Duncan French named as new head of UFC Performance Institute

LAS VEGAS – The UFC Performance Institute will have a new lead administrator, but the name is a familiar one.

UFC officials today informed MMA Junkie that UFC vice president of operations James Kimball has elected to leave the company in pursuit of new opportunities, and current UFC vice president of performance Duncan French will take over his role in charge of the UFC’s Performance Institutes in both Las Vegas and Shanghai.

“Duncan was always a part of the leadership team over at the Performance Institute, and he’s just going to be taking on a larger role in light of James Kimball leaving the company,” UFC COO Lawrence Epstein said.

French joined the UFC in 2017 and was tasked with overseeing the sports science, nutrition, strength and conditioning, and physical therapy programs at the UFC Performance Institute.

Prior to his arrival at the UFC, French had worked as the director of performance sciences and director of Olympic sport strength and conditioning at the University of Notre Dame, technical lead and senior strength and conditioning coach at the English Institute of Sport (where he coached a variety of teams in Great Britain’s Olympic program), and head of strength and conditioning for the Newcastle United Football Club of the English Premier League.

Epstein said one of French’s first big assignments will be to get the Shanghai facility up and running again after a lengthy closure due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“I don’t think, from an operations standpoint, things are going to change much at all,” Epstein said. “Duncan was intimately involved in all aspects of the operation of the UFC Performance Institute here in Las Vegas, but also in Shanghai, China, and so Duncan is just going to be taking over James’ responsibilities, and right now, getting ready to re-open in Shanghai, so that’s certainly going to be one of the major tasks in the short-term that Duncan is going to be tasked with implementing.”

Epstein added that the UFC still intends on opening additional Performance Institute facilities around the globe, as UFC president Dana White has often outlined, but that those plans are currently on hold due to COVID-19.

“We absolutely have a plan to open more of these Performance Institutes,” Epstein said. “It’s something that Dana has been vocal about and something we are absolutely going to do once the world gets back in order, again. But until it does, it’s tough to build and develop right now in the COVID era.”

Until then, Epstein said French will oversee current facilities, which are currently utilized by more than 80 percent of the UFC roster, according to the company.

“Duncan has been involved in managing this facility literally since it opened,” Epstein said. “Athletes shouldn’t see any changes at all, and I think we’ll probably see as time goes by, further additions to the overall staff, but from an athlete standpoint, things should be exactly the same.”