REBEL Fighting Championship (REBEL FC), Singapore’s leading Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) entertainment company, generated a viewership of 18.7 million (from online media alone) for REBEL FC 9 — Return of the Champion, in Shanghai, China.
The viewership figure was 29 per cent higher than 2018 (average viewership of 13 million across broadcast and online media from REBEL FC’s two events last year) and saw the broadcast of the fight live on Yizhibo, PP Sports, QiE Live, iQiyi and Baidu Sports.
Wang Sai of China was crowned the inaugural REBEL FC Middleweight (84kg) champion after an emphatic win over America’s Phil ‘New York Bad Ass’ Baroni.
The event also has a new Bantamweight (61kg) champion when Wang Shuo of China beat defending REBEL FC Bantamweight champion, Shuhei Sakano of Japan.
“Wang Shuo is the top-ranked China Pro Bantamweight and Wang Sai the second ranked China Pro Middleweight. Our ability to groom budding MMA talent as well as attract top, established MMA superstars in China is in line with REBEL FC’s philosophy of developing and promoting top Chinese MMA stars as well as bring the sport into the mainstream in China.
“The terrific support at the stadium for our Chinese MMA athletes and the significant increase in viewership compared to last year in REBEL FC 9 — Return of the Champion is very encouraging,” says Justin Leong, CEO of REBEL FC.
He says the viewership increase bodes well for the brand in China because it shows the tremendous potential REBEL FC can accomplish in the digital domain which has largely replaced traditional broadcast TV and satellite media in China.
These latest figures and TV deals is a good sign for REBEL FC’s pending IPO on the NASDAQ within the next six months and its MMA reality show that is scheduled to be produced in 2020.-/TISG