MMA News: Europe's Leading MMA Promotion BAMMA Appoints Global Media Company

From their London offices, BAMMA has today proudly announced its new exclusive distribution deal with Content Media Corporation (CMC), signifying that BAMMA broadcasts will potentially be able to reach up to half a billion homes within the next year.

CMC will handle BAMMA’s international TV and digital distribution, including the supply of BAMMA’s live events and existing archive footage across all mediums outside of the UK.

This is a highly significant deal for Europe’s elite MMA organisation, and it could usher in a prosperous era for British and European mixed martial arts.
 
From BAMMA's press release:

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BAMMA has seen a meteoric rise in popularity over the past 18 months with events held at prestigious venues such as Manchester’s MEN Arena, Wembley Arena and The National Indoor Arena in Birmingham and TV viewing figures going as high as 835,000 adults for BAMMA 4, making it the most watched Mixed Martial Arts show in UK history.

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Couple this with the influence and reach of a media enterprise such as CMC and the future begins to appear positively bright for European MMA.
 
I managed to chat to Liam Fisher (Head of Business Development for BAMMA) a matter of hours before this exciting partnership was openly publicised, and he enthusiastically stated that “this is a great opportunity for the premier European MMA organisation to garner the sort of widespread exposure that it merits, and we are delighted to be working in conjunction with a prestigious media company such as Content Media in order to facilitate our growth.”
 
Greg Phillips, President of Content Television, added in the press release: “With BAMMA, we will ultimately strive to cultivate a world-class global MMA brand. The infrastructure is already firmly in place; the organisation is producing high-quality shows within a short space of time, and this is arguably the world’s fastest growing sport. We are really excited at the prospect of collaborating with BAMMA, and helping them realise their vast potential.”

BAMMA middleweight champion Tom “Kong” Watson essentially echoed these sentiments in a separate interview for this article, claiming that “the implications of such a progressive move are pretty clear…more exposure, more recognition, bigger fighters, bigger sponsors."

"It’s a very positive step in the right direction toward enhancing the reputation of the organisation and European MMA as a whole," Watson said. "On a personal level, I’m thrilled since it means we will be able to attract even bigger names than the high-profile marquee fighters that we currently showcase, and I’m always looking to compete against the best opponents possible."

From the press release:

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BAMMA events are already highly anticipated by MMA fans worldwide and broadcast live on the NBC Universal owned channel Syfy in the UK.  This new deal between Content Media and BAMMA will see the programming portfolio launched in the international broadcast and digital marketplace. Several  high-octane MMA fight events are lined up between now and the end of 2012, commencing on September 10 with BAMMA 7 at Birmingham’s prestigious National Indoor Arena.

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Within the next few hours, BAMMA will officially declare the name of the ex-UFC contender that will face Watson in the main event. Other high-profile names feature on the card, including The Ultimate Fighter Season 8 winner Efrain Escudero, and a former PRIDE and Strikeforce legend.

BAMMA is also pleased to be welcoming back Mike Schiavello cageside to grace the event with his characteristically flamboyant commentary, a man whose captivating charisma and creative clichés have in equal part been known to inject life into even the dullest lay 'n' pray affairs.

I will also shortly be publishing the entire exclusive interview with Tom “Kong” Watson (to which I allude above), in which he discusses his initial reaction and thoughts toward his next cage adversary, along with his opinions on other topical matters within the world of MMA.

Jonathan Shrager is a contributor for Bleacher Report and also writes for BAMMA. All quotes and information were obtained through first-person interviews or via first-hand press release. Follow him on Twitter @jonathanshrager.