“What is different about the Mexico PI is, I’m not looking for fighters that are under contract with us to go over there and train; they can, obviously, but what I am more interested in is taking kids off the streets that don’t have a lot of opportunity,” White said. “Bringing them in and having them look at the UFC PI as a home, whether it is after school or whenever they need to get away, coming there and training and not just participate in mixed martial arts. I don’t think every kid that goes through there is going to be a fighter, but some of them will be coaches, some of them will be jiu-jitsu coaches. Somehow, some way they will become involved in the sport and will help grow it.”
The PI will be open for UFC athletes to train at, similar to the ones in Las Vegas and Shanghai, but it will also feature a full-time academy that will start with 20 athletes and grow to 25 athletes in year three.
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“There will be a full-time operation of people that will be put through our combine and talent selection process, and then they’ll receive awards of funding into our academy, as we do in China,” Senior Vice President of the Performance Institute, Duncan French said. “We’re also going to do a monthly intake of street kids into the facility, looking who has got potential talent, who can show us something, and then really start them on their journey to success.”
Fighters like former flyweight champion Brandon Moreno can attest to the resources that the PI provides to fighters in a variety of different aspects. As someone who calls Las Vegas their home, Moreno has spent a significant amount of time working with the team at the Vegas location.