Cage Warriors Fighting Championship seals ESPN rights extension

Sports broadcaster ESPN International has renewed its rights for mixed martial arts series the Cage Warriors Fighting Championship.

The deal will run for two years, from the start of 2013 until the end of 2014, and covers Africa, the Middle East, the Pacific Rim and the Caribbean, as well as ESPN International’s broadband platform in Latin America.

ESPN International, a division of US-based sports broadcaster ESPN, has an existing one-year deal for Cage Warriors events covering 2012.

Nineteen Cage Warriors events are scheduled for 2013, up from 12 in 2012.

“Cage Warriors is only going to get bigger and better over the coming months, as we have done in 2012, so I’m pleased that ESPN International will be there to bring that continued growth to their viewers over the next two years,” the championship’s chief executive, Graham Boylan, said.