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 The Alien Invasion- the spread of Feral Combat.
In late December of last year few paid much heed to a press release from a small promotion, with just 7 events on the London scene, claiming it was about to 'go out and conquer a continent'- indeed the statement was at the time largely buried under the more pressing issues of carrying out tournaments in the 155lb and 205lb divisions, crowning its inaugural champions and holding, what was at the time, the fledgling promotions biggest event to date- Night of Champions. Behind the scenes however Feral Combat's president Mark Hibbert has been committed to his vision of a fight org transcending the regional model to become 'a notable force in European MMA'. In the 4 months since the promotion has held 6 international events and grown to the point where the 2,000 ticket sales of Night of Champions would now be considered at the smaller end of the spectrum. Tycoon Time's Ben Ulrich travelled with Hibbert to St Petersberg to talk developing new markets, world domination and the future.
So how does one go about trying to conquer Europe? “Slowly” Joked Hibbert, “We started off with one show booked in Amsterdam to test the waters in January, and it rocked- theyve got a great local scene out there, great Muay Thai/kickboxing heritage, some really good camps..a lot of our top fighters train there, they're no shortage of local talent- but the gamble was how would the mix of London fighters go down. Iv got to tell you I was amazed- we go out there with guys like Ben Dover, he's a beast and he's been with us since day one (ed: to be pedantic he made his debut at FC2), but the kids 3-0 at the time, like 2,000 people had ever seen him fight, if that and they all live in London, Im thinking no one knows who he is, what if the kid gets booed? You know?. So we get out there and it turns out there were all these hardcore fans who's been following things on the internet, and knew who all our guys we're and got behind them. It really was a great night, totally different atmosphere to anything we'd done before. In fact we we're so excited that we booked Helsinki from while we were flying home”
From there Feral Combat had its second Alien Invasion in Helsinki in late February, which crowned a Helsinki based heavyweight champion in Gary Goodridge. Shortly there after Amsterdam become a monthly show, with Alien Invasion 3 and 5 having happened there, AI7 scheduled for May and talk of AI9 being the promotions first outdoor show in June as the weather improves. Helsinki also earned a second card in AI4 in late march. Whilst criss crossing Europe the promotion has also grown- its shows have moved from 1,000 to 2,000 to 3,000 capacity shows.
This weeks card, Alien Invasion 6 was the organisations first attempt at the Russian market, its 27th event in all, and was aimed conservatively at the 2,000 capacity Hayashi's Lounge, on the way home we asked Hibbert how he thought the card went and what he thought of the Russian scene; “Tonight did well, every seat had a Russian man sat on it drinking vodka and shouting profanity- those guys really get into it. The fighters gave them something to shout for- some really great fights and 7 finishes, its what Iv come to expect from these kids. I'm still kicking myself over the whole visa thing with Yianni, that fight would've been the cherry on the cake, but these things happen” The fight in question was a planned heavyweight clash between Yianni Theodosis and former HW champion Gunnar Sigbjornsson who was scheduled to return from a long rehabilitation after a motorbike accident thats kept him away from the cage since January's Feral Combat 7. Visa issues resulted in Theodosis being detained at Helsinki airport and missing the bout, but Hibbert added that when we landed in the UK and he got back to the office rescheduling the bout for as soon as possible would be amongst his top priorities.
It certainly seems he's considering Alien Invasion 6 a success, so much in fact that the promotion announced its second trip to Russia at the post fight press conference- Alien Invasion 8 will take place in the larger Hard Knocks, 4 weeks from now. Hibbert added “Russia is a great resource of fighters the west is only just starting to pay attention to, these guys have been embracing Judo for years, they train Sambo their whole lives, they've got this great heritage of folk wrestling- I really want to get more Russians on our roster- and some beautiful venues, Id love to come back and fill the Sambo hall some day”
So whats next? “I feel we've neglected Helsinki a bit lately, well Sune (ed- Finnish HW contender Sune Mangs) tells me Im neglecting Helsinki” laughs Hibbert “We need to get back there, that's certainly on the cards. Obviously we're really establishing ourselves on the Amsterdam scene, so we're in talks for some BIG shows out there. We're not neglecting the fans back home in the UK either, we've got something pretty special planned for Feral Combat 20, we'll be dropping teasers for that over the coming weeks and months... Theres a lot going on, we just need to sort out contracts and stuff.. seriously you wouldn't believe the pile of paperwork waiting on my desk when we get back.. and thats before we even start thinking about trying to get broadcast contracts”
So now Feral Combat runs shows in 4 countries, with a combined audience rapidly closing in on 50,000 theres one last question that needed asking just before we landed- which fans did Hibbert think was best? “There can only be one answer to that. We've fought for the English fans, the Dutch fans, the Scandinavian fans, the Russian fans.. and you know what keeps me going, what makes me love my job? I love the MMA fans!!” Nicely avoided sir, well done. And with that we touched down back in the UK, our weekend was up and all that was left to do was wish Hibbert luck and I for one will be waiting with baited breath to see what comes next from Feral Combat.
Ben Ulrich – Tycoon Times
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