DAZN Partners with EFC to Expand African MMA Globally, Free-to-View

This partnership strategically enhances DAZN's global combat sports content offering, leveraging free-to-view distribution to attract new subscribers and expand its user base, especially in regions with emerging MMA fanbases. By focusing on African MMA, DAZN taps into a growing talent pool and geographic market, differentiating its content from competitors. Moving forward, observers should monitor global viewership numbers for EFC events on DAZN to gauge the effectiveness of this geographic expansion and content strategy.

The partnership with EFC coincides with a broader expansion of the African mixed martial arts (MMA) market. According to reports from African Business (December 2024), the Professional Fighters League (PFL) is scheduled to launch PFL Africa in 2025, with star fighter Francis Ngannou serving as chairman. This interest is driven by a surge in demand for high-quality sports entertainment from Africa’s growing middle class, which the African Development Bank noted has tripled over the last three decades to over 310 million people. South Africa, EFC's home base, is currently the continent’s most mature MMA market, with digital sports viewership expected to grow significantly through 2029 (per PwC, October 2025).

For DAZN, this move follows a series of aggressive consolidations in the combat sports sector. In early 2026, DAZN became the central broadcast home for major boxing promoters including Matchroom, Queensberry, and Top Rank (per BoxingNews24, March 2026). CEO Shay Segev has emphasized that consolidating these rights under one umbrella reduces the 'television rights conflicts' that historically blocked major matchups. By adding EFC to this stable, DAZN is applying the same consolidation logic to MMA, targeting the 18-34 demographic that Nielsen identifies as having the highest interest in the sport. The use of a free tier is also a response to the evolving African SVOD landscape, where total subscription revenue is projected to reach $3.3 billion in 2026, with sports streaming as the fastest-growing segment (per Mordor Intelligence, January 2026).