TORONTO - With more than 1.4 million followers, UFC president Dana White knows the power of Twitter.
And he wants his fighters to harness it.
So the mixed martial arts organization is challenging UFC and Strikeforce fighters to get creative with the social media tool.
The more than 300 fighters were briefed on the plan at this week's fighter summit in Las Vegas.
According to a UFC official, the UFC and Strikeforce fighters will be divided into four groups depending on their number of Twitter followers.
Every three months, the groups will be judged on most followers, largest percentage increase in followers and most creative tweets.
The winners in each category in each group will get US$5,000.
"Wait for it... fighters are gonna flood twitter," tweeted English welterweight Dan (The Outlaw) Hardy. "They just mentioned the incentive program and everyone picked up their phones."
The plan will cost the UFC US$240,000 a year.
If the fighters are like White, they will have almost free rein.
The UFC boss, who clearly loves the ease and immediacy of conversing with fans on Twitter, pulls no punches. And he usually needs far fewer than 140 characters to make his point.
In one moment, he'll say hello to a new tweeter -- "welcome to twitter bill!!" -- or agree with a fan -- "I hear ya bro." Then he'll drop the hammer -- or an F-bomb.
