Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is still very much an emerging sport in the UK. The main promotion in the world, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), is shown mostly on subscription channel ESPN UK. Occassionaly Channel 5 show the odd event, usually over 12 months since it actually took place. One of the leading promotions in Europe, Cage Warriors, is shown on Sky Sports which is another subscription channel. This again is shown on tape delay with there rarely being a live event shown. This all changes on Saturday night, when the UK’s leading promotion BAMMA is shown live on 5* (Channel 5’s sister channel) with their BAMMA 10 event.
This will be the first time the British promotion has shown a live event on a channel that is widely available to people on freeview television in the UK. This is not only a massive move for BAMMA, but its an enormous move for MMA to be brought into the mainstream in the UK. Channel 5 will also be showing the event, be it on tape delay, but this is a big step forward. If the event draws large enough viewing figures, expect to see the events moved to the main Channel 5 channel in the future.
The event is headlined by BAMMA’s Lightweight Champion, Rob ‘C4’ Sinclair who defends his belt against for The Ultimate Fighter finalist Andre Winner. The co-main event sees the BAMMA British Middleweight title on the line when Andrew Punshon takes on Jack Marshman. Also on the card is a Lightweight title number one contender fight between Curt Warburton and Lee Wieczorek, who will be fighting for the right to face the winner of the main event. These are all British fighters, on a British card for a British promotion making its British television live debut. The headlining fight between Rob Sinclair and Andre Winner showcases two of the most talented British fighters currently outside of the UFC. BAMMA have a lot on the line in this event, but have exponentionally more to gain.
One of the major hurdles the sport of MMA has yet to overcome is the ridiculous stereotype that its just men brawling in a cage, there is no skill to it or that’s its simply ‘human cockfighting’. This couldn’t be any further from the truth, as mixed martial artists need to the master of more than one discipline otherwise they simply won’t succeed in the sport. The skill and dedication needed to train at the top level of the sport is off the scale. Hopefully Saturday’s BAMMA 10 event will show people the true nature of MMA and the skill and discipline needed to be a top level fighter. The sport has been crying out for a springboard into the mainstream in the UK for a couple of years, and with BAMMA and Channel 5’s deal, it provides just that.
Tune in to 5* at 9pm on Saturday 15th September to see BAMMA 10
This article was written in conjunction with the good folks at www.5thRound.co.uk