MUMBAI: The Kumite 1 League (K1L), India’s first global mixed martial arts promotion, was launched in the city on Friday by legendary American boxer Mike Tyson and Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Tahnoun bin Mohammed Al Nahyan.
K1L will be flagged off at a Fight Night scheduled to take place at NSCI Dome in Worli, Mumbai on Saturday and will be telecast live on Sony Six and Sony Six HD channels at 7 PM IST.
Supported by the All India Mixed Martial Arts Federation (AIMMAF), the league will bring together eight countries from around the world competing with each other in a team format. 24 world class MMA athletes representing Team India and Team UAE will engage will engage in vigorous combat at the much anticipated Fight Night.
Toyam Industries Ltd’s CMD and promoter of the league, Mohamedali Budhwani said in a release, “We have been toiling with the league for a while (4 years) and a lot of effort has gone in to bring it up to this juncture. I’m extremely grateful to have Mike Tyson gracing the Fight Night, our broadcast partners Sony Pictures Networks, multiplex partners like PVR Cinemas, Taj Lands End, Bandra as our hospitality partner, St Regis as our venue partner, High Street Phoenix for being the venue partner for public weigh in event and His Highness Sheikh Tahnoon, Abu Dhabi making the time to fly down to extend his support. I’m very sure that the momentum we have managed to create will translate into the actual growth of the sport in the country.”
The release also stated that through K1T, Toyam has also launched the world’s first ‘Integrated Sports League Platform’, a unique and patented concept which is set to change the business of sports leagues worldwide.
Besides just making MMA stars role models through social media and public relations initiatives, SportzPower understands that the platform is majorly about branding K1T much on the lines of the combat sports culture that exists in Thailand. The South-East Asian country is famously known for the existence of bars or cafes present amidst boxing rings, gyms or fight clubs for instance that make people either enjoy events such as Muay Thai as a spectator, invest in them or participate in them as an amateur or a professional for a living.
Through K1L Nutraceuticals, K1L Fight Club MMA Gyms, K1L Arena (Live Fights & a Bar Setup), K1L Merchandise (Online & Retail) & K1L Gaming, the platform is expected to be taken to UAE shores once the league is established in India before other overseas countries come into consideration.
K1L is also committed to identify and develop a large size of bankable Indian MMA fighters through a talent hunt program, which is expected to be launched in the near future in Tier 2 and Tier 3 Indian cities in the northern parts of the country. With ‘Kushti’ or wrestling being an inherent part of India’s sporting culture since medieval times, the league is likely to pick the most talented combat fighters mostly from the age of 23-33.
The winners of the talent hunt will get an opportunity to train in Mumbai and get accustomed to advanced techniques and nutrition plans that are followed by MMA’s top fighters internationally, possibly with the help of overseas coaches and former stars of the sport. Once the format of the program is finalized, it is expected to be broadcast on Indian television in what will be another first in the country’s sporting leagues landscape.
