Dubai: India’s Super Fight League (SFL) must go abroad to find more favour at home, according to its founder Raj Kundra.
After staging 43 events in India, the 39-year-old British-Indian businessman, who is married to Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty, has decided to take the format on the road.
So the cage-fighting format will make its UAE debut at Dubai Sports City from 6.30pm on Wednesday, when it pitches India versus Pakistan in a seven-card mixed martial arts (MMA) night, followed by a Bollywood concert. Three events have previously taken place in America.
“We’ve had more success abroad than we have in India unfortunately, because everything outside cricket really struggles there,” said the London-born entrepreneur, who together with his wife owns a stake in the Rajasthan Royals Indian Premier League (IPL) team, and shares this project with Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt.
“We decided to go international because we realised sponsors don’t pay up in India and we were not getting the type of money needed to sustain [the format]. We needed to make sure our fighters’ livelihoods were taken care of.”
A new deal with K-Sports to stage and broadcast 24 fights over three years across America promises to raise the format’s potential beyond the 100 million homes it already penetrates through ESPN Star Sports in India, and the 20 million-plus live views it has had on YouTube over the past 18 months.
Kundra will now wait to see how the concept takes off in the UAE — as this Wednesday’s event will be screened to 40 million homes — before attempting to negotiate similar long-term deals in the Middle East.
“Only when we do well internationally will we be successful in India, because of the way sport is there,” he added. “If we get a few internationally recognised stars we’ll get a lot more coverage and appreciation in India. That’s when we can start utilising various sponsors [at home]. But until [Indian] corporates start investing in other sports besides cricket, it’s going to be an uphill struggle.”
Of the one-off India versus Pakistan concept used to launch the SFL in Dubai, Kundra said: “There’s such a big rivarly [between the two countries], I just hope it gets settled in the cage. The tagline is ‘Come for the concert, stay for the fight’ — it’s tongue-in-cheek, I hope the fans accept whoever is crowned champion.
“I see great potential in Dubai, we could easily do six events a year here, and I like the country versus country format. Dubai is so multicultural that next we could even stage India versus Philippines.”
