The One Championship mixed martial arts series has signed a rights partnership with Japanese internet television station AbemaTV.
The deal, the length of which was not disclosed, will grant AbemaTV rights to live events and digital content.
The agreement covers more than 20 live events in 2018. AbemaTV will also show a reality TV series entitled ‘Surrogacy Battles’, which will focus on young Japanese MMA fighters.
The series will feature 12 one-hour episodes, with the winner to receive Y3m (€23,000/$28,000) and a One Championship multi-bout contract amounting to more than $100,000.
Chatri Sityodtong, chairman and chief executive of One Championship, said: “As sports media distribution experiences a digital shift, more and more viewers are opting for live digital content over traditional television mediums. Our mission is to unleash superheroes across Asia to ignite passion, hope, strength and dreams across all segments of society, and offering our unique hi-definition content for digital consumption is an integral part of that mission.”
Japanese One Championship competitors include Shinya Aoki (pictured), Yoshitaka Naito, Mei Yamaguchi and Koji Ando.