It has been a little over two years since the Ultimate Fighting Championship announced that it would be ambitiously hosting part of its product away from television entirely and offering fans a subscription based digital streaming platform – UFC Fight Pass. Throughout this time it has appeared the service has struggled to find its footing, with many fans wondering what they have to gain from paying to utilise a service that will show only the bottom rung of the UFC’s live product, with superior programming regularly airing on Pay-Per-View and various FOX channels.
In order to cultivate interest in the digital network, Fight Pass General Manager Eric Winter has committed to expanding the live content featured and subscribers can now tune in to a host of regional promotions from all over the world as well as notable all female promotion Invicta FC. Today the promotion announced potentially the most significant addition to date, as it will be play host to future GLORY Kickboxing “Superfight Series” events, commencing with the upcoming show February 27th.
For those unfamiliar with GLORY’s event structure; rather than advertising a preliminary and main card, events are marketed as two separate events, the opener being the Superfight Series. This essentially means UFC Fight Pass now holds the rights to GLORY undercards.
GLORY CEO Jon Franklin clarified earlier today that CBS sports maintains the television rights to GLORY’s superfight series events, so UFC Fight pass will operate as a supporting platform. Franklin believes that their new slot of Fight Pass “Complements ESPN, CBS, Eurosport and multiple global TV platforms.” and is optimistic about the way in which Fight Pass will further GLORY’s potential viewership, stating: “People who watch GLORY love GLORY. [We] Just need to get in front of fans and we will have success”
One of the more surprising announcements surrounding GLORY’s debut on Fight Pass was the announcement that Muay Thai/Kickboxing/MMA veteran Joe Schilling would headline the show against Mike Lemaire, despite the fact that there were reports he was finished competing for the promotion.
Franklin maintains that the promotion were “Always operate under contract with Joe” and “Have always had a good relationship with him.” When asked about what the promotion sees in Schilling’s future, Franklin said he believes if Schilling can pull out a victory on February 27th a long awaited title shot could be up next; “We are open to him getting back in the title hunt. Up to him. I would love him to fight the winner of Marcus v Levin. But ultimately it’s his call. Happy to make him that offer.”
If Schilling does get through Lemaire in the Superfight Series headliner, he will turn his attention closely to the ESPN3 main card where the aforementioned Artem Levin vs Simon Marcus title tilt will be the main event. Schilling is no stranger to either man, having faced Levin twice and Marcus three times throughout his career.
As for the future of GLORY on Fight Pass the promotion is wasting no time giving subscribers cards worth getting exited for, the Superfight series event in March has two title fights on tap, with Saulo Cavalari facing Artem Vakhitov in a rematch for the light-heavyweight strap, and newly crowned featherweight champion Serhiy Adamchuk taking on recent tournament winner Mosab Amrani for the featherweight title.
With such a stacked schedule in the works Franklin is understandably excited for the potential for GLORY to grow in the near future, he states “Our Goal is to get in front of more and more combat and mainstream sports fans. UFC Fight Pass is a fantastic way to do so.” and believes his promotion will be right at home under the banner of a combat sports giant like the UFC, as “They are #1 in MMA, GLORY in Kickboxing. So it makes sense”
It remains to be seen how this arrangement with UFC Fight Pass effects GLORY moving forward, what is certain, however, is some huge events stacked with world class Kickboxing are in the pipeline.
