King of the Cage
A long-running MMA promotion featuring rising stars and tribal casino events.
King of the Cage (KOTC) is a Southern California-based mixed martial arts promotion. Founded in 1998, it has become a long-running organization that showcases amateur and rising fighters, along with former mainstream combat athletes.
Quick Facts
- Founded
- 1998
- Founder
- Terry Trebilcock
- Headquarters
- Rancho Cucamonga, California
- Country
- United States
- Industry
- Mixed martial arts promotion
Facts from the source article.
History
King of the Cage was founded in 1998 by Terry Trebilcock Jr. and has promoted most of its events at Native American casinos across the United States, with additional events in Canada, Australia, and Japan. Its broadcasts have appeared on most national pay-per-view platforms. In September 2007, Trebilcock sold KOTC to ProElite, but he reacquired full ownership in July 2009 and simultaneously entered a joint venture with Mark Burnett Productions to develop a reality television program. This led to Bully Beatdown, a Burnett-produced show that aired three seasons on MTV and featured several KOTC competitors. On January 30, 2010, KOTC began airing monthly shows on Mark Cuban's HDNet channel under an initial deal for 36 events, with announcers including Michael Schiavello, Jason "Mayhem" Miller, and Maria Kanellis; only six events aired from February to September 2010, and the last HDNet broadcast was No Mercy on September 17, 2010, with no further news about events on that channel. In November 2012, MAVTV struck a five-year deal for exclusive North American rights to a new two-hour KOTC event every Wednesday, described as covering 260 events. In March 2017, KOTC announced it had signed fourteen women to exclusive multi-fight contracts, forming atomweight (105 lb) and strawweight (115 lb) divisions capped at eight fighters each, and reached an agreement with the UFC to make bouts available on UFC Fight Pass after their initial MAVTV broadcast. The promotion's Canadian branch staged 71 events, holding its final card on June 16, 2017. KOTC has continued promoting regularly in the United States, largely at tribal casinos in Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, and California, surpassing 600 events by 2026, with full seasons streamed free on demand through Pluto TV.
Current champions
KOTC follows the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts but uses different names for some weight classes: its 145-pound division is called Bantamweight, its 135-pound division is Flyweight, and its 125-pound division is Light Flyweight. Three additional divisions not in the Unified Rules are a 165-pound Light Welterweight, a 195-pound Super Middleweight, and a 230-pound Cruiserweight.
More in Mixed Martial Arts Promotions
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