Have you ever thought to yourself, “I love MMA, but what would it look like in zero gravity?” If so, then Space 11 looks to answer that very question with their new reality TV show.
Let’s face it, if you’re reading this article it is likely because you are fan of MMA. After all, who doesn’t love a good cage fight, especially when it looks something like Weili Zhang vs Joanna Jedrzejczyk or Israel Adesanya vs Kelvin Gastelum.
Mixed martial arts has also proven itself to be ripe for reality television too. This is no more evident than with the return of The Ultimate Fighter, which is currently filming with coaches Brian Ortega and Alexander Volkanovski.
Space 11 Wants MMA Fights In Space
Now it seems that the world of MMA is going to be getting another reality TV show, only with one new component: this time the fights will be taking place in orbit.
According to reports, Space 11, an entertainment company that looks to have TV shows, movies, live events, and future sporting contests in outer space, are looking to put together a new reality show. Dubbed Galactic Combat, this show will feature 40 mixed martial artists training and fighting, both on land and in space.
“If you take UFC, it has a huge fan base,” says Space 11 producer Andrea Iervolino in an interview with Fast Company.
“My goal with this new format is, I don’t want to lose UFC fans—we need to embrace all of them. The whole MMA world. But the goal with Zero-G fighting is to make the concept much wider.”
The plan is for Galactic Combat to air in 2023 the latest, with a 12-episode run. It will feature 40 MMA fighters competing on Earth, with 8 finalists then heading into the atmosphere for a 90-minute rotation around the planet in a spaceship, fighting in zero gravity on a spacecraft with a specially designed combat arena.
“When people try to punch you in zero gravity—I don’t know if you’ve seen the video of a baby pushing a person [in zero gravity] and the person goes to the other side of the room,” explains Iervolino. “It’s a totally different way to punch someone. It’s a very different type of training.”
Would you want to watch MMA fighters competing on a reality show in space? Is this something that Space 11 will successfully be able to pull off?
