MMA Events Cancelled due to COVID-19 & the Impact on the Industry
MMA & combat sports events worldwide, aside from a handful, have been cancelled indefinitely or have suffered major disruptions and/or postponements due to the coronovirus outbreak across the globe.
Murphy Sports Marketing clients:
AFL in Spain had to cancel their AFL Valkyries event in Barcelona this weekend along with their annual showcase event ‘AFL 23’ in the Gran Canaria next month. AFL Valkyries was due to make history as the first major all-female MMA card in Western Europe while the former is the biggest Spanish MMA event in the calendar year.
ARES FC had to postpone their sophomore event ‘ARES 2’ in Belgium until October this year, which was scheduled for early April. This would’ve been the European debut event for the Vivendi Sports owned promotion and was due to be broadcast across Africa on Canal+ Sport and globally on UFC Fight Pass.
In Poland, global giant KSW had to cancel a huge marquee KSW 53 event in Lodz next weekend. Some of the promotion’s biggest stars were set to feature on the event which would’ve seen over 10,000 fans at the venue and hundreds of thousands watching on PPV around the world.
Around the Globe:
The UFC, which normally stages weekly events worldwide, has been monitoring the situation closely and has decided to either put the events on behind closed doors or move events to their Apex Centre - their own indoor studio facility in Las Vegas. UFC Brasilia tonight will take place in an empty arena and will be under strict safety measures while UFC London is scheduled (as of writing this) to go ahead as planned next weekend with audience in attendance at The o2.
Viacom-owned, Bellator cancelled an event - Bellator 241 - in California yesterday the day of and the future of their immediate events is unknown at this point. Worth pointing out that Bellator paid all fighters who were scheduled to compete at Bellator 241.
Elsewhere around the world ONE Championship in Asia has decided to move forward with their events behind closed doors, Hispanic orientated promotion Combate Americas has opted to do the same, and Glory Kickboxing has cancelled their events in Europe later this month March and Miami in May.
Professional Fighter’s League (PFL) have their first event next season schedule for May and no word has been announced yet from the promotion regarding any disruptions or plans in place. And, lastly, RIZIN 22 in Japan in April is still up in the air.
The Impact:
The immediate impact of cancelled events has a huge knock-on affect through the industry. Promotions are hit the most as, in most cases, they lose money which was already payed out on cancelled events. This can include venue down payments or even full rental, marketing, staffing, travel expenses. And if this pandemic hits the world for an extended period of time this will greatly affect the cashflow of the promotion - who still have overheads and staff to pay with little to no money being generated.
Next fighters across the world will lose the ability to earn a living during this pandemic. With no events comes no fights and with no fights comes no fight purses - additionally fighter’s rely on fights to earn from sponsors. This will also affect managers, coaches, and other industry people who might be involved with a fighter’s training such as nutritionists, physiotherapists, recovery centres etc.
Gyms will also be hit as many will be forced to close their doors during this period in order to contain the virus. Rent and overheads will stay the same however their income will see a rapid decline depending on their membership structure.
Also with no events comes a complete loss of work for the entire events sector and the third party companies, staffing, & officials who are outsourced to help with such MMA events.
