Legend Fighting Championship

Legend Fighting Championship

Type	Private
Industry	Mixed martial arts promotion
Founded	2009
Headquarters	Hong Kong, China
Parent	Legend Entertainment Limited
Website	http://www.legendfc.com

Legend Fighting Championship (Legend FC) was a Hong Kong-based mixed martial arts (MMA) organisation which invited national champion fighters from throughout the Asia-Pacific to compete for regional supremacy. Legend was unique among MMA tournaments in that it focused exclusively on native Asia-Pacific fighters.^[1] The company was sold in April 2014.^[2]

About Legend

China's Liu Wenbo winning the Legend FC Middleweight Championship at Legend FC 10

Founded in 2009, Legend Fighting Championship (Legend) was the Asia-Pacific championship of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). Legend invited national champion MMA fighters from throughout the Asia-Pacific region to compete in a freestyle tournament using interdisciplinary martial arts skills in supervised matches under a strict set of rules designed to promote athlete safety and sportsmanship. Legend was committed to promoting the sport of MMA throughout the region, to supporting and cultivating its athletes, and to providing exceptional entertainment to a broad audience.

Legend held its first event in January 2010 at Star Hall in Hong Kong in front of an audience of just over 1,000 fans. From this modest start, Legend has grown into one of the most well-known elite-level MMA competitions in the Asia-Pacific, with an international broadcast and some of the top fighters in the region on its roster.

In spring 2011, Legend signed an agreement with Macau mega-resort and casino City of Dreams to produce an ongoing series of MMA tournaments, under the title “City of Dreams exclusively presents Legend Fighting Championship.”^[3] The first event of this partnership took place on July 16, 2011.

In January 2012, Legend Fighting Championship announced the signing of an exclusive distribution and syndication agreement with ESPN International (ESPN). Under the terms of the agreement, ESPN will serve as the sole distribution agent of all Legend broadcast content in Asia, Oceania, the Indian sub-continent, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

TV broadcast

Legend Fighting Championship 3, Hong Kong.

On the heels of their successful first event, Legend signed a broadcast agreement with KIX (an Asian action TV channel and subsidiary of Tiger Gate Entertainment) to broadcast its MMA competitions in Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Since then, Legend has signed agreements with broadcasters in China, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and Canada.^[4]

In October 2012, Legend signed an agreement with Sony Pictures Television networks for them to broadcast Legend Fighting Championship on AXN in 21 territories across the region.^[5]

In November 2012, Legend Fighting Championship and ESPN International announced a broadcast agreement to bring the Asia-Pacific Championship of Mixed Martial Arts to ESPN television and broadband channels in 109 countries in Australia and New Zealand, the Caribbean, Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa and cruise ships in these territories.

In North America Legend is broadcast on Pay-Per-View and Video-On-Demand on all the major Pay-Per-View providers and also holds the distinction of being the first sports organisation from China to be featured on North American Pay-Per-View.^[6]

China consists of one of the biggest audiences for Legend. In China alone, Legend is available to more than 600 million viewers nationwide.^[7] Legend events are also broadcast in China on major video portals Qiyi, QQ, Youku, PPTV.^[8]

Worldwide, Legend is broadcast in 279 million homes in 152 countries via 22 broadcast partners including AXN in SE Asia, ESPN International and all major pay-per-view operators in the US and Canada.^[9]

Company background

Legend was co-founded by Mike Haskamp and Chris Pollak, former classmates and Rugby teammates at Columbia Business School.^[10] Pollak spent eight years at management consultancy McKinsey & Company, primarily in their media group. Haskamp was formerly an investment banker at Lehman Brothers. The partners started running the company out of a shared apartment in Hong Kong in late 2009.

In July 2011, Legend closed a venture capital investment from CA Media and Diamond Ridge Ventures.^[11] CA Media is a fund focused on media and entertainment businesses throughout the Asia-Pacific region. It was founded by Peter Chernin (former President and COO of News Corporation) and Paul Aiello (former CEO of STAR TV and head of media investment banking at Morgan Stanley Asia). Diamond Ridge is a sports and media investment fund.

Rules

Legend tournaments take place in a five-rope MMA ring, which is eight by eight meters in overall size, and seven by seven meters inside the ropes.

Legend contest rules are a hybrid of the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts and Pride-style MMA rules. Some of the rules unique to Legend are:

• Knees to the head of a grounded opponent are legal, but soccer kicks and head stomps are not.

• All contests (including championship fights) are three rounds of five minutes duration.

• There are no draws at Legend. If two fighters are tied on points on a judge’s scorecard at the end of three rounds, the judge must make a determination as to which fighter he believes won the overall fight.

Weight divisions

▪ Bantamweight: Under 61 kilograms

▪ Featherweight: 61 to 66 kilograms

▪ Lightweight: 66 to 70 kilograms

▪ Welterweight: 70 to 77 kilograms

▪ Middleweight: 77 to 84 kilograms

▪ Light Heavyweight: 84 to 93 kilograms

▪ Heavyweight: 93 to 120 kilograms

Current Legend champions

Division	Weight limit	Champion	Since	Title Defenses
Light Heavyweight	Under 203 lb (92 kg; 14.5 st)	Vacant		0
Middleweight	below 185 lb (84 kg; 13.2 st)	Liu Wenbo	August 24, 2012	0
Welterweight	below 170 lb (77 kg; 12 st)	Li Jingliang	April 27, 2013	0
Lightweight	below 155 lb (70 kg; 11.1 st)	Koji Ando	April 27, 2013	0
Featherweight	below 145 lb (66 kg; 10.4 st)	Yusuke Kawanago	March 30, 2012	0
Bantamweight	Under 135 lb (61 kg; 9.6 st)	Ji Xian	April 27, 2013	0

List of events

References

1. "Mixed Martial Arts Back in Hong Kong - China Real Time Report - WSJ". Blogs.wsj.com. 2010-06-24. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
2. "UFCs signs Chinese stars Li Jingliang and Jumabieke Tuerxun". Bloody Elbow. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
3. Nelson, Chris (2011-06-01). "Legend FC Partners with Macau Mega-Resort; July 16 Card Announced". Sherdog.com. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
4. "Legend Fighting Championship > Broadcast > Australia > Pay-Per-View". Legendfc.com. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
5. "Legend Fighting Championship to air on Sony’s AXN - Sports Broadcast news - Martial Arts Asia". SportsPro Media. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
6. "Canada added to list of countries for Legend FC 4 pay-per-view". Pro MMA Now. 2011-01-23. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
7. "UFC on Fuel 6: Will the UFC Invasion of China Sink the Rising Asian MMA Market?". Bleacher Report. 2012-11-05. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
8. "武林传奇-亚太综合格斗冠军赛直播_PPTV网络电视_精彩无限PPTV视频专题". Sports.pptv.com. 2013-11-14. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
9. "Hong Kong-based Legend FC Expands its Reach". English.cri.cn. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
10. Nelson, Chris (2011-01-26). "Building a Legend: Hong Kong MMA Hits U.S. PPV". Sherdog.com. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
11. "CA Media Invests in Legend Fighting Championship". Media Research Asia.com. Retrieved 2014-02-08.

External links

• Official website
• List of Events on Sherdog