DAZN OTT Sports Service Inks Combate Americas MMA Rights Deal

By R. Thomas Umstead
( Broadcasting & Cable )
published

Upstart premium OTT combat sports service DAZN has secured English language rights to the Combate Americas Hispanic-targeted, mixed martial arts franchise, the company said Thursday.

The $9.99 per month DAZN streaming service, which launched on Sept. 10, will offer a minimum of 13 fights per year from the MMA outfit, beginning with tomorrow night’s live fight card from Phoenix, according to Joseph Markowski, DAZN’s senior VP of North America.

“A significant portion of the combat sports fanbase in the US culturally identifies as Hispanic, so Combate Americas naturally appeals to that fanbase,” Markowski told Multichannel News. “For the non-Hispanic fan, this is high quality, exciting content with a high percentage of fights ending in stoppage."

Combate Americas will join a DAZN lineup of combat sports events that includes marquee boxing matches such as the Sept. 22 Anthony Joshua-Alexander Povetkin heavyweight championship bout and the World Boxing Super Series, as well as Bellator MMA events.

“This is another addition to our phase one portfolio of combat sports rights,” said Markowski.

R. Thomas Umstead
R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.