MUMBAI: Fugitive former head honcho of the Indian Premier League (IPL), who bid adios (for now) to Indian cricket on Saturday by resigning as president of the Nagaur District Cricket Association in Rajasthan, has now reportedly turned his attention to mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion.
Towards this end, Modi has set up Valor Sports and Entertainment Group, registered in Singapore, with the ultimate aim being to bring in together big names from MMA, reports DNA.
According to the daily, Modi is now looking to build a media brand enterprise that will "shake up every household across the world" by showing planet's most dreaded fighting warriors. His gameplan is simple: Block all the prime weekend slots in each country's topmost sports channel and make Valor the only talking point in every drawing room.
From Delhi and Mumbai in India to New York in US or from Istanbul in Turkey to Beijing in China, Modi is said to have roped in the biggest names in those countries. If the likes of Mukesh Ambani or Shah Rukh Khan were the toast of his IPL venture, then Kim Kardashian or David Beckham could well be the names that are tossed around for his new venture, DNA further reports.
Grandiose plans notwithstanding, Modi will have his work cut out globally in taking on UFC, the world's biggest MMA promotion that was acquired in 2016 by WME-IMG for a massive $4 billion.
Even in Asia he has a huge opponent in the ONE Championship, the Singapore-based MMA promotion that was launched in 2011 by multimillionaire entrepreneur Chatri Sityodtong and former ESPN Star Sports senior executive Victor Cui.
It was only last month that Asia’s leading MMA promotion announced it had reached agreement with Sequoia India and Mission Holdings group, among others, for a fresh round of investment that brought the amount of capital raised over the company’s six-year history to $100 million plus.
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