Europa MMA's CEO Sean Sinclair talks to Kingdom MMA

Sean Sinclair discusses Europa MMA 1 and his plans for the future of Europa MMA

by Chris Houten @mrhouts

Today Kingdom MMA caught up with the CEO of Europa MMA, Sean Sinclair to discuss Europa MMA 1, which takes place on the 22nd March in Brentwood. Also, we talk about his plans for the future of Europa MMA.

Firstly, thank you for your team.
When I first saw mentions of your first event on twitter a few months ago, I found myself intrigued by the promotion as you have a great main event in Coga vs Backstrom. Can you tell me a bit about yourself and who else forms the brains behind the promotion? and what your backgrounds are?
The founder is Sean Sinclair; I'm a young entrepreneur who has a passion for MMA and wanted to launch my own promotion. There are several other people involved, including a few influential people within the MMA world. However they won’t be announced as part of the team until mid-2014.

Your first show takes place March 22nd, how many months has this show been in the making and have the difficulties of launching a new promotion and arranging your first show been everything you expected?
The show has been in the making since December 2013, with regards to starting a new promotion the saying is “if it was easy, everyone would be doing it!”. The easiest part has been arranging the main card due to the professionalism within the higher levels of the MMA scene.

As I said at the start you have a great main event set in Coga vs Backstrom; Who do you have working as match maker, and how did this fight come about?
All match making is done internally by the team, however we hope to make an announcement about our dedicated matchmaker soon. The fight come about because Backstrom hasn’t been able to get a great fight for a while now, and since Max Coga is on a tear and equally as skilled as Backstrom it was an easy fight to put together. When we told both the fighters about the bout, they were both equally as excited so it was very much a no brainer to make this happen.

You also have some pretty big names from the UK scene on the card such as Jeremy Petley, Wendle Lewis, Andre Winner etc. what is your process behind match making?
We go with the philosophy of R&R (Rankings & Records) meaning we will only put together fights with equally similar ranked guys. If a fighter is not ranked it is done on a record basis of similar fight experience and styles, at this level there is not a lot of footage of guys out there so you can’t make stylistic matchups meaning this is the best philosophy to follow.

So far you have announced 4 bouts for Europa MMA 1, how many fights do you anticipate putting on for your debut show?
Ten fights in total, we feel any more than this pollutes the experience for the fans.

Will all these bouts be professional contests or will you have a mixture of pro and amateur bouts?
No we will be doing professional cards exclusively, with fight nights being held at smaller venues for amateur fighters.

When can fans expect additional fight announcements?
We will be announcing the full card soon, as there are still some spots to fill.

You recently announced a new fight to the card, can you tell us about that fight and will this form part of the main card or the prelims?
Mohammed Babadivand who is a training partner of Niklas Backstrom will be taking on Frenchman Peter Ligier who fights out of Geneva Switzerland, this will be a professional bantamweight contest on the main card.

Are Europa MMA doing any drug testing for this show, and do you plan on working with Safe MMA for your first show? If not, is there a reason behind not working with Safe MMA and would you like to do so in the future?
Standard blood tests for Hep B/C and HIV are being done, which Europa MMA has funded. However, PED’s are not being tested for this event, as you can imagine the logistics behind this has proven difficult for the first event. We will be signing up with Safe MMA for what we will anticipate to be our third event.

Do you plan on making the show available online, whether it's live or delayed on youtube for fans who can't be in attendance?
All fights will be available on youtube, streaming is something we’re exploring and look to bring soon.

I know tickets for Europa MMA 1 are on sale now, where can fans buy tickets and how well are tickets selling?
Tickets are available at Ticketline.co.uk and local fans in Essex looking to buy tickets can like us on Facebook and take advantage of our free courier service. Tickets are selling at a steady pace as expected of a first event.

Do you have a set number of shows targeted for this year and do you plan on putting titles on the line at some stage?
We don’t have a set target, although we are currently committed to three shows as things stand. We won’t be introducing titles until the promotion gains credibility, as we want them to mean something for the fighter.

Can you tell me what your aspirations for the promotion are? Whats the ultimate goal?
The ultimate goal is to introduce a tournament format with a generous cash prize; we aren’t looking to take on any of the promotions who have a roster of fighters. We simply want to be a platform for European fighters to launch themselves into the MMA scene, and hopefully land lucrative contracts with other promotions.

Where do you see Europe MMA 3 years from now?
Doing our first tournament which will span over four shows, and hopefully some of those shows will be in various capital cities across Europe. Including England, Germany and Sweden.

Finally what sets Europa MMA apart from all the other promotions in the UK?
The main event of our first show represents what sets us apart, you are going to see high ranked guys from different countries across Europe meeting on neutral ground. To give both fighters the best opportunity and the fans and an experience of what the best across Europe have to offer. Helping grow peoples interest and support of other European fighters and promotions across the continent.

Thank you for your time Sean, we really appreciate it at such a busy time and all of us at the site are looking forward to your first event. As Sean said before that first event, Europa MMA 1 takes place at the Brentwood Centre, Brentwood, Essex on 22nd March. Tickets are priced between £30 - £50 for this event.