Super Fight League

Super Fight League
Private
Industry Mixed martial arts League
Founded 2012
Founder Bill Dosanjh
Headquarters India, UAE, United States, Canada
Owner Bill Dosanjh, Amir Khan (boxer)[1]
Parent Super Fight Promotions Pvt. Ltd
Website www.superfightleague.com

Super Fight League, World’s second Mixed Martial Arts League.[2] The organisation was formed in 2012 by actor Sanjay Dutt and British Indian businessman Raj Kundra.[3] Super Fight League has produced close to 50 live televised events broadcast on Colors, Neo Prime, ESPN Star Sports and on YouTube live worldwide.

History

The Super Fight League was formed in 2012 by actor Sanjay Dutt and British Indian businessman Raj Kundra. Its intent is giving Indian Mixed martial artists a platform to compete and grow in its home country whilst bringing in talented fighters from different parts of the world. They launched their first event on March 11, 2012, which was headlined by Bob 'The Beast' Sapp and James 'The Colossus' Thompson.

On February 27, the Super Fight League announced that they had signed Todd Duffee, Trevor Prangley, Baga Agaev, Paul Kelly, Xavier Foupa-Pokam and Lena Ovchynnikova to four fight exclusive contracts.[4]

On June 23, the Super Fight League announced that they had signed Jeff Monson, Satoshi Ishii, Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, and Michael Page.

It was announced by the Fight Network that they will show all of the Super Fight League’s events on Canadian TV.

In September 2012 Pavia resigned his position as the CEO of the Super Fight League citing "family reasons."

The Super Fight League made three announcements on September 24, 2012. The first was a strategic alliance between themselves and Invicta Fighting Championships, which aims to bring the best Indian female fighters to Invicta, whilst Invicta will aim to send world class female mixed martial artists to the Super Fight League.

The second announcement was the Friday Night Fight Nights. From October 12, the Super Fight League will hold an event every Friday in a specially designed arena in Mumbai in front of an exclusive invitation only audience. This will replace the original model of holding arena events once aimed one a month. Programming will last for three hours each week with weigh-ins, live fights, and interviews from Bollywood cage side guests. There will be 7 fights in total each event, with 1 of them being a female bout. It will air live on Neo Prime in India and on their YouTube page for the rest of the world.

The final announcement was introducing Indian Olympic Female Boxing Bronze Medallist Mary Kom as the Super Fight League's brand ambassador.

At Super Fight League 13: Night of Champions, the Super Fight League rewarded 5 titles in the men's and women's division.

Launching on 4 December 2012, the Super Fight League announces a strategic partnership Provogue to set up a new company to jointly market all merchandise for Super Fight League. The company has been named Pro Super Fight League and the first product to hit the market is the New Deodorant Range ‘Aspire, Inspire and Desire.

At the start of 2013, the Super Fight League partnered with Indian news outlet DNA to promote women to get into martial arts and ran self-defence courses throughout Mumbai during mid-January as a result of the 2012 Delhi gang rape case that happened just weeks prior.

The Super Fight League signed a new TV deal with ESPN Star Sport in India for all events to be shown live, starting with Super Fight League 14 on 29 March 2013.[5]

On October 4, 2014, Super Fight League held its inaugural show in the United States, with Super Fight League 35 taking place in Tacoma, Washington, followed by Clash of Titans in Dubai, a fight night rivalry between two countries, India and Pakistan On February 27, 2015.

Super Fight League Challengers

On August 5, the Super Fight League aired their reality show Super Fight League Challengers. Similar to the Ultimate Fighter, the show took 8 male and 8 female up-and-coming Indian mixed martial artists, place them in the same house whilst they compete to become the winner of the show. Every alternate episode has 2 fights where 2 fighters (male and female) graduate to the next round whereas the other two have to leave the camp. The show went on for 50 days and the fighter will a be given tasks each week, as well as being trained by some of the best international trainers available. The winner received Rs. 20 lakhs (approx. $30,000 / £22000) and a 3-year contract worth Rs. 25 lakhs with the promotion. The show was aired on Neo Prime and Zoom TV. The inaugural season was won by Kario Isaac Maheo and Manjit Kolekar. The second season in slated to hit the floor in August 2016.

Rules

Super Fight League's current rules are based upon the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts that were originally established by the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board and modified by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.[6]

Cage

Super Fight League uses a structure called the 'O'Zone. The 'O'Zone is a circular cage of chain-link fence that has been coated in black vinyl. The height of the fence varies between 5 feet 6 inches (1.68 m) and 5 feet 8 inches (1.73 m), is 30 feet (9.1 m) in diameter and sits atop a 2.6 feet (0.79 m) platform. There are two gates on opposite sides of the cage to allow for people to enter and leave the cage.

Champions

List of Champions

Events

2012
2014-2016

References

  1. ↑ "Boxing superstar Amir Khan named co-owner of Super Fight League, promises new MMA format in 2016" (11 August 2015). Vox Media, Inc. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  2. ↑ "The Official Website of the Super Fight League (Super Fight League)". Super Fight League. Retrieved February 8, 2012.
  3. ↑ "Super Fight League launches world's first-ever Mixed Martial Arts League". sportskeeda.com. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
  4. ↑ "Super Fight League announces the signing of Paul Kelly, Professor X, and Lena Ochynnikova". ProMMANow.com. February 28, 2012. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
  5. ↑ "ESS acquires Super Fight League broadcast rights for 5 years". Indiantelevision.com. Retrieved March 13, 2013.
  6. ↑ "NSAC Regulations: CHAPTER 467 - UNARMED COMBAT". Nevada State Athletic Commission. Retrieved February 8, 2012.
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