brawling is the brainchild of Daniel Mac<\/a>, who hails from Mildura in Melbourne, now lives on the Gold Coast, and has ambitions to be \u201cAustralia\u2019s version of Dana White (UFC boss).\u201d<\/p>\nMac has ploughed around $500,000 of his own money into registering the IBC as a legitimate combat sport and the investment has paid dividends with networks around the globe signing up to televise brawling.<\/p>\n
A leading Australian network is also involved in high-powered negotiations and hopes to finalise a deal next week.<\/p>\n
The broadcast bonanza is a stunning coup for Mac, a one-man operation who has trademarked his IBC concept with a view to brawling becoming a $1 billion success story.<\/p>\n
His next show, his first official televised product at Brisbane\u2019s Nissan Arena on Friday, November 28, will be screened in Australia, New Zealand, America, Israel, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Pakistan, Kazakhstan and France.<\/p>\n
The UFC has become a $15 billion juggernaut and Mac believes the IBC will be the next combat-sports craze to attract sports fans around the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m blown away, this is the moment my dream becomes a reality,\u201d the 36-year-old Mac told this masthead.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re on track to be the fastest-growing combat sport in the world \u2014 and it all starts here in Australia.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the first 24 hours after our first show on the Gold Coast, we had two million views online.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way I view this, it\u2019s either a billion-dollar success for me or it\u2019s a total bust, I\u2019ve put everything I have into this venture, and I always believed this concept could succeed as a combat sport.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve signed up 14 broadcast partners who are taking brawling around the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe TV networks have seen the numbers, the crowd reaction, and the opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is just the beginning. My hope is that IBC will be as big as the UFC.\u201d<\/p>\n
The IBC is Australia\u2019s first sanctioned hybrid combat sport \u2014 a fusion of fight precision and brawling energy.<\/p>\n
Each bout features four two-minute rounds, with fighters wearing four-ounce gloves, as seen in the UFC, and competing exclusively with stand-up striking. There\u2019s no wrestling, knees or elbows.<\/p>\n
The action unfolds inside a five metre by five metre cage, designed by Mac himself, ensuring constant engagement between the fighters.<\/p>\n
The signature innovation is \u2018The Final Stand\u2019.<\/p>\n
Once per round, a fighter has the opportunity to invite his opponent to meet inside a small diamond-shaped zone in the centre of the ring, where the two combatants go toe-to-toe \u2014 a fan favourite moment that defines the IBC spectacle.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s chaos with control,\u201d said Mac. \u201cThere\u2019s the spectacle of a brawl, but the structure of a sport.\u201c<\/p>\n
Global sports content creation firm Inverleigh played a key role in brokering the IBC\u2019s historic offshore broadcast deals.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re pumped to partner with IBC in launching a truly game-changing fight sport series,\u201d Inverleigh commercial director Brendon Oliver said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a world awash with MMA and boxing promotions, this initiative stands apart.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe IBC presents a unique opportunity to disrupt the landscape, to scale rapidly, and Inverleigh is ready to deliver that ambition.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mac said all IBC shows will be sanctioned and insured under official Combat Sports Authority regulations, with ringside doctors, nurses and paramedics ensuring full medical compliance and fighter welfare.<\/p>\n
One of Australian boxing\u2019s knockout artists, Queensland\u2019s Issac Hardman, has signed a five-fight deal with the IBC and Mac says brawling is another form of combat-sports entertainment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m here to complement boxing, not destroy it,\u201d Mac said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome boxing purists will see us as a circus act, which is fine, but I just saw an opportunity in the market to build a sport for the spectator.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had some female friends come to my first show and they said we don\u2019t really want to watch this … half-an-hour later they were on the edge of their seats.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese networks have signed us up after just one show, it\u2019s extraordinary.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve deliberately targeted the free-to-air networks overseas because a lot of people around the world can\u2019t afford to buy Pay TV or cable television.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve only just started … the sky is the limit.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It is the Australian-made new combat sport which has exploded into a global phenomenon. Two months ago, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":252518,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-252517","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-boxing","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}