MMA Pro League Looking to Fill the Void in September
With the MMA Pro League’s first event only a week away, the new team-based promotion has already started featuring some of the fighters and creative minds behind its creation. The first video shown below features Hani Darwish, MMA Pro League’s CEO and is a quick look at what made him come up with the idea of bringing the team based promotion back to fight fans.
It is not the first time team based MMA has been pitched to fans of combat sports as some longtime MMA fans may remember the International Fight League (IFL), but given MMA’s growth, the timing could be right to try something new. Ten years ago the IFL ended and since then a lot has gone on in the sport’s growth. The UFC being sold for it’s $ 4-billion dollar price tag certainly has helped elevate the sport as a whole but now that everyone wants to throw their hat in the MMA cage, to get attention something has to be unique.
The Professional Fighters League (PFL) is going through a pretty successful first season with their format where fighters earn points through wins that get them to the PFL playoffs, a tournament where the competitors with the most points are placed and fight to win the prize money for their division. The idea may have seemed odd at first, but by the time their sixth event came to Atlantic City, they had acquired a $28 million dollar investment from the likes of Mark Burnett, Tony Robbins, and Kevin Hart.
“I think the fanbase is suffocating and waiting for someone to come in and fill that void.” -Hani Darwish
In the video, Darwish explains why the concept could be fresh and he does make a strong point with all the MMA promotions out there, holding a string of fights on a card is not a new concept. However, there are newer fans of the sport that could be losing interest and if Darwish is right, the MMA Pro League could have a chance of making the team concept work.
More video content will be coming from the MMA Pro League on their Youtube channel leading up to the event including fighter features like Team Pennsylvania’s Zed Montanez’s featurette.
The MMA Pro League’s inaugural event will take place September 15 at the newly opened Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey and streamed on FloCombat.