African Warriors Fighting Championship, DAZN partner to promote Dambe overseas

The African Warriors Fighting Championship (AWFC), the premier traditional Nigerian boxing sport, has announced a groundbreaking broadcast partnership with DAZN, the world’s leading sports entertainment platform.

Under this exclusive agreement, DAZN will serve as AWFC’s global streaming partner and will broadcast the highly anticipated Dambe World Series, a tournament consisting of five events, where Nigeria’s top athletes will battle against international challengers.

Indigenous to Nigeria, Dambe is a unique form of kickboxing that draws inspiration from traditional spear and shield combat. Fighters use one hand, wrapped in rope, to strike, while the other is reserved for defence. Kicks, often with fierce intensity, are also a key part of the combat style.

AWFC has led the charge in increasing the Dambe’s global visibility, with viral videos garnering millions of views on social media.

According to founder of African Warriors Fighting Championship, Maxwell Kalu, the partnership with DAZN is a monumental step towards AWFC’s goals of increasing the commercial viability of traditional Nigerian boxing and bringing Dambe to a global audience. Leveraging DAZN’s ubiquity within fight Sports and its unparalleled reach, he said, AWFC will introduce the raw intensity, skill, and excitement of the Sport to DAZN’s ever-growing combat audience.

The Dambe World Series tournament will build upon the success of AWFC’s King of Dambe event in 2024, which featured the first-ever European competitor, Luke Leyland, facing off against AWFC veteran Shagon Yellow. The electrifying bout ended with a second-round stoppage for Yellow and attracted a live audience of 10,000, with millions more tuning in online.

Kalu said: “We are incredibly excited to