StarTimes brings the best of world combat sports to Africa audience

Affordable digital TV operator, StarTimes has acquired rights to a vast array of combat sports, as part of its promises to add fresh and highly sought-after content.

Among the long list of premium combat sports on StarTimes are Bob Arum’s Top Rank boxing events, top boxing bouts held by WBO, WBA, and WBC and IBF as well as several mixed martial arts (MMA) competitions.   

All these events are broadcast on the ST Sports Arena channel as well as on the other sports channels exclusive to StarTimes. ST Sports Arena channel is on Basic Bouquet at N1700 monthly and Smart Bouquet at N2200 monthly.

Recently, StarTimes acquired the exclusive broadcast rights for Bob Arum’s Top Rank boxing events. Top Rank stands as one of the world’s premiere boxing promotions. For nearly half a century, Top Rank has produced some of boxing most exciting bout and Top Rank’s current stable of champions represents the best the sport has to offer: Vasiliy Lomachenko, Terence Crawford, Oscar Valdez, Gilberto Ramirez, Jose Ramirez and Tyson Fury.

Cage Warriors is Europe’s leading and longest-running mixed martial arts promotion. It is the sport’s fastest-growing organization and has been home to some of the biggest stars of MMA’s past and present, including Conor McGregor.

One Championship is the leading Asian MMA event, quickly becoming a global powerhouse. Today, the very best fighting talents and prospects in Asia ply their trade in the fabled ONE cage, including 10 World Champions that represent the very pinnacle of the game. This includes global superstar athletes such as Angela Lee, Bibiano Fernandes, Eduard Folayang, Ben Askren, and Brandon Vera.

Fight Nights Global (FNG) is a Russian mixed martial arts organization that previously hosted K-1 and other martial arts events. It features the top-ranking fighters of the sport. The company’s shows featured Fedor Emelianenko, Batu Khasikov and many other eminent mixed martial artists.

Glory is the world’s premier kickboxing league. It signed most of the world’s top kickboxers such as Peter Aerts, Remy Bonjasky, Semmy Schilt, Gokhan Saki, Daniel Ghiţă, Albert Kraus, Giorgio Petrosyan, and Yoshihiro Sato.

Last but not least, the World Boxing Super Series (WBSS) is an annual boxing tournament and brings the ‘best of the best’ fighters together to compete at venues around the world for the Muhammad Ali Trophy, named in honour of the “Greatest of all time”, Muhammad Ali.

Kristen Miao, StarTimes Sports Director, explains that “StarTimes is committed to bringing the widest and richest combat sports offering into Sub-Saharan Africa. Combat sports are among the most popular sports in Africa and we looking to give the best experience to our subscribers. To this end, we will continue to enlarge our portfolio with premium events such as Top Rank’s.”