Legend Fighting Championship

File:Legend Fighting Championship 10.jpg

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 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.”{{cite web|last=Nelson |first=Chris |url=http://www.sherdog.com/news/news/Legend-FC-Partners-with-Macau-Mega-Resort-July-16-Card-Announced-32795 |title=Legend FC Partners with Macau Mega-Resort; July 16 Card Announced |publisher=Sherdog.com |date=2011-06-01 |accessdate=2014-02-08}} 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.

Legend's new partners have refocused the company specifically on Chinese fighters and the Chinese market, in terms of both fight cards and the content they will produce. Legend re-launched with a fight card in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou in September 2018.{{Cite web|url=https://variety.com/2019/tv/asia/mma-alters-faces-of-asia-sports-broadcasting-1203166650/|title=MMA Alters Faces of Asian Sports Broadcasting|last=Scott|first=Mathew|date=2019-03-20|website=Variety|language=en|access-date=2019-05-30}}

In June 2019, Legend announced its return to Macau, China on September 14, 2019, at the MGM Theater in Cotai.{{Cite web |url=https://www.businessinsider.sg/legend-fighting-championship-returns-to-macau-at-mgm-cotai/ |title=Legend Fighting Championship returns to Macau at MGM COTAI, Business Insider - Business Insider Singapore |access-date=2019-08-21 |archive-date=2019-08-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190821201457/https://www.businessinsider.sg/legend-fighting-championship-returns-to-macau-at-mgm-cotai/ |url-status=dead }}

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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.{{cite web|url=http://www.legendfc.com/en/broadcast/ |title=Legend Fighting Championship > Broadcast > Australia > Pay-Per-View |publisher=Legendfc.com |date= |accessdate=2014-02-08}}

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.{{cite web|url=http://www.sportspromedia.com/news/legend_fighting_championship_to_air_on_sonys_axn/ |title=Legend Fighting Championship to air on Sony's AXN - Sports Broadcast news - Martial Arts Asia |publisher=SportsPro Media |date= 22 October 2012|accessdate=2014-02-08}}

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.{{cite web|url=http://prommanow.com/index.php/2011/01/23/canada-added-to-list-of-countries-for-legend-fc-4-pay-per-view/ |title=Canada added to list of countries for Legend FC 4 pay-per-view |publisher=Pro MMA Now |date=2011-01-23 |accessdate=2014-02-08}}

China consists of one of the biggest audiences for Legend. In China alone, Legend is available to more than 600 million viewers nationwide.{{cite web|author= |url=http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1396805-ufc-on-fuel-6-will-the-ufc-invasion-of-china-sink-the-rising-asian-mma-market |title=UFC on Fuel 6: Will the UFC Invasion of China Sink the Rising Asian MMA Market? |publisher=Bleacher Report |date=2012-11-05 |accessdate=2014-02-08}} Legend events are also broadcast in China on major video portals Tencent, Weibo, Youku, Zhibo and others.{{cite web|url=http://sports.pptv.com/in/lfc/ |title=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 |publisher=Sports.pptv.com |date=2013-11-14 |accessdate=2014-02-08}} Additional broadcast partners include Guangdong TV, Shenzhen TV, and various other networks in China.

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.{{cite web|url=http://english.cri.cn/8046/2012/10/23/2561s728601.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121027105339/http://english.cri.cn/8046/2012/10/23/2561s728601.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 27, 2012 |title=Hong Kong-based Legend FC Expands its Reach |publisher=English.cri.cn |date= |accessdate=2014-02-08}}

Legend was co-founded by Mike Haskamp and Chris Pollak, former classmates and Rugby teammates at Columbia Business School.{{cite web|last=Nelson |first=Chris |url=http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles/Building-a-Legend-Hong-Kong-MMA-Hits-US-PPV-29660 |title=Building a Legend: Hong Kong MMA Hits U.S. PPV |publisher=Sherdog.com |date=2011-01-26 |accessdate=2014-02-08}} 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.mediaresearchasia.com/view.php?type=press&id=1713 |title=CA Media Invests in Legend Fighting Championship |publisher=Media Research Asia.com |date= |accessdate=2014-02-08}} 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.

After taking a hiatus and securing new partners, Legend re-emerged with Matthew Kwok as its Chairman. Kwok was the original content and broadcast producer for Legend, and the founder of Kwokman Productions. In early 2019, Legend announced additional partnerships with athlete manager Audie Attar from Paradigm Sports Management, and Berjaya Assets Bhd, one of Malaysia's largest conglomerates. It is now defunct. {{Cite web|url=https://asiamma.com/region/hong-kong/legend-fc-announces-new-strategic-partners/|title=Legend FC announces new strategic partners|date=2019-02-14|website=Asia MMA|language=en-US|access-date=2019-05-30}}

Legend competitions take place in an eight-sided MMA arena called the "Ba Fang".{{Cite web|url=https://www.legendfc.com/bafang|title=BAFANG|website=Legend Fighting Championship|language=en-US|access-date=2019-05-30}}

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:

• No elbow drops.

• 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/she believes won the overall fight.

{{See also|Mixed martial arts weight classes |l1= Mixed martial arts weight classes}}

▪ Bantamweight: Under 50 kilograms

▪ Featherweight: 50 to 60 kilograms

▪ Lightweight: 60 to 70 kilograms

▪ Welterweight: 70 to 80 kilograms

▪ Middleweight: 80 to 90 kilograms

▪ Cruiserweight: 90 to 100 kilograms

▪ Heavyweight: Over 100 kilograms

{{Reflist}}

• {{Official website|http://www.legendfc.com}}
• [http://www.sherdog.com/organizations/Legend-Fighting-Championship-2585 List of Events on Sherdog]

{{MMA organizations}}

Category:2009 establishments in Hong Kong

Category:2013 disestablishments in Hong Kong

Category:Mixed martial arts promotions

Category:Entertainment companies established in 2009

Category:Companies disestablished in 2013