Is UFC the Biggest MMA Promotion in the World? Everything You Need to Know About Largest MMA Promotions on the Planet

Published 05/13/2023, 10:47 AM CDT

Despite being a comparatively new sport, MMA has seen a meteoric rise in its popularity within the last decade. There are a lot of countries around the world where the sport of MMA hasn’t been legalized yet. But, all thanks to multiple MMA promotions who are working tirelessly to bring this sport to the notice of an even larger population. Also, multiple individual fighters have made noteworthy contributions to popularize the sport of MMA.

Most MMA fighters go through multiple promotion changes in their entire career. While one promotion develops and creates a fighter out of regular individuals, others help them in gaining public attention, showcasing their superb in-cage prowess. As per the 2021 report published by ‘Nielsen’, the UFC and ONE Championship currently stand as the two premier MMA promotions in the world. These two organizations had amassed an insane 20.6 billion views on their videos across the web. But here, we will dive further deeper to know about the 10 most popular MMA promotions that have played a massive role in popularizing the sport of MMA.

UFC

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The noted businessman, Art Davie, joined hands with the famed Brazilian martial artist, Rorion Gracie, to lay the foundation of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The UFC also held its first event in the year 1993, which serves as the year of its inception.

The early purpose of the UFC was to figure out which was the best martial arts style of all. But gradually it changed into an individual MMA contest with the introduction of a lot of necessary rules. The premier MMA promotion in the world is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada in the United States of America. Reportedly, the UFC generated an insane revenue of $1.3 billion in the previous year of 2022.

Here are some of the other vital stats about the UFC:

Website: www.ufc.com
Years of Operation: 1993 – present
Events held – Total 646, across 165 cities and 29 countries
Most Notable fights – McGregor vs Khabib at UFC 229, Jon Jones vs Daniel Cormier dilogy at UFC 182 and UFC 214, etc.

ONE Championship

The Asia-based global MMA promotion, ONE Championship, has made an immense contribution to popularizing combat sports in the eastern part of the world. Hosting events loaded with a combination of various combat sports like Muay Thai, Kickboxing, and Submission Grappling apart from MMA, ONE has seen a steep rise in its own popularity as well. ONE also hosted its debut event in the US on 5 May 2023, which also was a massive success.

Founded on 14 July 2011, ONE has been entertaining the Eastern world’s combat sports fans very much since its inauguration. The Singaporean martial arts instructor and entrepreneur, Chatri Sityodtong, is the founder of the promotion. He also serves as the CEO of ONE Championship to date. The organization has its headquarters at 3 Fraser Street, #14-24, Singapore. As per the reports, ONE Championship amassed revenue of $164.9M in the previous year as well.

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Here are some of the other vital stats about ONE Championship:

Website: http://www.onefc.com/
Years of Operation: 2011 – present
Events held – Total 220+
Most Notable fights – Demetrious Johnson vs Adriano Moraes trilogy at ONE TNT, ONE on Prime Video 10, and ONE Fight Night 10, Rodtang Jitmuangnon vs Jonathan Haggerty dilogy at ONE: DAWN OF HEROES, and ONE: A NEW TOMORROW

Bellator MMA

Founded in 2008, Bellator MMA is regarded as the second-largest American MMA promotion and also holds a significant position in the entire world. Bellator also signed multiple former UFC fighters as well, including some household names like Tito Ortiz and Chael Sonnen. The promotion has seen a massive rise under Scott Coker, who has been serving as the CEO since 2014.

Multiple Bellator fighters have also made their journey to the UFC and showcased their mettle. The promotion has its headquarters in Hollywood, California. Reportedly, it also generated revenue of $38.4 million in the year 2021.

Here are some of the other vital stats about Bellator MMA:

Website: https://www.bellator.com/
Years of Operation: 2008 – present
Events held – Total 290+
Most Notable fights – Eddie Alvarez vs Michael Chandler at Bellator 58, Patricky Pitbull vs. Lloyd Mix, Bellator 62, etc.

ACA (Absolute Championship Akhmat)

The Russia-based combat sports promotion, Absolute Championship Akhmat, was founded in the year 2014 by a Chechnyan native, Mairbek Khasiev. With most of its events hosted Russian city of Grozny, the championship has also ventured out to other Russian cities in recent times.

The ACA also hosts events with a combination of martial arts much like ONE Championship. The only difference is that ACA holds separate events from separate combat sports disciplines. However, there’s no information in the public domain about how much revenue the promotion generated in the last few years. Recently, ACA took its events international, hosting events in UAE, Turkey, and the US.

Here are some of the other vital stats about ACA:

Website: www.aca-mma.com/en
Years of Operation: 2014 – present
Events held – 193 including MMA, Kickboxing, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Most Notable fights – Zelimkhan Umiev vs Israfil Makhashev at ACA 9(then ACB), Zelimkhan Umiev vs Salimgerey Rasulov at ACA 29(then ACB)

Rizin Fighting Federation

The Rizin Fighting Federation has seen a meteoric rise in popularity after its formation in 2015. Apart from MMA, Rizin has also hosted kickboxing events in the form of a Grand Prix as well. Currently, it holds the top spot in Japan and the second spot in all other Asia-based MMA promotions. Rizin also has a few differences in their rule set, like every type of strike to the head is allowed there. Fans love Rizin for their larger-than-life fighter entrances.

Rizin may be called a successor to the noted former Japanese MMA promotion Pride FC. The same person, Nobuyuki Sakakibara, is the founder of both these promotions. Hence, it may be said that Rizin carries a number of Pride FC influences. The promotion has its headquarters in Minato City, Tokyo of Japan and has also joined hands with Bellator authorities to host a joint event on 2023 New Year’s eve. However, there is no information in the public domain about the revenues earned by the promotion.

Here are some of the other vital stats about the Rizin Fighting Federation:

Website: jp.rizinff.com/_tags/English
Years of Operation: 2015 – present
Events held – 53 including MMA and Kickboxing
Most Notable fights – Akiyo Nishiura vs. Hiroya Kawabe, Bob Sapp vs. Osunaarashi, etc.

KSW

The Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki, better known as KSW, is a Poland-based MMA promotion formed in 2004. The Polish former martial artists, Martin Lewandowski and Maciej Kawulski joined hands in the year 2002 and finally organized the first KSW event in 2004. The promotion was known for hosting 4-man and 8-man tournaments apart from individual bouts. It may be said that the KSW is also the most popular MMA promotion in entire Europe.

KSW authorities probably know that ‘too much of anything is good for nothing’. They usually have only 10 events in an entire year, with one event per month. The KSW 39 in 2017 attracted a massive crowd of 58,000 at the PGE Narodowy in Warsaw. This was the second-highest crowd attendance at any MMA event ever, only being topped by the 71,000 fans who attended Pride Shockwave in 2002. The organization has its headquarters in Warsaw, Poland. But, no information related to it’ revenues was available.

Here are some of the other vital stats about KSW:

Website: www.kswmma.com
Years of Operation: 2004 – present
Events held – 87
Most Notable fights – Michal Materla vs Kryzystof Kulak, Michal Materla vs Jay Silva

PFL

The Professional Fighters League was founded by the noted venture capitalist, Donn Davis in the year 2017. However, the promotion had its first event in 2018. The format of the PFL is quite distinct from other promotions. It requires fighters to compete in regular seasons, post-seasons and championships instead of year-long events.

Every fighter fights two times in a season where a win gives him 3 points. Bonus points are also awarded depending upon the round of finishing the bout. A fighter can score a maximum of 6 points from a single bout. The bonus points become a huge driving factor for the athletes, making them go for a finish as soon as possible. On the other hand, it also enthralls the crowds with better fights. The seasons contain around 68 to 72 fighters and the ones with the most points in each weight class enter the playoffs to fight for the $1M prize. The organization has its headquarters in Washington D.C. That being said, there was no public domain information found about the promotion’s revenues.

Here are some of the other vital stats about PFL:

Website: http://pflmma.com/
Years of Operation: 2017 – present
Events held – 6 seasons (2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023)
Most Notable fights – Martin Hamlet vs Corey Hendricks, Robert Wilkinson vs Omari Madoff

Eagle Fighting Championship

The noted UFC icon, Khabib Nurmagomedov’s very own MMA promotion, Eagle Fighting Championship is definitely one of the most noted MMA promotions in the world. But a number of fans were really disheartened after the Eagle FC authorities hinted that they might discontinue their proceedings after their event in December, 2022. However, things are probably getting better for Eagle FC as they might be back with another event in June 2023.

Out of the Russian promotions, Eagle FC founded in 2020, is the only one that has managed to host 3 US events successfully to date. Apart from that they have also hosted events in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Fans will definitely hope to see more activity from Eagle FC in future. The promotion is headquartered in Dagestan, Russia. But, there was no public domain information found about the promotion’s revenues.

Here are some of the other vital stats about Eagle FC:

Website: https://eaglefc.com/
Years of Operation: 2020 – present
Events held – 27
Most Notable fights – Kevin Lee vs Diago Sanchez, Renat Ondar vs Hussain Baksh Safari

Invicta Fighting Championships

The world’s lone ‘only women’ MMA promotion, Invicta Fighting Championships, was founded in the year 2012. It was a result of a few female fighters breaking out of ‘Strikeforce’ sensing the lack of representation of women’s MMA in the promotion. One of Invicta FC’s founders, Shannon Knapp decided to meet Janet Martin and decided to lay the stones of the promotion after receiving several complaints from the female ‘Strikeforce’ fighters. It is currently owned by the Canada-based organization, Anthem Sports & Entertainment.

It may be said that Invicta FC has created some really high-class female MMA athletes over time. A number of Invicta FC products have showcased their mettle in the UFC as well and won multiple accolades. Rose Namajunas, Carla Esparza, Cris Cyborg, Alexa Grasso and Paige Vanzant are a few bright names in the entire world of MMA who fought for Invicta FC at one point in their careers. Headquartered in the United States of America, there’s no information available about the revenues of Invicta FC as well.

Here are some of the other vital stats about Invicta FC:

Website: http://www.invictafc.com
Years of Operation: 2020 – present
Events held – 27
Most Notable fights – Karina Rodriguez vs Daiana Torquato dilogy, Alexa Grasso vs Alida Gray

M-1 Global

A large number of readers might be taken aback after hearing that the M-1 was founded way back in 1997. The Russian promotion has been the launchpad for a few noted MMA personalities, like Khabib Nurmagomedov, Fedor Emilianenko, and Alexander Volkov. The promotion started off with hosting pretty small-scale events to reach a commendable position in the MMA world today.

Currently, the M-1 Global works as a partner of the UFC helping them scout extraordinary Russian MMA talents. They also organize and promote UFC events in Russia. Headquartered in St. Petersburg Russia, this promotion holds somewhere around 15-20 events every year. However, the revenues of this one also weren’t available from any sources.

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Here are some of the other vital stats about M-1 Global:

Website: http://www.m-1global.com/
Years of Operation: 1997 – present
Events held – 275+
Most Notable fights – Konstantin Glukhov vs Kenny Garner, Artiom Damkaovsky vs Antun Racic

Understandably, a lot of MMA fans will hope that these promotions continue to grow further in the future. It will be hugely beneficial for the sport of MMA, bringing up a lot of other talented athletes in this comparatively new sport.

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Written by:

Souvik Roy is an exceptional UFC writer with an impressive portfolio of over 500 articles at EssentiallySports. The young writer did not allow speech impairment to come in the way of his love for writing and covering fights. As a keen observer, Souvik's passion for MMA was sparked when he discovered the UFC after being introduced to WWE.

Edited by:

Anuj Jacob

Is UFC the Biggest MMA Promotion in the World? Everything You Need to Know About Largest MMA Promotions on the Planet

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