The country’s interest in the NBA rose rapidly when local player Yao Ming made it big and it could be the same scenario if the UFC can find a Chinese fighter that will be able to challenge the best the UFC has. Fertitta said several Chinese fighters will be brought over to train for a month in Las Vegas and it’s his organization’s job to find somebody with MMA talent or to help develop it.

The UFC’s quest for total domination within the MMA world took a giant step closer to realization with the purchasing of Strikeforce – rumored to be for $40million – the other day. But, really, what does the UFC plan to do with its former rival? The UFC was the major force anyway, so is buying Strikeforce just a way to kill off any competition? Or will the UFC allow Strikeforce to operate as a separate entity?

Well, Dana White, the UFC president, has insisted that Strikeforce will remain detached from his mixed martial arts organization, but also hinted that his leading fighters could well face the best Strikeforce has to offer in the not-too-distant future.

That’s all very exciting, but does this secondary plan not remind you of what has happened to boxing? How many different belts can be won for any single weight division for pugilists? Let’s see – we have the WBO, WBC, WBA, WBF, WBU, IBF, IBA, IBC, IBO, IBU and WPBF. That’s 11 in total  – and 10 too many.

MMA should not go down this path. Certainly, White has previously been unwilling to cross-promote and, although fans are eager to see the big names of both organizations fight, it should only happen under a single banner.

Essentially, either unite the organizations or allow them to remain self-governing and as independent as possible. A halfway house will result in a watered down product, although Strikeforce spokesman Mike Afromowitz has stated it will be “business as usual” for the companies.

It’s pretty obvious the UFC has still to make a definite decision on how to progress with Strikeforce, with White saying he “wouldn’t rule anything out”, but stressing that he wants to “put on the best fights that the fans want to see”. That’s what everyone wants, of course, so a complete integration is the only possible solution.

However, for now, Strikeforce – with veteran chief executive officer Scott Coker still in charge – is to carry on signing its own fighters and will remain on subscription channel Showtime through 2014.

Strikeforce also has promotions scheduled over the next few months throughout the United States. That TV deal and planned events would suggest that no amalgamation is forthcoming, unfortunately.

However, the UFC might use Strikeforce to penetrate global markets after Lorenzo Fertitta, the chairman of Zuffa – the sports promotion company that controls both organizations – admitted that “we’re not fulfilling what the demand is…going to London one time a year, we’re kind of shortchanging that market”.

Fertitta sees the benefits of Strikeforce as a way to have “more fighters, more options…the ability to have a stronger presence in a meaningful way”, primarily throughout Europe and Asia.

This is an interesting development as it may be that Zuffa promotes the UFC as the North American arm of MMA while utilizing Strikeforce as the overseas promotion. That could work. But the crossover of fighters is still a problem – as might be White’s relations with former UFC members – including Dan Henderson, Josh Barnett and Paul Daley – who quit his organization, and not always on the best of terms.

White has also criticized Coker and once referred to the promotion as “Strikefarce”, but he maintains that Strikeforce’s leading fighters should not be concerned as “Scott Coker is the guy who’s going to be running the day-to-day” business, before adding that fighters are “never going to have to deal with me, so it’s not a big deal”.

That might be true now, but what of the future when the UFC absorbs Strikeforce? It’s going to happen – and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise as this exciting sport garners more fans and bigger bucks. The UFC brand is already thought to be worth anything from $1billion to $2billion, depending on who is quoted.

Remember World Extreme Cagefighting, the World Fighting Alliance and Pride Fighting Championships? Yes, they have all been incorporated into the UFC. So how will certain fighters fare under White once Strikeforce ceases to operate? There could be a few internal fights over the next few years. But it’s very rare that purchases of rival companies run completely smoothly.

However, White remains thoroughly optimistic right now, believing that “it’s a great day for the fans” as the UFC pushes into new markets, adding that “we need more fighters” to grow the sport.

This latest deal, as well as the vagueness of Strikeforce’s prospects, has left more questions to be answered. However, it seems no one is quite sure what the future holds – least of White, Coker and Fertitta.