Four athletes in the cage in the first Double Fighting fight. Photo: Reproduction/YouTube
Double Fighting caused a stir in the MMA community last week, even though details of the event have not yet been released. The first organization that will promote fights between duos within a cage believes that he will be able to win the admiration of the public and that, one day, he will become the main reference for mixed martial arts on the planet.
This is what Carlos Nacli, director of Double Fighting, intends. In an exclusive interview with SUPER FIGHTS, he promised that more news will be revealed soon. “Our goal is to be the best MMA show in the world. We are bringing something unique and innovative to MMA, which is the fastest growing sport in the world. We have already had the first official fight, which despite being treated as a pilot, has already become a historic fact,” he said. “We have long-term planning, but we are taking it one step at a time.”
Nacli is not afraid that the public will confuse the form of fights between pairs with pro wrestling, also known in Brazil as Telecatch. “Double Fighting has 100% MMA DNA”, he clarified. “We intend to delink this association by showing the public a serious event, with defined and exclusive rules. Then, over time, this situation will naturally resolve itself”, he trusts.
According to the director, formulating the rules was the most laborious part of the project. “When the idea of 'two against two' came up in my creative process, I knew it was innovative, but how to put order in the unfolding [of the fight] was very difficult and interesting,” he said. “For seven months I mentally worked on how the fight would unfold and then things started to flow. When I encountered a barrier, I would hit it until I found a way out.”
Nacli, however, still does not intend to give more details about the rules, such as, for example, what would happen if there was a knockout or submission. “What I can say is that there will be an orderly interaction throughout the fight. Furthermore, I hope you wait for the full video for more details”, he summarized.
Another challenge for Double Fighting is finding gyms interested in the sport, as the idea is still met with resistance. “The only two gyms guaranteed in our project are Thai Brasil, in Curitiba and Florianópolis, and Ryan Gracie, in São Paulo. It wasn’t easy to get brave gyms – most were afraid to enter something like this,” he reported. However, Nacli is confident that, with publicity about the project, the number of interested parties will grow. “It would be nice to have a gym in each state, but now there will be no shortage of interested parties.”
Soon, Double Fighting will release the full video of the experimental fight, in which the rules will also be disclosed in detail. The event schedule, such as its first edition, has not yet been made official.
Check out the complete exclusive interview with Carlos Nacli, director of Double Fighting, below.
What are Double Fighting's real plans in the current MMA scenario? Is there something in progress so that an event can actually be held soon? When and where are the expectations for the first event?
Carlos Nacli: Our goal is to be the best MMA show in the world. We are bringing something unique and innovative to MMA, which is the fastest growing sport in the world. We have already had the first official fight, which despite still treating it as a “pilot”, has already become a historical fact. We are currently working on editing the video of this fight, as the video of the highlights that we released just shows the idea. Details of the fight and its main information will be released in this video. We have long-term planning, but we are taking it one step at a time. To give you an idea, this project has already been registered with the responsible Brazilian authorities for almost a year. Now we are officially there and we have a lot of things planned.
MMA has had many difficulties in the past to detach its image from the pro wrestling, as this confusion often happened to fans. How do you intend to do this? Are you prepared for fans' doubts in this regard?
CN: What I can tell you is that Double Fighting has 100% MMA DNA. My only memory of pro wrestling It's when I was a kid and I drove my mother crazy to buy the Hulk Hogan doll on a trip to the United States. We intend to break this association by showing the public a serious event, with defined and exclusive rules. Then, over time, this situation naturally resolves itself. On our social networks we will assist all fans who want to ask questions.
Are there already negotiations with teams and academies interested in participating in this modality?
CN: The only two gyms guaranteed in our project are Thai Brasil, in Curitiba and Florianópolis, and Ryan Gracie, in São Paulo. It wasn't easy to get brave gyms, as most were afraid to enter something like this. Initially, we will be opening six more gyms in Brazil. In Curitiba there are already interested parties, but anyone who is reading the article and is from academia can send us a message on Facebook and we are starting a selection process. It would be cool to get one from each state, but now there will be no shortage of interested parties.
How was the study carried out to arrive at the event rules? How laborious was that?
CN: That was the hardest part of this project. I specialize in creating reality shows sports and entertainment for television, with a focus on football and MMA. I also have a big project in football, Brasil Bom de Bola, but which, due to its commercial scale, is more difficult to launch, but it is as revolutionary as MMA. As for Double, when the idea of 'two against two' came up in my creative process, I knew it was innovative, but how to put order into it was very difficult and interesting.
I remember meditating on the outcome and mentally putting two against two on the cage, and my mental fighters wouldn't move. I did not know what to do. For seven months I mentally worked on how the fight would unfold and then things started to flow. When I encountered a barrier, I would hit it until I found a way out.
Recently, we have seen some refereeing problems in MMA fights, with premature interruptions, etc. What have you done to ensure that a referee can perform optimally, even though he has to keep an eye on two fights at the same time?
CN: To make the fight safer, we decided to innovate and place two referees inside the cage. Thus, if two knockout situations occur simultaneously, for example, there will be a referee for each pair. For us on the outside, it is very difficult to judge the decision of the referee, who is the expert and is there. But what I could see in the first fight is that, because there were two referees watching inside, there was a harmony between them and they came together.
I know you don't intend to reveal details of the rules yet, but what will the dynamics of the fights be like? Are they like two completely different fights that happen simultaneously or, suddenly, can a fighter help his teammate who is on the ground below, for example?
CN: What I can say is that there will be an orderly interaction throughout the fight. Furthermore, I hope you wait for the full video for more details.
What happens if there is a knockout or a submission? Does the knockout duo lose the fight instantly?
CN: Excellent question, but the answer is a surprise.
Check out the Double Fighting promotional video below:
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