It’s an original concept.
Dubbed The World’s Most Dangerous Game Show, DARE Fight Sports is an MMA promotion in Thailand that works out of what they call “the underground.”
Their last event took place about two months ago at a secret location and attended by the lucky few who were invited. Each one had to sign a disclosure agreement not to give away the location and the results.
Thailand banned MMA in March of this year because the country’s Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT), the government body in charge of regulating sports, had deemed it too brutal with little rules and has no place in Thailand. This coming from a country that allows seven year-olds to fight the most brutal martial art on the planet in Muay Thai.
After four well-attended and heavily-promoted events at Insomnia Nightclub in Bangkok, the promotion was forced to go underground. The events, which felt like a rock concert with sanctioned fights, were something for the hardcore fan. Once the ban hit, critics gave DARE little chance to succeed.
Fast forward eight months, and the people at DARE look like the coolest kids on the block. Turns out, the MMA ban only made people more curious and the promotion used the illegality of their events to their advantage.
The concept is new, but a good one: Film a live event, and release each fight every week as an “episode” of The Most Dangerous Gameshow. The promotion’s venerable hype man and announcer, Jon Nutt, introduces each episode with a silly vignette and slapstick comedy that forces MMA on you.
It all works perfectly.
Their recent string of fights – all in six episodes- has opened the eyes of several in the Asian MMA scene. The fighters come from all walks of life and many have gone on to bigger promotions (Arnaud Lepont, Shannon Wiratchai, Adam Kayoom, Wiktor Svensson, etc.).
It’s a visual spectacle that is totally original and only has room to grow. The Asian MMA scene has tons of fighters in lower weight classes that a promotion can be centered around them. DARE is not exclusively for the lightweights, but their fights are more exciting as it pits several masters of local martial arts – from jiujitsu to Muay Thai to shoot and judo.
Plans for their next event have not yet been announced, but the anticipation for what this young promotion can do is brewing.