Former NBA star Yao Ming’s kickboxing organization Glory is looking for a minority investor, and sports banking firm Moag and Company has been retained to facilitate the process.
Glory, founded in 2012, is seeking a buyer or consortium to acquire a $10 million equity stake at a $100 million valuation. The capital injection will be utilized to fund the London-based company’s ongoing globalization efforts, namely in the United States market, according to a source familiar with negotiations. The stand-up combat league has talked to potential investors, but a deal has not been finalized.
“We’ve retained Moag because of some inbound interest and now we’re evaluating beyond that,” Glory CEO Marshall Zelaznik said in a phone interview. “We’re reacting to the (growing) market. … There’s money coming off the sideline and we’d be foolish not to evaluate opportunities that will help us grow.”
Glory is owned by hedge fund manager and founder Pierre Andurand, who is the controlling stakeholder with more than 70% of the company, Yao (through his private equity firm Yao Capital) and others. The kickboxing brand is headquartered in London but has hosted events worldwide including in Asia, Netherlands, Germany and France (with desires to infiltrate the Middle East, like other promotions).
As part of its United States expansion, Glory plans to create a new event concept (Glory Underground) that introduces a year-long tournament format that’s easier to follow, according to an investor deck obtained by Sportico. The same deck mentions the new concept will include partnerships with some of the nation’s most popular internet streamers to bring added awareness to the promotion. Glory is in ongoing talks with Twitch, Kick and Jake Paul’s Betr for potential promotional opportunities. It’s a similar engagement play boxing and other combat sports have taken in recent years.
Glory, which has deals with more than 100 strikers worldwide, has featured some of the top MMA fighters including former middleweight champ Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya, who are now with UFC. The organization aims to differentiate itself in the U.S. market through stand-up combat. It has media rights deals with Combate, Videoland and DAZN.
The international organization believes it will quadruple its revenue in the next four years (projected $21 million in 2025 to $89 million by 2029), according to the deck, with added events and potentially stronger media rights deals and renewed contracts contributing to the outlook.
As an industry, Combat sports is expected to grow its consumer products market to nearly $14 billion globally, according to a report by TechSci Research. The increasing popularity on the global scale is led by MMA powerhouse Ultimate Fight Championship (UFC) which generated $354 million in revenue during the 2024 third quarter. UFC, which along with WWE is owned by Endeavor’s TKO Group Holdings, has recently received added attention with its ties to President Donald J. Trump administration. UFC CEO Dana White, a longtime friend of Trump, spoke at the Republican National Convention last year, for example.
A slew of recent transactions speak to international investors being bullish about the future of MMA. The list includes Surg Sports Investment’s $100 million deal with the Professional Fighters League (PFL) and One Championship parent company Group One Holdings reportedly raising $50 million at a $1.35 billion valuation.
The fight for market share in the MMA industry, though, has proved challenging with UFC as the clear leader. Glory joins PFL, One Championship and other promotions looking to leverage the recent wave of momentum around combat sports and gain more traction within the U.S.
(The fourth paragraph has been updated to clarify that Pierre Andurand is the controlling stakeholder with more than 70% of Glory and that Nectar Capital founder Scott Rudman is not a Glory stakeholder. The photo caption has been updated to clarify that Yao Ming is a minority investor in Glory.)
