Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American MMA promotion company founded in 1993 and acknowledged by the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts, which showcases 12 weight divisions of fighters. After UFC 1, the rules of MMA have changed drastically due to different fighting styles, threatening health injuries, and aggressive rivalries between competitors. In December 2014, UFC signed a six-year partnership contract with Reebok as an official provider of outfits for the UFC from July 2015. As per the contract, athletes are not permitted to print outside sponsor logos on apparel during UFC official events.
Segmental Insights
The global mixed martial arts market has been segmented by equipment, nutritional supplement, and merchandise. On the basis of equipment, the market has been segmented into gloves, ankle/ knee/elbow guards, punching bags, hand wraps, shin guards, mouth guards, and other. On the basis of nutritional supplement, the market has been segmented into glutamine supplements, branched chain amino acids supplements, creatine supplements, and others. On the basis of merchandise, the market has been segmented into t-shirts, shorts, hoodies, and others.
Merchandise is an activity of promoting or presenting a sale of goods to be bought or sold specifically in retail outlets for customers. Nutrition is a wide and varied product category including protein, amino acids, and energy drinks.
Regional Insights
The global mixed martial arts market has been segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America and the Middle East & Africa (LAMEA).
North America dominates the global mixed martial arts market as MMA is expected to transform the region’s growth within the sport and emerge as a fertile market for international expansion. In Europe, UFC has also formed a joint venture with sovereign wealth funds from Russia, China, and the United Arab Emirates to promote UFC events in Russia. This joint venture, backed by Russian Direct Investment Fund, would also run other UFC businesses such as media rights and consumer products.
Asia Pacific is one of the fastest growing markets for mixed martial arts as China, Japan, and Korea, being the birthplace of martial arts, have an opportunity to encourage the world champions in MMA. The Latin America and Middle East & Africa (LAMEA) region has been experiencing strong growth in the global mixed martial arts market as several countries in the region are hosting high-level events by UFC alongside the proliferation of specialty gyms for MMA training.
Competition Landscape
Some of the key players in the global market are Adidas AG, Century LLC, Everlast Worldwide, Inc., Hayabusa Fightwear Inc., Combat Sports Inc., Twins Special Co. LTD., Fairtex, King Professional, Title Boxing, LLC, and Ringside, Inc.
Around 65% of adults pursuing formal martial arts instructions lies are aged 18–34 while the 50+ category composes 11% of the adult population. Advertisers are hence interested in the subcategory of the 18–34 male demographic and have started responding by increasing support for MMA.
Mixed Martial Arts Market Segmentation
By Deployment
By Enterprise
By Application
By Region