FloSports Pins Rights to Abu Dhabi Combat Club

(Image credit: FloSports)

FloSports said it will exclusively broadcast the 2021 Abu Dhabhi Combat Club's World Submission Fighting Championships on the FloGrappling platform.

The championships are scheduled to take place Sept. 25 and 26, 2021 in Las Vegas.

FloGrappling has had live and on demand coverage of the biennial ADCC World Championshp since 2017. This time around, FloSports will also broadcast all eight international qualifying events, beginning with the ADCC European, Middle East & African Trials on Oct. 3 from Moldova.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

Tthe company’s proprietary software, FloArena, will once again be utilized throughout the entire series. FloArena allows fans to follow the tournament coverage and results through live brackets with real-time scoring updates, text alerts so fans don’t miss matches.

“Along with my partners at FloSports and our incredibly talented team including Seth Daniels and Shawn Fowler, ADCC 2019 produced a truly world-class event that was unlike anything seen in this sport before,” says Mo Jassim, 2021 ADCC World Championship event director. “We have so much planned for ADCC 2021 and it will blow your mind. Vegas, a state of the art venue, high-tech event production, next-level broadcast quality and coverage from FloSports and the biggest grappling athletes in the world… it’s going to be an incredible year and the best event the world grappling community has ever witnessed.”

In 2019, the 2-day FloGrappling broadcast of the ADCC World Championships accumulated over 22.3 million minutes watched of competition footage, highlights, recaps and interviews.

“We are honored to once again partner with Mo and the ADCC team for the 2021 World Championships,” says Phil Wendler, senior VP of Global Rights Acquisition for FloSports. “This is a truly collaborative partnership and we look forward to showcasing not only the best grappling athletes in the world, but also continuing to elevate the profile and coverage of this prestigious and global-spanning event to an even wider audience in 2021. There is so much talent both in front of and behind the camera at ADCC and we look forward to another incredible event.”

FloSports plans to produce an all-new original documentary series that will explore the phenomenon of grappling and the incredible stories of the competitors this year and next. 

ADCC  champions and top competitors became highly sought commodities for MMA events and soon became stars in major combat sports leagues including UFC in America and Pride and K1 in Japan.

Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.