Super Fight League Returns with SFL 15 in Mumbai This Weekend

Super Fight League Returns with SFL 15 Featuring Light Heavyweight Title Fight

April 12th - Famous Studios, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Following the amazing action of SFL 14 to kick off the 2013 season, Super Fight League’s Friday Fight Nights series is back with another title fight for the April 12 SFL 15 main event.

Both Lithuania and Estonia are well represented on the SFL roster, and at SFL 15 two of the best light heavyweights from those countries collide as Arunas Andriuskevicus of Lithuania takes on Vasily Klepikov of the Ukraine for the SFL Male Light Heavyweight World Title.

The co-main event of SFL 15 helps sort the ranks in the female flyweight division when 3-0 India’s Manjit Kolekar takes on Egypt’s Aya Saeid Saber.

Dan Isaac, COO of SFL said: “SFL 14 was as exciting as I had hoped and I expect nothing short of the same at SFL 15. I am also very excited to continue bring Women’s MMA to over 100 Million homes in India.  This is the second fight card in a row that features a WMMA Co-Main Event, we are proud to be at the forefront of ushering in Women’s MMA not only in India but worldwide.“’

As with many Super Fight League events in the past SFL 15 will feature many Indian faces, though this time they come in as experienced SFL fighters having already made their SFL debuts. Super Fight League continues its commitment to cultivating Indian MMA talent and presenting it on an international stage.

With three fighters making their SFL debut on the seven-bout card the show will be full of surprises.  Afghanistan’s Deen Muhammad Jorat, teammate of Baz Muhammad Mubarez (who was victorious by TKO at SFL 14), will attempt to follow in his teammates footsteps and earn a dominating win.

Raj Kundra, Chairman of Super Fight League said: “SFL 14 has raised the bar for Indian MMA we had some great fights and many that went the distance thanks to great matchmaking by Daniel Isaac. It will only get better from here and we promise audiences all over the world some top quality fights throughout the year and continue to offer it free via our YouTube channel.  Don’t miss the action and reach out to us and share your views via @TheFightLeague on Twitter.”’

Tune into SFL 15 on Friday April 12th, 2013, streaming live on http://www.youtube.com/SFL at 9:00 PM in Mumbai Time.

SFL 15 Friday Fight Night

Kapil Kumar (1-1) Vs Alam Idrisi (0-1) 

Manjit Kolekar (2-0) Vs Aya Saeid Saber (1-2)

Ricky Sahni (1-0) Vs Deen Mohammad Jorat (debut)

Mohit Tokas (1-1) Vs Amit Thapa (debut)

Narender Grewal (2-1) Vs Aadil Bashir (debut) 

Kaushik Sen (0-1) Vs Uchit Sharma (1-0) 

Kapil Kumar (1-1)  Vs Alam Idrisi (01) 

This fight card is taken from Sherdog.com - however it differs from the fightcard on the SFL website. Because the press release above comes from SFL and mentions the main event which is not listed on their own website but is listed on Sherdog so I went with that. But who knows what is right. It seems the SFL maybe cutting back on keeping this shit up to date.

SFL Challengers” Starts Recording

SFL Challengers” Starts Recording

Published on July 14, 2012 by The Sandman in NEWS, Super Fight League

SFL Challengers Begins

It may have taken a while, but Super Fight League (SFL) is finally starting to record it’s long awaited reality TV show, “SFL Challengers”, today.

SFL Challengers will eventually air in India on Neo Sports at 9pm and Zoom Tv at 10pm every weekend from 5th August.

Co-founder Raj Kundra has also announced the head coaches will be Daniel Isaac and Sanja Sucevic.

After quite a bit of delay, the reality show is finally off the ground and it’ll be interesting to see how well the show does in a country still relatively new to the sport of mixed martial arts.

MMANewsAsia.com will bring you more details such as international airings  as soon as we receive it.

For thoughts and discussions on MMA, follow The Sandman on twitter at @MsianGooner, The Editor @joebahru and The Coffee Boy @seth_borges.

Super Fight League to air TUF-style reality show

Super Fight League to air TUF-style reality show

Published on June 8, 2012 by The Sandman in Super Fight League

Super Fight League Will Air TUF Style MMA Reality Show

As details begin to emerge of Super Fight League’s (SFL) reality show in India, The Sandman (still in third person) is here to bring you some links,  quotes and opinions of what this reality show that Dana White calls a TUF ‘rip-off’ has to offer.

Raj Kundra, who is married to Bollywood star and Big Brother UK winner Shilpa Shetty, says that his wife has helped him create the reality show and that “he discusses the show” with her. 

He told the Hindustan Times:

"Initially, we had jointly decided that it’s going to be a 16 male fighters /contestants show. Then, we thought of combining eight male and female each, to make it more interesting and add masala for the public."

One can only assume that ‘masala‘ is codename for a curry-based sex orgy.

He then told the Times of India:

"For any new sport other than cricket, you need to have some Bollywood guys. I hope that a year down the line, I won't have to show so much entertainment and Bollywood."

Back to the Hindustan Times:

"It’s going to be 50-day long series. The concept is that every week people will vote for two people they want to see fight, and Friday will be the elimination night. The fighters will also be given tasks throughout the week."

So, to update you guys- its TUF meets Big Brother with a little The Voice on the side. Will be interesting to see how the voting system works; a really boring fighter could win, I can only imagine the excitement when Cesar Gracie says, “Don’t be scared, Bhaiya.” Jokes aside, experienced trainers are expected.

The reality show will start recording by July 1st according to the Hindustan Times. The Times of India story reports that if everything goes according to plan, the show will start airing in August.

Since those articles were published a few updates have surfaced. Opposing Views has confirmed that the show will air on Viacom 18′s Colors, the same channel that owns SFL events’ TV rights. Opposing Views also adds that the winner will earn “20 lakhs and a 3-year contract (worth 50 lakhs)” with SFL.

For additional reading, check out what CEO Ken Pavia had to say about the reality show (not much) and also what he thought of Dana White’s comments regarding SFL (more interesting, but still meh.) on Fight Bulletin.

The Sandman’s thoughts:

Overall, despite my disdain for ‘masala‘, SFL just might be able to pull this off. Kundra seems to know his audience well, but planning will be the major hurdle. It seems a little rushed and with the recording starting in less than a month we still don’t know that much about the show.

It will also be interesting to see how SFL’s reality show stacks up against UFC’s Ultimate Fighter India which will also take place this year. My prediction is this, Indian MMA fans will probably watch both anyway. TUF India doesn’t take place until November (rumoured). So both reality shows will probably be reasonably successful.

On a side note (to SFL):

WTF SFL?! Where the hell is your marketing team? I had to scan through Google and combine a bunch of different articles just to make this story. Have a fuckin‘ press conference instead of giving different sources different quotes at different times. It almost seems like you wait for someone from the media to contact you guys and you just give them a quick response and move on. You can spend millions on an event but can’t spend a few bucks on a press conference to hype up your next ‘project’?! C’mon!

for more rants and opinions, feel free to follow the Sandman at @MsianGooner on twitter.

Super Fight League – MMA in India – The Unveiling

Super Fight League – MMA in India – The Unveiling

Published on January 17, 2012 by The Editor in Super Fight League

I am very excited by announcement of the Super Fight League out of India, I just think that the Indians will put on an amazing colourful show.

The people behind it also have experience in handling big sporting events as well as experience in MMA.

What sporting events? Well how about the IPL. The Indian Premier League, world crickets most glamourous and biggest league by a long way. Excited yet?

This film gives you some idea of the color, drama and excitement to come.

Stunning News From India Get Ready For Super Fight League

Stunning News From India Get Ready For Super Fight League

Published on January 16, 2012 by The Editor in NEWS, Super Fight League

You Turn Your Back For A Second And The Asian MMA Scene Explodes All Around With News Stories

Honestly, I had a day away from the computer (during which I pranged my dear old car   bugger!) and I sit down open up the mac and we have more exciting Asian MMA news than you can shake a stick at.

So the biggest story (IMHO) is the following:

Raj Kundra & Sanjay Dutt announce India’s first Super Fight League (SFL)

Bringing “Sportainment” at its best , entrepreneur Raj Kundra and Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt come together to announce the launch of the country’s first professional organized, MMA – Mixed Martial Arts fighting League, SFL – Super Fight League.

Mixed Martial Arts, a full contact intensive combat sport, stands today not only the fastest growing sport in the world but is also a multibillion dollar industry in the west. With the thought of finding and launching the best fighters in the world ,Raj Kundra & Sanjay Dutt,along with CEO Ken Pavia and COO Daniel Isaac seek to elevate the sport to new heights , bringing to the country “sportainment” at its best with a huge line up of performers, DJ’s and a fight night that you will never forget!

Says Raj Kundra ,Founder – Chairman SFL,”I am a huge MMA fan and knowing it’s the fastest growing sport in the world hate to see Indiaget left behind. Through our professional resources and skills we plan to train and create super fighters out of India. The beauty about MMA is it’s not fixed or staged. The results are unpredictable and the fighters require more skill than any other combat sport in the world. It gives me great pleasure along with my partner Sanjay Dutt to introduce you to The Super Fight League”

Adds Sanjay Dutt, Co-Founder Chairman SFL and Partner , “I am very passionate about this combat sport and since martial arts was invented in India I will make sure we churn out some real world class super fighters from here. SFLevents will be a great fusion of sports and entertainment while being an extremely important platform for MMA fighter’s in India and the rest of the world.”

With matches lined up in Mumbai,New Delhi and Chandigarh, the Super Fight League will have adrenaline junkies asking for more – Starting with SFL1 , Mumbai where six of India’s best fighters in all weights will take on six International MMA fighters followed by a Main Event – Super Heavy Weight Fight between James Thomson (UK) and Bob Sapp (USA).

Ceo Ken Pavia has been a part of the MMA industry for over 15 years believes India is ready for MMA. On a high note ends Daniel Isaac, COO,SFL and India Kickboxing title holder , “I am ready to bring MMA out of obscurity to the mainstream audience in India. Ladies and Gentlemen get ready for the true Super Fight League”.

Wow, I mean WOW! You know that MMA is Asia is about to explode when a Bollywood star is getting involved and of course India is a country of massive potential for both TV audience and live audience and of course once a few Indian fighters make it, well, the country will go MMA crazy. And as we saw with the Formula One race this year, India knows how to put on a show.

With Daniel Isaac and Ken Pavia on board they already have people well known in the wider MMA community Daniel Isaac  is the man behind Tiger Gym India and he will have the type of contacts and experience to help drive this exciting new organisation along.