Former NFL star Shawne Merriman continues to proudly lead rising MMA promotion Lights Out Xtreme Fighting (LXF) at a time when regional scenes are changing. But is this evolution for the best?
For Merriman, he’s not totally sure. But he’s confident he’s found ways to improvise in a time of uncertainty that includes potential splits between UFC Fight Pass and regional promotions, like LFA. Merriman and LXF, however, recently struck a deal with ESPN Latin America, and plan to continue to add different regional streaming and broadcasting partners to the list.
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“This industry is going to change in general,” Merriman recently told MMA Junkie. “There are a lot of regional promotions that are going to drop off because they are not making any money. That’s why we got ahead of the game by implementing some of the tech platforms. For example, with PTF, with the AI advertising technology where the sponsorships change on the mat, we just went commercial with that. We’re about to announce a big deal, too, to license out that technology to another big organization to help revenue. Also, shot-tracker with chips in the glove. We’re going to go commercial with that. I’m trying to have that ready for our next event, Feb. 7.
“The chips in the gloves will allow the fans to sit back and watch and see in live data the G-force of a punch, velocity, speed and accuracy, and shoot out live data that can be used for betting companies, healthcare companies. We’re going to license out that data to other regional promotions. I already saw this coming because it’s a tough business in a very crowded market, so you have to do something, not only to stay alive but to scale. We’re not in this business to stay the same. We want to compete. We want to be known as one of the best organizations in the world. I think we’re on a good path to do that.”
Merriman’s LXF held its first event in May 2019. In December, it held its 29th. The growth has been incremental, Merriman said, and he thinks not chasing the fame and fortune as quickly as possible will ultimately pay the biggest dividends.
“I think there are a lot of promotions chasing the UFC and putting themselves in really bad positions for doing that,” Merriman said. “Our goal is not to chase anybody but to create lanes that aren’t there. We don’t want to be the UFC. We don’t even have aspirations of doing that. Like I just said, when I get text messages or messages from guys that fought for us, when they get that opportunity, that’s pretty cool. We’re good with that, especially right now. I think there’s multiple MMA organizations that are like chasing the rainbow and spending their way to the top. That’s not our formula, man. We’re growing beyond belief. We’re doing it organically. We’re doing it the right way. As long as we keep producing these top-level fighters and increasing what’s going on in our organization, we don’t really care what anybody else is doing. We’re doing something different that’s not there.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Former NFL star breaks down streaming landscape for growing promotions
