| AXS TV Fights | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Starring | Pat Miletich Ron Kruck |
| Production | |
| Running time | 150 minutes or until fight card ends |
| Release | |
| Original release | 2007 – present |
| External links | |
| Website | |
AXS TV Fights is the brand name of AXS TV's live mixed martial arts (MMA), Muay Thai and kickboxing broadcasts. Formerly known as HDNET Fights , the program's name was changed to AXS TV Fights in July 2012, following the network's rebrand from HDNET to AXS TV. [1]
HDNet Fights was founded in 2007 by billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban, owner and founder of HDNet, as a programming cornerstone to build the new network on. Cuban's goal was to present MMA in a manner more in line with other professional sports, while eliminating ancillary details such as ring card girls. Taking a hands-on approach in the business and promotion of MMA, Cuban became one of the sport's most vocal defenders in his blogs and interviews. [2] [3] [4] [5] HDNet Fights hosted its first self-promoted event on October 13, 2007, featuring a light-heavyweight main event contest between Erik Paulson and Jeff Ford. [6] The program's second and final event, Reckless Abandon, was held two months later. [7] Realizing that the company's strength did not lie in hosting fight cards, Cuban re-vamped the HDNet Fights concept, as HDNet began broadcasting live weekly events from other organizations, including many top regional fight promotions. [8]
After acquiring the rights to air Japanese Fighting and Entertainment Group's MMA promotion Dream in the United States for the first time ever, HDNet premiered a repeat of the Dream 1 event on May 2, 2008. A repeat of Dream 2 aired the following day, and Dream 3 aired live on May 11. [9] On February 6, 2009, HDNet announced they had reached an agreement with another Japanese MMA promotion, and competitor to Dream, World Victory Road. The promotion made its United States debut with a broadcast of its "Sengoku" events, opening with World Victory Road's first event of 2009 on March 20. [10]
Under the HDNet Fights banner, the network's broadcast lineup included DREAM, Sengoku, K-1 and K-1 Max, Strikeforce, Adrenaline MMA, SportFight, Ring of Fire, Ring of Combat, M-1 Global, Ring of Honor, Maximum Fighting Championship, Affliction Entertainment, Urban Conflict Championship and the now-defunct IFL, among others. [10]
Since its regeneration as AXS TV Fights, the program has become a major fixture in AXS TV's Friday night programming line-up, with the network airing over 40 live events per year. [11] The AXS TV Fights broadcast lineup has featured events from promotions including BAMMA (USA), [12] Legacy Fighting Championship, [13] Lion Fight Muay Thai, [14] Maximum Fighting Championship , [15] Resurrection Fighting Alliance, [16] Titan Fighting Championships , [16] and Xtreme Fighting Championships . [17] In August 2014, the network announced a multi-year deal with CES MMA. [18] The following January, the network joined forces with Legacy Fighting Championship, airing the promotion’s first-ever kickboxing event on January 16, 2015. [19]
On March 14, 2014 AXS TV Fights aired the North American premiere of the Russian Hip Show: Arena Combat. A two-on-two, points-based fighting event on a padded obstacle course instead of a traditional ring or cage. The pilot episode was a two-hour "best of" special, featuring lightweight and middleweight tournaments from 2012. [20] English commentary was provided by Cyrus Fees and Casey Oxendine.
AXS TV Fights' presentation of LION FIGHT 16 on July 4, 2014 was the network's historic 250th fight broadcast. [21]
On March 21, 2015, AXS TV Fights announced it would hold its first ever co-promoted mixed martial arts event featuring fighters from Resurrection Fighting Alliance (RFA) and Legacy Fighting Championship (Legacy) May 8, 2015. The event, titled "AXS TV Fights: RFA vs. Legacy Superfight" included a headlining fight between RFA Flyweight Champion Alexandre Pantoja and Legacy Flyweight Champion Damacio Page, two co-main events featuring intra-organizational title fights for each promotion, and three fights between RFA and Legacy contenders on the main card. [22]
AXS TV Fights broadcast its 300th combat sports event on October 23, 2016 with Lion Fight 25. [23]
On Sept. 19, 2016, RFA president Ed Soares appeared on "The MMA Hour" to announce the merger of Resurrection Fighting Alliance and Legacy Fighting Championship to become Legacy Fighting Alliance beginning in 2017. The newly announced promotion also signed a multi-year deal with AXS TV Fights. [24]
The network celebrated its 400th live event broadcast with LFA 40 on May 25, 2018 [25]
On September 13, 2019, was announced the end of the partnership between AXS TV and LFA. [26]
On November 6, 2019, AXS TV and the MMA organization Combate Americas announced broadcast deal for 35 events in 2020. [27]
AXS TV Fights' commentary team included UFC Hall of Famer Pat Miletich and sports broadcaster and reporter Ron Kruck, with media personality Phoenix Carnevale reporting cageside.
Sports broadcaster "The Voice" Michael Schiavello was the play-by-play commentator from 2009 to 2017. In May 2017 Schiavello announced his last event with AXS TV Fights would be Legacy Fighting Alliance 13 in Burbank, CA. [28]
From 2010 to 2016, Schiavello also conducted in-depth interviews with combat sports stars on The Voice Versus, which aired intermittently in primetime. [29]
AXS TV Fights currently broadcasts events from the following promotions:
AXS TV Fights has previously broadcast events from the following promotions:
Under the HDNET Fights banner, the network broadcast fights from the following promotions:
| # | Event | Date | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AXS TV Fights - RFA vs. Legacy Superfight | 8 May 2015 | United States |
AXS TV is an American specialty television channel. Majority-owned by Anthem Sports & Entertainment, it is devoted primarily to rock music themed programming, movies, and combat sports — including boxing, mixed martial arts and professional wrestling.
King of the Cage (KOTC) is a mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion based in Southern California, United States.
Maurice L. Smith is a retired American kickboxer and mixed martial artist. In kickboxing, he held the WKC world light heavyweight championship, the WKA world heavyweight championship, and the ISKA world heavyweight championship. In mixed martial arts, he held the Heavyweight championship in Battlecade Extreme Fighting and the UFC, and became a member of the UFC Hall of Fame in 2017. A professional competitor since 1980, Smith has formerly competed in kickboxing for the companies All Japan Enterprise and K-1, Pancrase, RINGS, PRIDE, Strikeforce, International Fight League and RFA.
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 wrestling.
Dream was a Japanese mixed martial arts (MMA) organization promoted by former PRIDE FC executives and K-1 promoter Fighting and Entertainment Group. Dream replaced FEG's previous-run mixed martial arts fight series, Hero's. The series retained many of the stylistic flourishes and personnel from Pride FC broadcasts, including fight introducer Lenne Hardt. In America, the promotion was aired on HDNet. They promoted over 20 shows highlighting some of the best Japanese and international MMA talent, establishing or enhancing the careers of top ranked fighters such as Shinya Aoki, Gesias Cavalcante, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Ronaldo Jacaré, Eddie Alvarez, Jason Miller, Kazushi Sakuraba, Gegard Mousasi and Alistair Overeem.
HDNet Fights was a US based television outlet for various MMA and combat sports promotions. Its broadcast lineup included DREAM, Sengoku, K-1, Strikeforce, Adrenaline MMA, M-1 Global, Ring of Honor, Maximum Fighting Championship, Affliction Entertainment, Urban Conflict Championship, BAMMA, XFC, Superior Challenge, CFA, Titan Fighting Championships and the now defunct IFL among others. As of February 19, 2010, it has promoted two events of its own and broadcast 60 events by other promotions. After July 2, 2012 when HDNet re-branded itself as AXS TV, HDNet Fights was re-branded as AXS TV Fights.
Inside MMA was a live mixed martial arts news magazine, which aired on AXS TV, immediately following the network's live AXS TV Fights broadcasts. Hosted by Mauro Ranallo and UFC Hall of Famer Bas Rutten, the series provided an in-depth look at the world of MMA, with live breakdowns, talk, highlights, and analysis from major MMA organizations such as the UFC, Bellator, and the World Series of Fighting. Inside MMA debuted on AXS TV, then known as HDNET, in September 2007, and was the longest-running MMA news show on television.
Michael Schiavello is an Australian sports commentator and journalist. He has commentated for AXS TV, K-1, Dream, Maximum Fighting Championship, King of the Cage, ONE Championship and The Contender Asia. He has also written for more than 50 publications worldwide, was the long-serving editor of Blitz Magazine, was the editor of International Kickboxer magazine until 2009, was a feature writer for Inside Sport magazine, and was the youngest ever inductee to the Best Australian Sports Writing Awards.
BAMMA was a mixed martial arts promotion based in the United Kingdom. It premiered on June 27, 2009, and was shown on the television channel Bravo. BAMMA events was shown live on ITV4 in the UK and Ireland, KIX in Asia, VEQTA Digital Broadcast Sports Network in India, Kwese in Africa, DAZN in Germany & Russia, FITE TV and UNILAD (Online). BAMMA events stream live on the UNILAD Facebook Page (Prelims) and ITV4 (UK) & Fite.tv (US). BAMMA 29 was shown on free to air broadcaster Dave, and BAMMA 30 was also shown there on 7 July 2017 as was BAMMA 31. BAMMA 33 was shown on ITV4 on December 15 2017. The last BAMMA event was held in London on June 28, 2018.
Titan Fighting Championship is an American mixed martial arts promotion based out of Pompano Beach, Florida. Their shows were originally run in and near Kansas City and have since expanded to include venues all over North America and eventually, international locations. Since July 2015, Titan FC events are broadcast on the UFC online streaming service UFC Fight Pass, which also showcases a library of the organization's previous events.
ONE Championship is a Singaporean mixed martial arts (MMA), grappling, kickboxing and Muay Thai promotion company. It was founded on 14 July 2011 by entrepreneur Chatri Sityodtong and former ESPN Star Sports senior executive Victor Cui.
Legacy Fighting Alliance is an American mixed martial arts promotion broadcast on AXS TV up to LFA 77. It was created as a result of the Legacy Fighting Championship and Resurrection Fighting Alliance merger in early 2017.
Cyrus Fees is a television and media personality based in The United States of America (USA), who is best known for his work as a ring announcer for Ultimate Fighting Championships Dana White's Contender Series host for Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, and play-by-play commentator for Eagle Fighting Championship.
Anthem Sports & Entertainment is a Canadian multinational media company based in Toronto, Ontario and founded by Leonard Asper. Its assets include combat sports and sports entertainment properties, global film distribution company Gravitas Ventures, and several specialty television networks in Canada and the United States.
Andrea Lee is an American kickboxer and mixed martial artist who competes in the flyweight division. She is currently signed with UFC. As of November 23, 2021, she is #8 in the UFC women's flyweight rankings.
2017 is the first year in the history of Legacy Fighting Alliance, a mixed martial arts promotion based in the United States.
2018 is the second year in the history of Legacy Fighting Alliance, a mixed martial arts promotion based in the United States.
2019 is the third year in the history of Legacy Fighting Alliance, a mixed martial arts promotion based in the United States.
2020 is the fourth year in the history of Legacy Fighting Alliance, a mixed martial arts promotion based in the United States.
2022 is the sixth year in the history of Legacy Fighting Alliance, a mixed martial arts promotion based in the United States.
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