2 days ago
OKTAGON confident in passing PFL as No. 2 MMA promotion – if it hasn't already
OKTAGON confident in passing PFL as No. 2 MMA promotion – if it hasn't already
As MMA fans plead for PFL to find stability and assert itself as a viable alternative to the UFC, another budding promotion is making its own play for the No. 2 spot.
After hosting its first event in December 2016, OKTAGON MMA has slowly but surely built momentum and a reputation in the industry. It has put on 86 events, with overwhelming majority happening in Czech Republic or Slovakia, with visits to Germany and England sprinkled in, as well.
OKTAGON set an attendance record in October with more than 59,000 fans in Frankfurt, and that type of crowd didn't show up for no reason. The live event is not only a spectacle with shades of PRIDE and KSW mixed in, but the fights are often loaded with violence.
"We really love our job, we love to sell out arenas and attract fans," OKTAGON co-promoter Pavol Neruda told MMA Junkie. "We have great TV deals around Europe, around the world actually. We're still trying to make it better. FightMatrix just said we are officially the third best promotion in the world after UFC and PFL. It's also very nice to hear that our effort is bringing it forward. We're always trying to deliver the most entertaining show for fans. This is the results. We are very, very happy with these events."
Although the attendance numbers and interest in OKTAGON shows strong in Europe, Neruda, who is co-promoter along with his partner, Ondrej Novotny, admits there is still work to be done globally, and especially North America. That is still an untapped market for viewership, and he is confident it's there to be taken advantage of.
Neruda said his company got a taste of what that audience can be during a streaming partnership with DAZN, but ultimately he said it wasn't as rewarding as desired, but there's confidence the next deal will have that upside.
"Definitely we see North America as one of our most important markets," Neruda said. "We know that we have a great show. It's six hours of fun. It's good timing because it starts at noon and you can drink in the afternoon on Saturday with your friends and have a barbecue and watch fights. You don't have to wake up at 4 a.m. like we do to watch UFC here in Europe. It's in English, and it's a lot of entertainment. We know it has big potential.
"We know the numbers when we used to be on DAZN. They were quite good, but we were not happy with the collaboration that much, so right now we are searching for a good partner, talking to different platforms in North America and we want to make a proper deal to make sure it will be super easy to access in North America for fans to watch, because we know it has great potential."
As OKTAGON continues to build and hosts another event Saturday with OKTAGON 72 at Fortuna Arena in Prague (online pay-per-view), Neruda agrees there's a realistic path to taking the No. 2 position in the sport that PFL arguably holds purely by default.
He said there is already data that shows the race is much closer than the casual fan might believe, and now it's Neruda's job to make sure that opportunity to grasped.
"Many people say, 'But guys, you are already No. 2.' If you look at the metrics of how many people are going to our tournaments. PFL has a problem to sell small arenas for 20 pounds in the UK, for example, and we are selling every arena in Germany, Czechoslovakia at about 10,000," Neruda said. "Also the viewership, we know the numbers from DAZN, and they told us pretty fast, 'OK guys, you have better numbers than PFL and we don't even promote you that much because PFL is our product.' Depends how you look at it. I think the No. 2, if we are not there, we will be there very soon, and it's an amazing feeling.
"I totally respect the UFC. That's the Olympics of our sport. I love them, and I love to watch it. It's too far. From the second place to first it's a pretty long way way. We would be very, very happy to be the No. 2 and the No. 1 in Europe for fans. Maybe for many people to be the most entertaining show in the world. In this category maybe we will be No. 1 from the perspective of some fans. That is our goal."
