Hybrid Combat Series boss Shane Tipa says live streamed shows are "the way forward" for the rebranded promotion after it relaunched Canberra's fighting scene with a bang.
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HCS' first show at the Hellenic Club of Canberra passed with flying colours as the ACT government imposed strict biosecurity measures and crowd restrictions to halt chances of the coronavirus spreading.
The sold-out 11-fight card went off without a hitch, in a welcome sign for combat sports in Canberra ahead of the National Boxing Series blockbuster at EPIC on Friday night.
"It was the most challenging show we have ever put together, but in saying that, we confronted the challenge head on and we came out on the right side," Tipa said.
"After 11 years of fight show this was easily the most challenging, just due to COVID restrictions and ensuring everything that was put to us was complied to accordingly.
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"The ACT government were unreal to deal with in the lead up and on the night. The feedback we received from them was the show was compliant.
"There were no issues to come out of it from their end, which is all positive for promotions in the future, considering we still believe there will be some sort of COVID restrictions in place early next year."
Another Canberra-based fighter in Ehsan Shakeri lost via stoppage in the co-main event, with fans tuning in from around the globe via a Facebook live stream of the event.
"The report we got back was that the matchmaking was second to none. There may have been stoppages, but from what they witnessed, there were no mismatches," Tipa said.
"There were no bunnies taking on a weapon or a mad set-up. That's what the crowd wants to see, because you pay for what you get.
"The live stream is something we will continue. Our major sponsors are over the moon with the outcome considering we had over 10,000 views of the live stream, I got that back from the live stream company themselves.
"It's the way forward. We had people watching in Holland, the Dutch love kickboxing. We had people from as far as New Zealand, Holland, Asia. Not a whole lot, but people were still viewing it."
Caden Helmers
Caden Helmers is a sports journalist for The Canberra Times.
Caden Helmers is a sports journalist for The Canberra Times.
