Top Australian flyweight and CFC fighter Kian Pham in action at Martial Combat 5 last year

Cage Fighting Championship is the premier promotion in Australia and helped launch the careers of UFC fighters Kyle Noke and James Te Huna as well as Bellator Middleweight Champion Hector Lombard.  This December CFC will cement its status as being the most respected and long running events in the region by putting on show number 19 at the Big Top Stadium in Sydney.

Co-owner Luke Pezzutti is currently busy putting together the final touches to that card and has also just put pen to paper on a deal which will see CFC become a part of the largest MMA partnership platform in Asia, the ONE FC Network.  The ONE FC Network also includes URCC in the Philippines, Road FC in Korea, Mayhem in Malaysia, DREAM in Japan and a few others to be announced soon.

It is an axis of power unlike any other in the history of MMA and Pezzutti recently returned from the inaugural Asian MMA Summit hosted by ONE FC in Singapore, involving all of the major power brokers of MMA in Asia.  He feels that the ONE FC Network is an exciting development for fight fans across the Asia Pacific region,

"The summit has been about a collaboration between the leading organizations in the region and about finding ways we can work together.  For instance, there will be a CFC champion on the ONE FC card in Jakarta who will be taking on an Asian champion and we want to work along those lines to try and put our top fighters against each other in the future.  So fans will finally get to see the best compete against the best across the region.  ONE FC is the major leagues of Asian MMA," he said.

While the identity of the fighters involved will not be revealed until a formal press conference early next month, the prospect of the best fighters from Australia doing battle against the leading mixed martial artists in Asia is one which could capture the imagination in more than one continent.

According to Pezzutti, the arrangement is a reciprocal one and as well as seeing the top fighters from Australasia compete in Asia there will also be movement in the opposite direction,

"There will definitely be ONE FC fighters fighting in Australia.  That’s the whole idea of the collaboration.  It means we can work together to utilize fighters and to give the Asian fighters a chance to fight in Australia and the Australian fighters a chance to fight in Asia.  It’s a huge opportunity because Australian fighters have limited opportunities to fight abroad and this will give them the chance to fight on the international stage."

The ONE FC cage will be coming to Jakarta in February and there will be some Australian fighters on the card

Pezzutti feels that the ONE FC Network will empower all the promotions and fighters which fall under its umbrella and believes it is one of the most exciting developments he has ever witnessed after decades of working within the MMA industry,

"At the summit, Victor Cui revealed to all of us the media deals that he has in place for ONE FC.  ONE FC has yet to announce all their media deals to the public, so I can’t say much.  But what I can say is that it is the biggest media platform that I have seen in our industry.  It is amazing what he has done so far and just to be part of it and to work with his organization is a good thing for CFC.  The revenue sharing opportunities and cost savings leverage are limitless for all parties involved in the ONE FC Network."

For more information about Cage Fighting Championships visit: www.cfcworld.com.au/