AboutElite Fight Night
Bangkok-based martial arts promoter Elite Boxing has announced big plans for its Elite Fight Night (EFN) Series in 2012. In addition to the quarterly EFN events which started in Russia in 2011, the company is planning to add regular events in Germany, Luxembourg, and America from 2012.
Elite Boxing is best known on the martial arts circuit for Thailand VS Challenger (TVC)—its popular series of international muaythai events held at exclusive venues across the globe and broadcast to a catchment population of half a billion viewers in 180 countries around the world. As TVC continues to grow, EB is now committed to producing only the most prestigious events in the series.
Somewhat in the shadow of TVC, EFN has been growing quietly and almost unnoticed in the background. But the time has now come for EFN to step into the limelight and take centre stage alongside its more illustrious brother.
While direct comparisons between the two event series are inevitable, they are equally redundant. The EFN brand is distinctly different from TVC in a number of ways. For a start, it features mixed fightcards with MMA and Western boxing in addition to muaythai bouts. Also, EFN will become more of a permanent series with events held at regular intervals at mostly fixed venues, whereas TVC will continue to move into new and exciting markets in search of the ultra-spectacular.
Like EB and TVC, EFN began in Thailand. The first Elite Fight Night event was held at the Baan Klang Stadium in 2009. However, just like EB and TVC, EFN has also expanded onto a world stage.
In September 2010, four EFN events a year were added in Russia after EB's Russian subsidiary acquired the Ice Storm series. Re-branded as Elite Fight Night Russia, the series continues under its old Ice Storm format with events held every 3 months at the 1,600-seat Tyumen Circus Arena in the central Russian city of Tyumen.
In April 2012, an additional 4 events a year will be added in Germany. Organised by EB Germany—another of EB's strategically established local subsidiaries—EFN Germany will rotate around different cities in the country, including Heidenheim, Switzerland, and U.S.A.
EB is also in advanced negotiations to establish additional EFN events in Luxembourg. A partner has already been established and it is hoped that EFN Luxembourg events will also commence in 2012.
Negotiations are also underway to add between 4 and 6 events a year in the US, while there is a plan to include regular EFN events in Thailand soon as EB looks to move closer to its long-term target of having EFN events held at different venues around the world on a weekly basis.
