Fight Channel is a Europe-based international satellite and cable TV channel operating under Fight Channel Group. It is specialised in broadcasting

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; ...

sports. In addition to Fight Channel (the basic cable channel), Fight Channel World and Fight Channel PPV, the Fight Channel Group includes one of the most visited martial arts websites in South-East Europe, Fight Site, the martial arts promotion organization Final Fight Championship and several other business entities. The seat of Fight Channel is in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

(

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

). Programming covers a wide variety of

events organized by the world's most renowned promotion companies, such as the UFC,

K-1 K-1 is a professional kickboxing promotion established in 1993 by karateka Kazuyoshi Ishii. Originally under the ownership of the Fighting and Entertainment Group (FEG), K-1 was considered to be the largest Kickboxing organization in the worl ...

, HBO Boxing,

Dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensation (psychology), sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around ...

, Glory WS, World Series of Boxing etc. Fight Channel stands out for its live coverage of martial arts events. Already in its first season, the channel had close to one hundred live broadcasts, including the UFC, Glory WS,

, HBO Boxing,

Inoki Genome Federation The (IGF), also known in China as International Glory Fighting, was a Japanese professional wrestling and mixed martial arts promotion founded by Antonio Inoki in 2007. History Antonio Inoki founded the Inoki Genome Federation (IGF) after se ...

, Sauerland Boxing, FFC etc. Fight Channel also has a

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program ...

version called Fight Channel PPV. It offers premium contents outside of the standard Fight Channel schedule, usually airing the UFC's and other premium PPV events. In addition to its extensive archive of martial arts events and

live broadcasting A live broadcasting, also called a live transmission, generally refers to various types of media that are broadcasting without a significant delay. The most common seen media example of the live transmission is a news program or a news broadcasting ...

, Fight Channel also offers documentaries, educational programming and films covering the theme of martial arts.

History

Fight Channel

Fight Channel started operating on May 28, 2011, after several years of preparations and staff recruitment. Fight Channel PPV was launched first, on the Croatian

cable TV Cable television is a system of delivering television broadcast programming, programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This ...

platform operating under the Deutsche Telekom Group, MaxTV. The first event the channel aired live was Glory 14, held in Russia’s capital

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. The standard cable 0-24 channel was launched on November 1, 2011, on multiple cable systems covering the countries of former Yugoslavia. Presently, Fight Channel broadcasts in

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

and

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

. Fight Channel PPV is on offer in two Croatian cable systems - MAXtv and Bnet.

Fight Channel World

In 2013, Fight Channel Group launched the global version of its channel called Fight Channel World. It differs from Fight Channel mostly in terms of programming, and the global version is adapted for wider audience, while Fight Channel focuses on viewers in South-East

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. Fight Channel World also airs live events organized by the most renowned global martial arts promotion companies, replays of past events, documentaries, educational and scripted programs. Fight Channel World started broadcasting test program in Thailand in June 2013.

Final Fight Championship

In 2012, following the example of the world-famous

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

network and its HBO Boxing series, Fight Channel launched its own martial arts promotion series entitled

Final Fight ''Final Fight'' is a series of beat 'em up video games by Japanese publisher Capcom, which began with the arcade release of '' Final Fight'' in 1989. Set in the fictional Metro City, within the '' Street Fighter'' universe, the games focus on ...

, broadcasting live events and selling and distributing broadcasting rights to TV networks worldwide. The first event was called “ Fight Channel presents: Cro Cop Final Fight”, as the world martial arts superstar Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipović fought New Zealand’s Ray Sefo under kickboxing rules in the main event. In 2013, an entire series of Final Fight Championship tournaments kicked off, instantly winning over the

an audience and featuring global martial arts stars, including kickboxing fighters Mirko Filipović, Ray Sefo, Pavel Zhuravlev, Hesdy Gerges and

MMA Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting sport based on striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-stylistic contests took place t ...

stars, such as the former UFC champion

Ricco Rodriguez Ricco Rodriguez (born August 19, 1977) is an American former mixed martial artist who competed in the Heavyweight (MMA), heavyweight division. A professional competitor from 1999 to 2019, he competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, UFC, ...

. The FFC (short for “ Final Fight Championship”) events have been aired live in close to sixty countries of the world.

K-1 WGP Final

On January 24, 2013, it was revealed that the final tournament of the K-1 WGP series would take place in Zagreb, following the Final 16 tournament held in October 2012. It was a major surprise in the world of martial arts as the K-1 WGP Final had never been held outside Japan before. Heads of the

promotion decided to entrust the Fight Channel Group with the production of the event, basing their decision on the outstanding production and organization of the “ Fight Channel Presents: Cro Cop Final Fight” event held in 2012. It was decided that the final event of the prestigious tournament would be officially titled “Fight Channel presents: K-1 WGP Final”. On March 15, 2013, the K-1 WGP Final was held in Arena Zagreb, in front of approximately 15,500 people. Following wins against Jarrell Miller, Pavel Zhuravlev and Ismael Londt in the final match, Mirko Filipović won the valuable title in front his own crowd. Fight Channel’s production and organization was universally praised by the world public. The president and owner of the K-1 promotion company, Mike Kim, stated after the K-1 WGP Final that it was the best day for the K-1 organization since he had taken control of it.

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://www.fightchannel.hr Mixed martial arts television shows