After three decades of capturing the attention of sports fans with its jabs, sprawls and roundhouse kicks, mixed martial arts (MMA) has entered mainstream British media.
Some might argue that there is enough violence in the world, with wars raging in Ukraine, Yemen, and Myanmar. But his 650 million fan base worldwide in MMA is testament to a seemingly insatiable hunger for cage-based fights.
It is the fastest growing sport in the world. On March 18th, mixed martial arts event UFC 286 set box office records at his O2 Arena in London, drawing a sold-out crowd of 17,588 and grossing £7 million. The match was live streamed to paying viewers on BT Sport Box Office.
A new competition debuted in Newcastle on Saturday. PFL Europe is a season-long cage fight league. The event was broadcast on sports streaming service DAZN (pronounced “da-zone”), which has channels on Sky’s platform. ITV has signed a free-to-air deal with the PFL (Professional Fighters League), which will see highlights and supporting content broadcast across streamers ITVX and ITV4 channels from next Friday.
MMA has benefited from broadcasters appealing to an elusive youth demographic. “MMA is the zeitgeist and no one can match those numbers,” says PFL Senior VIP International James Fullwin. “This is why we are investing in ITV. They want an audience that is very difficult to get, but we embrace it as a sport.”
Frewin described the increased media interest as a “huge moment”, adding: “Who would have thought that DAZN, Sky and ITV would invest in mixed martial arts?”
MMA, which combines different fighting styles such as boxing, wrestling, judo, and Muay Thai, began in the United States in the 90s. Thanks to media partnerships with Disney and ESPN, the Las Vegas-based UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) franchise has increased the sport’s global profile, making it more popular than only soccer and basketball .
The UFC has produced British stars such as Birmingham’s Leon “Rocky” Edwards, who retained his welterweight title at the O2 event, and Liverpool’s female fighter “Meatball” Molly McCann. Fellow Liverpool resident Paddy ‘The Buddy’ Pimblett was also so popular that he launched his own drinks brand.
The PFL is home to some of Britain’s biggest stars, including Manchester’s ‘Dangerous’ Dakota Ditcheva. Frewin says the new franchise could “differentiate itself” from the UFC by creating a league system similar to other sports, giving fighters regular matches and allowing winners to advance. . “Our mission is to professionalize the sport.”
MMA is working with its broadcast partners to evolve the young sport to optimize the viewer experience. “We can respond to the interests of our fans,” said Dan Johnson of DAZN, Europe’s largest sports broadcaster.
The joint venture between DAZN and PFL will enable “a richer and more immersive experience,” he added. “You can add social [media] The experience, the influencer commentary, everything that we want to grow and PFL allows us to develop that. ”
Sports media is changing. Many DAZN viewers watch games via a phone app. PFL fighters compete in “smart cages” equipped with technology that tracks data such as punch and kick speed and heart rate in real time. “New sports fans want a more game-like experience,” Frewin says. “This goes beyond just them having scraps and shows how great these athletes are.” Such data also supports in-play wagering, he notes.
But the advances in MMA come amid growing concerns about head injuries in sports, from cycling to rugby. Frewin argues that the PFL’s mission to be professional will help take MMA out of the “Wild West” and provide better care for fighters. A chip can also be incorporated into the mouthguard to limit the risk of concussion.
Such efforts are important at a time when advances in broadcasting technology have led to increasingly graphic displays of the desire for violent sports. Powerslap is a modern American format promoted by UFC President Dana White.
The slapping fighter receives a blow to the cheek with an open palm while supporting his hands behind his back. The scene was shown in super slow motion video, with the audience cheering as they watched their faces horribly distorted by the blow. These contests are aired on TBS, a network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, despite claims by the Bryan Injury Association of America that “there is no sport here.”
MMA fans don’t accept such criticism. This gladiator spectacle resonates with young viewers accustomed to high-stakes dramas such as: squid game There are also adrenaline-filled pastimes like BASE jumping. Fulfilling their desire for interactive sports entertainment, it’s only going to get bigger.
