The Success of ARES 1

On Saturday night, December 14 in the unlikely setting of Dakar, Senegal the very very ARES Fighting Championship event - ARES 1 - took place. It was the launch of a new MMA promotion into the world of combat sports and I don’t think anyone knew what was to be expected.

Conceived by Vivendi Sports, ARES 1 took place in front of an attendance of around 5,000 people, many of whom never even heard of mixed martial arts before. The venue was erected from scratch in a large open space in between the historic Museum of Black Civilisation and Dakar Grand National Theatre, making it one of the most unique ever locations for an MMA event.

The event was streamed live on Facebook with the main card streamed live on UFC Fight Pass and broadcast live across the continent of Africa on Canal+ Sport.

Throughout fight week the promotion saw great growth of their social media thanks to their team producing an array of behind the scenes videos, photos, and content aligned with their traditional event content. The Facebook live streams reached nearly 30,000 eyes and from the event they had a viral sensation in the shape of undefeated heavyweight Senegalese wrestling champion ‘Reug Reug’ as hundreds of thousands of views of highlights from his fight were recorded across social media channels.

ARES 2 will be officially announced in the coming weeks and the promotion are planning an expansion into Europe and other territories across Africa in 2020. The foundations have been laid for ARES Fighting Championship and the future is bright!