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Legend Fighting Championship

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Legend Fighting Championship
Company typePrivate
IndustryMixed martial arts promotion
Founded2009
Headquarters
China
ParentLegend Entertainment Limited
Websitehttp://www.legendfc.com

Legend Fighting Championship (Legend FC) started as a Hong Kong-based mixed martial arts (MMA) organisation which invited national champion fighters from throughout the Asia-Pacific to compete for regional supremacy. Legend was unique among MMA tournaments in that it focused exclusively on native Asia-Pacific fighters.[1] The company was sold in April 2014 to Kwokman Productions.[2] The promotion re-launched in September 2018 as a China-based organization.[3]

About Legend

China's Liu Wenbo winning the Legend FC Middleweight Championship at Legend FC 10

Founded in 2009, Legend Fighting Championship (Legend) was the Asia-Pacific championship of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). Legend invited national champion MMA fighters from throughout the Asia-Pacific region to compete in a freestyle tournament using interdisciplinary martial arts skills in supervised matches under a strict set of rules designed to promote athlete safety and sportsmanship. Legend was committed to promoting the sport of MMA throughout the region, to supporting and cultivating its athletes, and to providing exceptional entertainment to a broad audience.

Legend held its first event in January 2010 at Star Hall in Hong Kong in front of an audience of just over 1,000 fans. From this modest start, Legend has grown into one of the most well-known elite-level MMA competitions in the Asia-Pacific, with an international broadcast and some of the top fighters in the region on its roster.

In spring 2011, Legend signed an agreement with Macau mega-resort and casino City of Dreams to produce an ongoing series of MMA tournaments, under the title “City of Dreams exclusively presents Legend Fighting Championship.”[4] The first event of this partnership took place on July 16, 2011.

In January 2012, Legend Fighting Championship announced the signing of an exclusive distribution and syndication agreement with ESPN International (ESPN). Under the terms of the agreement, ESPN will serve as the sole distribution agent of all Legend broadcast content in Asia, Oceania, the Indian sub-continent, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Legend's new partners have refocused the company specifically on Chinese fighters and the Chinese market, in terms of both fight cards and the content they will produce. Legend re-launched with a fight card in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou in September 2018.[5]

In June 2019, Legend announced its return to Macau, China on September 14, 2019 at the MGM Theater in Cotai.[6]

TV broadcast

Legend Fighting Championship 3, Hong Kong.

On the heels of their successful first event, Legend signed a broadcast agreement with KIX (an Asian action TV channel and subsidiary of Tiger Gate Entertainment) to broadcast its MMA competitions in Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Since then, Legend has signed agreements with broadcasters in China, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and Canada.[7]

In October 2012, Legend signed an agreement with Sony Pictures Television networks for them to broadcast Legend Fighting Championship on AXN in 21 territories across the region.[8]

In November 2012, Legend Fighting Championship and ESPN International announced a broadcast agreement to bring the Asia-Pacific Championship of Mixed Martial Arts to ESPN television and broadband channels in 109 countries in Australia and New Zealand, the Caribbean, Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa and cruise ships in these territories.

In North America Legend is broadcast on Pay-Per-View and Video-On-Demand on all the major Pay-Per-View providers and also holds the distinction of being the first sports organisation from China to be featured on North American Pay-Per-View.[9]

China consists of one of the biggest audiences for Legend. In China alone, Legend is available to more than 600 million viewers nationwide.[10] Legend events are also broadcast in China on major video portals Tencent, Weibo, Youku, Zhibo and others.[11] Additional broadcast partners include Guangdong TV, Shenzhen TV, and various other networks in China.

Worldwide, Legend is broadcast in 279 million homes in 152 countries via 22 broadcast partners including AXN in SE Asia, ESPN International and all major pay-per-view operators in the US and Canada.[12]

Company background

Legend was co-founded by Mike Haskamp and Chris Pollak, former classmates and Rugby teammates at Columbia Business School.[13] Pollak spent eight years at management consultancy McKinsey & Company, primarily in their media group. Haskamp was formerly an investment banker at Lehman Brothers. The partners started running the company out of a shared apartment in Hong Kong in late 2009.

In July 2011, Legend closed a venture capital investment from CA Media and Diamond Ridge Ventures.[14] CA Media is a fund focused on media and entertainment businesses throughout the Asia-Pacific region. It was founded by Peter Chernin (former President and COO of News Corporation) and Paul Aiello (former CEO of STAR TV and head of media investment banking at Morgan Stanley Asia). Diamond Ridge is a sports and media investment fund.

After taking a hiatus and securing new partners, Legend re-emerged with Matthew Kwok as its Chairman. Kwok was the original content and broadcast producer for Legend, and the founder of Kwokman Productions.[5] In early 2019, Legend announced additional partnerships with athlete manager Audie Attar from Paradigm Sports Management, and Berjaya Assets Bhd, one of Malaysia's largest conglomerates.[15]

Rules

Legend competitions take place in an eight-sided MMA arena called the "Ba Fang".[16]

Legend contest rules are a hybrid of the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts and Pride-style MMA rules. Some of the rules unique to Legend are:

• No elbow drops.

• All contests (including championship fights) are three rounds of five minutes duration.

• There are no draws at Legend. If two fighters are tied on points on a judge's scorecard at the end of three rounds, the judge must make a determination as to which fighter he/she believes won the overall fight.

Weight divisions

See also: Mixed martial arts weight classes

▪ Bantamweight: Under 50 kilograms

▪ Featherweight: 50 to 60 kilograms

▪ Lightweight: 60 to 70 kilograms

▪ Welterweight: 70 to 80 kilograms

▪ Middleweight: 80 to 90 kilograms

▪ Cruiserweight: 90 to 100 kilograms

▪ Heavyweight: Over 100 kilograms

Past Legend champions

Division Weight limit Champion Since Title Defenses
Heavyweight Unlimited Vacant 0
Cruiserweight 100 kg (220.5 lb; 15.7 st) Vacant 0
Middleweight 90 kg (198.4 lb; 14.2 st) China Liu Wenbo August 24, 2012 0
Welterweight 80 kg (176.4 lb; 12.6 st) China Li Jingliang April 27, 2013 0
Lightweight 70 kg (154.3 lb; 11.0 st) Japan Koji Ando April 27, 2013 0
Featherweight 60 kg (132.3 lb; 9.4 st) Japan Yusuke Kawanago March 30, 2012 0
Bantamweight 50 kg (110.2 lb; 7.9 st) China Ji Xian April 27, 2013 0

List of events

# Legend Event Date Venue City
1 Legend Fighting Championship 1 January 11, 2010 Star Hall Hong Kong Hong Kong
2 Legend Fighting Championship 2 June 24, 2010 Star Hall Hong Kong Hong Kong
3 Legend Fighting Championship 3 September 24, 2010 Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre Hong Kong Hong Kong
4 Legend Fighting Championship 4 January 27, 2011 AsiaWorld-Expo Hong Kong Hong Kong
5 Legend Fighting Championship 5 July 16, 2011 City of Dreams (casino) Macau Macau
6 Legend Fighting Championship 6 October 30, 2011 City of Dreams (casino) Macau Macau
7 Legend Fighting Championship 7 February 11, 2012 City of Dreams (casino) Macau Macau
8 Legend Fighting Championship 8 March 30, 2012 AsiaWorld-Expo Hong Kong Hong Kong
9 Legend Fighting Championship 9 June 16, 2012 City of Dreams (casino) Macau Macau
10 Legend Fighting Championship 10 August 24, 2012 AsiaWorld-Expo Hong Kong Hong Kong
11 Legend Fighting Championship 11 April 27, 2013 Chin Woo Stadium Malaysia Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
12 Legend Fighting Championship 12 September 15, 2018 Tian He Stadium China Guangzhou, China
13 Legend Fighting Championship 13 September 14, 2019 MGM Theater Macau Macau

References

  1. ^ "Mixed Martial Arts Back in Hong Kong - China Real Time Report - WSJ". Blogs.wsj.com. 2010-06-24. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  2. ^ "UFCs signs Chinese stars Li Jingliang and Jumabieke Tuerxun". Bloody Elbow. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  3. ^ Lee, Madalyn (2018-09-24). "Legend FC reemerges with a new mission: Growing MMA in China". The Fight Nation. Retrieved 2019-05-30.
  4. ^ Nelson, Chris (2011-06-01). "Legend FC Partners with Macau Mega-Resort; July 16 Card Announced". Sherdog.com. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  5. ^ a b Scott, Mathew (2019-03-20). "MMA Alters Faces of Asian Sports Broadcasting". Variety. Retrieved 2019-05-30.
  6. ^ "Legend Fighting Championship returns to Macau at MGM COTAI, Business Insider - Business Insider Singapore". Archived from the original on 2019-08-21. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
  7. ^ "Legend Fighting Championship > Broadcast > Australia > Pay-Per-View". Legendfc.com. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  8. ^ "Legend Fighting Championship to air on Sony's AXN - Sports Broadcast news - Martial Arts Asia". SportsPro Media. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  9. ^ "Canada added to list of countries for Legend FC 4 pay-per-view". Pro MMA Now. 2011-01-23. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  10. ^ "UFC on Fuel 6: Will the UFC Invasion of China Sink the Rising Asian MMA Market?". Bleacher Report. 2012-11-05. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  11. ^ "武林传奇-亚太综合格斗冠军赛直播_PPTV网络电视_精彩无限PPTV视频专题". Sports.pptv.com. 2013-11-14. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  12. ^ "Hong Kong-based Legend FC Expands its Reach". English.cri.cn. Archived from the original on October 27, 2012. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  13. ^ Nelson, Chris (2011-01-26). "Building a Legend: Hong Kong MMA Hits U.S. PPV". Sherdog.com. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  14. ^ "CA Media Invests in Legend Fighting Championship". Media Research Asia.com. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  15. ^ "Legend FC announces new strategic partners". Asia MMA. 2019-02-14. Retrieved 2019-05-30.
  16. ^ "BAFANG". Legend Fighting Championship. Retrieved 2019-05-30.
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