MP & Silva, a leading international sports marketing and media company, has announced the launch of FIGHT CODE, a brand new, kickboxing tournament series, in coproduction with Carlo Di Blasi International Kickboxing promoter FIGHT CODE, which will take place in 10 of Europe’s most alluring cities during the course of 2011, kicks off in style later this week with a special gala launch event in Stockholm on November 27.

The 2011 series will comprise 10 events and a minimum of 60 fights across two new weight categories – RHINOS (-105 KG) and DRAGONS (-. 72.5 KG). In addition, each of the 10 events will also feature a special series of PRESTIGE FIGHTS, in which local fight stars from the host countries will compete against fighters from around the world in front of their home audiences.

The RHINOS and DRAGONS series will feature some of the world’s hottest fight stars, including the 2010 K-1 Bucharest World Grand Prix champion Freddy Kemayo, the legendary three-time K-1 champion Jörgen “The Last Viking” Kruth, ‘Honoured Master of Sports’ Arthur Kyshenko, the lightning-fast Dzharbar Askerov, and Marcus Oberg ,silver medallist at the Bejing Combat Games.

FIGHT CODE 2011 is slated to take place across Europe in Geneva, Turin, Budapest, Milan, Split, Debrecen, Bratislava, Istanbul, Marseille and Stockholm – which will also host the FIGHT CODE Opening Gala event. And, MP & Silva’s role in this landmark new franchise includes production and event management as well as worldwide distribution of the format across all broadcast and new media platforms.

“FIGHT CODE offers a fresh take on traditional fight sports content, with a unique format, high production values and competitive match ups featuring both top stars and local fighters. As such, it is the first franchise-based series that will offer global appeal, but also produce tailor-made fight content for individual markets,” said Andrea Radrizzani, Group CEO, MP & Silva. “Fight sports offer broadcasters exciting, unpredictable content, with high television ratings in the key demographic group of affluent young males. But we believe that there is still huge potential to grow kickboxing’s reach and with FIGHT CODE, we hope to raise the profile of this exhilarating sport in even more territories. We are thrilled to embark on this project and we will work to see its success through 2011 and beyond.”

About MP & Silva:

MP & Silva is a leading international sports marketing and media company that owns, manages and distributes television, media and marketing rights to some of the most prestigious sports events around the world. With an annual turnover in excess of USD$ 200 million, the MP & Silva group has an established track record in managing commercial and TV rights for a number of professional sporting organisations, federations, leagues, clubs and rights holders, and represents some of the most important and world-class sports events. Some of the company’s television rights portfolio includes Italian Serie A, English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, French Ligue 1, Major League Soccer (MLS), Brazilian national football league (Brasileirão), Arsenal Football Club, AC Milan, National Basketball Association (NBA), Spanish basketball league (Liga ACB), several Asian football federations and ATP World Tour tennis tournaments – amounting to almost 6,000 hours of programming annually.

As a full service sports rights agency, MP & Silva provides a wide range of services to support its clientele of sports federations, rights holders, event organisers, teams, players, and commercial partners, who rely on the agency’s innovative commercial approach, extensive local knowledge and global networks to create real and tangible results through the world’s universal passion for sports. Headquartered in Singapore and London, MP & Silva operates worldwide through regional offices in Dubai, Dublin, Beijing, Hanoi, Milan, Monaco, Miami, New York, Munich and Tokyo.