Proxima and Snoop Dogg together announced the launch of a new boxing league, “The Fight Club,” following the global success of the Tyson vs. Jones event.
The epic event was one of the most-watched fights of all time, garnering hundreds of millions of views across the globe. The series will be a trailblazer in connecting celebrities from various backgrounds, from breakout social media stars and professional athletes renowned for their athletic abilities to celebrated musicians and well-known actors and other stars willing to tackle a new venture and enter the world of boxing, as well as pro boxers making their way up. “The Fight Club” will feature a never-before-seen production quality and element, as showcased this weekend in the Tyson Jones event.
“Up until this weekend, boxing was about the experience of one small group of elite individuals who attended the fight in person,” said Ryan Kavanaugh, Principal of Proxima and co-founder of “The Fight Club.” “What we wanted to create with the Tyson vs. Jones event was an experience for all of the viewers at home, combining the highest-end production and lighting and a production quality never before brought to a fight. Today marks a paradigm shift as Triller and Proxima’s “The Fight Club” dedicates itself to delivering top-notch immersive experiences in the comfort of your home.”
Inspired by the wild success of Saturday night’s event, “The Fight Club” fights will follow professional boxing rules and feature various sources of entertainment. With award-winning musical artists taking the stage to deliver show-stopping performances, as well as celebrity guests and commentators, the events will continue to be of the highest-caliber production quality ever seen in the world of boxing.
Snoop Dogg and Triller are partners and co-founders of “The Fight Club” and in addition to being a co-owner, Snoop will be the celebrity host and announcer of the events. His role will include helping select the fighters and musical acts, as well as advising the overall production of the series. Proxima will be the production partner, promotor (it is in the process of getting its promoter licenses) and marketing partner.
The series will include five to eight “The Fight Club” events per year, produced with the highest production value. Drawing on Kavanaugh’s production experience and his extensive film background (having produced and/or financed over 200 films and 40 TV series and the 26th highest grossing producer of all time), the events are meant to continue to break boundaries and set records.
Together with his partner Bobby Sarnevesht, co-owner of Proxima and the Executive Chairman and co-owner of Triller, Kavanaugh and Sarnevesht created and executed Saturday’s game-changing event, which is owned by Triller. Snoop was the celebrity announcer and performed the walk out song.
“Saturday’s event broke the internet, with the fight taking over the top 1 through 8 most-tweeted about topics and leading FITE TV to the number one app in the App Store,” said Mike Lu, CEO Of Triller.
“FITE streams over a thousand shows per year, and we’ve carried some of the industry’s largest pay-per-view events such as Canelo vs GGG I & II. The Mike Tyson vs Roy Jones Jr. event was an exceptional event and earned the largest numbers of buys ever for FITE! FITE registered users increased from 2.8 million to over 4 million this past weekend. And FITE trended as the number one grossing app in the United States of all apps this past weekend. Working with Triller on this event was a fantastic experience, it’s impressive when someone over delivers. We are looking forward to doing more together soon,” said Kosta Jordanov, CEO of FITE. “I want to also thank our partners at Apple, Amazon, Roku, Sony, and Vizio, for working with us to promote this great event,” added Jordanov.
The new initiative arrives after Triller cemented their presence in the world of sports. Millions of fans shattered viewing expectations by tuning in on various platforms to view the historic and hotly-anticipated face-off between Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr., as well as Jake Paul vs. Nate Robinson, Badou Jack vs. Blake McKernan, and Jamaine Ortiz vs. Sulaiman Segawa as well as mega superstars performing with the bells and whistles worthy of an Oscar award show including Ne-Yo, French Montana, YG, Saint Jhn, Snoop, and Wiz Khalifa.
“I feel like I was part of history, something that everyone will remember. Thanks to Triller and ‘The Fight Club’ for having me,” said Wiz Khalifa.
Wassim “Sal” Slaiby, CEO of SALXCO and XO Records, was floored by the event. “In a historical evening watching Bobby and Ryan deliver such an epic event was inspiring,” he said. “Congrats to Bobby at Triller and Ryan from ‘The Fight Club’ for delivering such a special night. Excited for the next ‘The Fight Club’ event.”
The inclusion of fighters such as social media sensation Jake Paul versus MBA superstar Nate Robinson drew a very significant crowd on their own, with the Paul vs Jones fight dominating the internet’s top spots today.
“Saturday was our pilot and it worked. Now when anyone hears it’s a Triller “The Fight Club” event, they now know it means the production will be unparalleled. It will look and feel like nothing they’ve ever seen. Triller’s official motto ‘Where you do you’ is carried into these events where celebrities unleash their inner boxers, where everyone is free to express themselves. Whether it’s the announcers giving their honest narrative and doing so talking like drunken sailors or artists expressing their music while smoking on a joint, we encourage pushing the rules of the game and pushing them to the limits,” said Sarnevesht.
“Twitter, Youtube and the internet lit up like a Christmas tree: all of sudden our event was the Top 8 most trending and popular topics online. Everyone started to buy. It was everything we wanted it to be and set digital records. We literally saw the word of mouth create records,” said Bobby Sarnevesht, Executive Chair of Triller and co-owner of Proxima.
“As the event unfolded, the digital streams started to grow exponentially, proving our new approach to the look and feel of boxing worked,” he continued. “Social media started the word of mouth and by halfway through a lot of the word was watching.”
“I have been involved in many events across many platforms. Saturday night, which marked the launch of Proxima’s ‘The Fight Club’ league, was in the top 5 of my entire career. We are changing the entire game; boxing will never be the same and the audiences expect a new standard now. ‘The Fight Club’ is that standard,” said Snoop. “Ryan and I have worked together for over a decade on many things, but this takes the cake. It was like watching a Tarantino film, the Super Bowl, Rocky, and Woodstock all in one,” Snoop continued.
“We decided we wanted to change it all up. This is a sport that deserves the highest quality of production and we spared no expense to put twenty-one cameras in the Staples Center last night, providing audiences with a 360-degree view. Our team worked tirelessly to create lighting that highlighted the fighter’s presence in the ring, ensuring not one punch was lost. We treated the event like the set of a film, an award show, and a pro-sports event all in one because we wanted to produce something that had never been done before,” said Kavanaugh. “This is just the beginning. The world won’t believe our next line-up; I can hardly hold it in — it’s so exciting,” said Sarnevesht.
Propogate, Ben Silverman’s distribution company, handled foreign distribution of the event and will be handling foreign distribution for “The Fight Club” future events.
“We are excited to continue growing our partnership with Proxima and Triller as they expand and change boxing for diehard fans as well as bringing the sport to an entire new generation of fans. We look forward to bringing ‘The Fight Club’ events to our partners around the globe as we did with Tyson v Jones Jr. from Australia to the UK,” said President, Distribution at Propagate Content, Cyrus Farrokh.
The iconic evening also featured partnerships with DraftKings, WeedMaps, SmartStop® Self Storage, and more, further establishing Triller as not only an app, but a company committed to providing viewers around the world with a broad range of entertainment. This weekend found Triller once again trending as the 12th most popular app in the App Store following the event.
