The year 2012 was the inaugural year for

Super Fight League Super Fight League is a mixed martial arts promotion, based in India. The organisation was formed in 2012 by actor Sanjay Dutt and British-Indian businessman Raj Kundra, and is currently co-owned by British-Indian businessman Bill Dosanjh and ...

, an Indian-based

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

(MMA) league. Its first event was held in March and featured a bout between the two MMA veterans Bob Sapp and James Thompson. The league has scheduled several events to occur throughout India in 2012. On 5 August 2012, the Super Fight League aired their reality show SFL Challengers. Similar to

the Ultimate Fighter ''The Ultimate Fighter'' is an American reality television series and mixed martial arts (MMA) competition produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and Pilgrim Media Group currently airing on ESPN+. It previously aired for fourteen s ...

, the show took young up-and-coming Indian mixed martial artists, placing them in the same house. On October 12, the Super Fight League changed their organisational structure from one event a month in arenas to one event every Friday in a specially designed mini-arena in Mumbai in front of an exclusive invitation only audience. With programming lasting for three hours each week with weigh-ins, live fights, and interviews from Bollywood cage side guests. There was seven fights in total each event, with one of them being a female bout. It aired live on

Neo Prime NEO Sports was an Indian television channel, owned and operated by Nimbus Communications. Launched on 8 November 2006, it covers virtually all prime events in almost all popular sports like Golf, Football, Basketball, Tennis, Table Tennis, Mo ...

in India and on their YouTube page for the rest of the world.

List of events

Event summaries

Super Fight League 1

''Super Fight League 1'' was held on March 11, 2012 at the

Andheri Sports Complex The Andheri Sports Complex also known as Shahaji Raje Krida Sankul is a multi-purpose facility located on Veera Desai Road in Andheri West, Mumbai, India. It was built in 1988 at Rs. 30 crore for schools that lacked the necessary infrastructur ...

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

, India and was the first ever event promoted by

. Prior to the event,

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

stars, including

Bipasha Basu Bipasha Basu Singh Grover (born 7 January 1979) is an Indian actress and former model. Primarily known for her work in Hindi films, she has also appeared in Tamil, Telugu, Bengali and English films. Basu is the recipient of numerous accolades ...

, provided 45 minutes of live entertainment. Jennifer Lopez and electropop group

LMFAO LMFAO (an initialism for Laughing My Freaking Ass Off or Laughing My Fucking Ass Off) are an American electronic dance music duo consisting of Redfoo and Sky Blu. Redfoo is the youngest son of Motown Records founder Berry Gordy and Nancy Le ...

were invited to perform at the event as well. The event was streamed live on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

. The main event featured a heavyweight fight between Bob Sapp and James Thompson. Both fighters are veterans of Pride Fighting Championships but had never faced each other before. Sapp went into the fight on a five-fight losing streak while Thompson had mixed results in his recent outings. As soon as the fight was started, Thompson headed straight for Sapp and took him down within the first thirty seconds of the bout. After some

ground and pound Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorpo ...

and grappling which had both fights on top of the other at some point, Thompson was able to twist Sapp's leg. Sapp tapped out at 1:52 of the first round due to the resulting leg injury. Results

Super Fight League 2

''Super Fight League 2'' took place on April 7, 2012 at the T-Box Mobile Arena in

Chandigarh Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which a ...

, India. As with ''Super Fight League 1'' it was streamed live on

. A lightweight bout between Paul Kelly and

Gabe Ruediger Gabriel G. "Gabe" Ruediger (born August 29, 1977) is a former American mixed martial artist, who competed in the Lightweight division for the UFC, WEC and Tachi Palace Fights. He is a former WEC Lightweight Champion, and former TPF Lightweigh ...

was initially scheduled. It would have fulfilled a pairing that had been planned for ''

UFC 123 ''UFC 123: Rampage vs. Machida'' was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on November 20, 2010 at the Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It was the first UFC event in the Metro Detroit area since ...

''. At the time, Ruediger was injured and was replaced by TJ O'Brien. Kelly defeated O'Brien but was released from the UFC after a subsequent loss to

Donald Cerrone Donald Cerrone (born March 29, 1983), known professionally by his nickname "Cowboy", is an American retired mixed martial artist, actor, and former professional kickboxer. He competed in the Lightweight and Welterweight division for the Ultimat ...

. Following a knockout loss to Scott Catlin on March 16, 2012, the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) medically suspended Ruediger. Although Super Fight League wasn't required to follow the CSAC's suspensions, they still decided to remove Ruediger from the fight card. He was replaced with

Ryan Healy Ryan Healy (born July 20, 1983) is a retired American professional mixed martial artist who has competed for many promotions including Strikeforce, WEC, Shine Fights, and Full Contact Fighting Federation. He is also the twin brother of mixed-m ...

. The main event saw

Todd Duffee Todd or Todds may refer to: Places ;Australia: * Todd River, an ephemeral river ;United States: * Todd Valley, California, also known as Todd, an unincorporated community * Todd, Missouri, a ghost town * Todd, North Carolina, an unincorporate ...

facing

Neil Grove Neil Grove (born 18 January 1971) is a South African-English Heavyweight professional mixed martial artist. A professional competitor since 2006, Grove has competed for the UFC, Bellator Cage Rage, UCMMA, and the SFL. Background Originally ...

. Duffee's last fight was almost a year and a half prior when he lost a match to

Alistair Overeem Alistair Cees Overeem (born 17 May 1980) is a Dutch professional heavyweight mixed martial artist and kickboxer, currently competing in the heavyweight division of Glory. He is a former Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion, Dream Heavyweight Cha ...

for the vacant Dream Heavyweight Championship. Grove's most recent bouts were with Bellator Fighting Championships where he won three fights and lost three fights. This was the first time the two fighters faced each other. The fight ended 34 seconds into the first round when Duffee earned a technical knockout victory over Neil Grove. Results

Super Fight League 3

''Super Fight League 3'' took place on May 6, 2012 at the

Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium The K. D. Jadhav Indoor Hall, formerly known as the Indraprashtha Stadium and Indira Gandhi Arena (officially Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium), is located at the Indraprastha Estate in the eastern region of New Delhi. It is the largest indoor sp ...

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...

, India. As with the previous events, it was streamed live on

. The main event was a heavyweight bout between

Bobby Lashley Franklin Roberto Lashley (born July 16, 1976) is an American professional wrestler, mixed martial artist and bodybuilder. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand. He is an eight-time world champion, having been a two-t ...

and James Thompson. Lashley was coming into his Super Fight League debut on a two-fight winning streak, which included recently winning the

Shark Fights Shark Fights was a mixed martial arts promotion based in Amarillo, Texas. It made its debut on October 24, 2008. On September 11, 2010 Shark Fights had its biggest card in Shark Fights history by having UFC veterans Jorge Masvidal, Keith Jardin ...

Heavyweight title, whilst Thompson has gone 3-0(1) in his last 4 fights, which included his submission victory against Bob Sapp at Super Fight League 1. The first round started off with Lashley using his wrestling skills to pressure Thompson. After a couple of knees in the clinch, Thompson accidentally caught Lashley in the groin, in which Lashley took a few minutes to recover from. The round ended with Lashley landing a barrage of punches to Thompson by the side of the cage. The second had both men landing some big punches next to the cage. Bobby shook his opponent a few times with clean strikes, but it was Thompson who won the round by clinching Lashley onto the cage and doing some dirty boxing. Lashley took another accidental low blow in the third, this time, Thompson was given a warning. Once recovered, Lashley came forward and both men continued to strike again. Thompson again kept the fight on the side of the cage with him landing punches from the clinch which arguably gave him the decision victory. Fight Card

Super Fight League 4

''Super Fight League 4'' took place on October 12, 2012 in

, India. As with the previous events, it streamed live on

and

in India as well as being shown on the

Fight Network Fight Network is a Canadian English language Category B specialty channel owned by Anthem Sports & Entertainment. The network broadcasts programming related to combat sports, including mixed martial arts, boxing, kickboxing, and professional wre ...

in Canada for the first time. This event was originally meant to take place on September 29 at

{{Reflist

External links

Super Fight League official site
* 2012 in Indian sport Mixed martial arts events

List of events

Event summaries

Super Fight League 1

Super Fight League 2

Super Fight League 3

Super Fight League 4

Super Fight League 5

Super Fight League 6

Super Fight League 7

Super Fight League 8

Super Fight League 9

Super Fight League 10

Super Fight League 11

Super Fight League 12

Super Fight League 13

See also

References

External links