IMMAF eyes wider international TV reach with Fighting Spirit deal

The International Mixed Martial Arts Federation has signed a media-rights agreement with the Fighting Spirit agency for the worldwide sales of its broadcast programming.

IMMAF is the global governing body for amateur MMA and is currently working for Olympic recognition. The organisation’s 2019 World Championships, held in Manama, Bahrain from November 11-16, featured over 400 matches over the five days of competition.

IMMAF president Kerrith Brown said: “Our MMA platform is growing in size, depth of talent and brand stature and ours is a young sport with high engagement among the millennial and Z generations.

“In 2020, we have committed to offering a calendar of broadcast material, with television packages available for our Asian Open Championships, European Open Championships, Under-18s Youth World Championships and World Championships.”

Fighting Spirit already distributes rights to MMA’s Professional Fighters League, M-1 Challenge and German MMA Championship.

Fighting Spirit chief executive, Laurent Pourrut, added: “Our strategy will be to give the best worldwide exposure to IMMAF but also to see that IMMAF co-exists with professional promotions in terms of its TV exposure. Fighting Spirit distributes well-established MMA brands such as Professional Fighters League (PFL) and M-1. There are a lot of synergies.”