Another week is coming to a close, but not without another edition of hooked on fight content.
Kevin Holland with the memes
Big mouth is back with plugging some of the most hysterical MMA memes. Six days ago, someone compared Sweden’s Khamzat Chimaev as ‘evil Khabib’ and Ian ‘the future’ Garry being the nice ‘Conor McGregor’.
The post has gained approximately 51k likes, which makes this his 2nd highest engaged post this month. I get what you’re thinking; what makes this so engaging? Well, it’s comparing the new generation of fighters to previous generations. Just like that, you’ve tapped into two different audiences, or maybe two of the same demographics who’ve followed the sport to this day.
Despite memes supposing to make you laugh, there are lessons to be learnt, especially from Kevin.
Francis Ngannou x Watford FC
This was a link-up many wouldn’t have expected. Heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou does his regular promotion for betting partner of the UFC, Stake.com, who are also partners for English football club Watford FC.
Before Watford’s thrilling win against Man United last weekend, Francis wished the boys luck, including a special wish to fellow countryman Nicolas Nkoulou.
Focusing on the bigger picture, stake.com have spotted an opportunity to endorse two of their key partners in one post. Subconsciously, they’ve increased their reach towards two distinctive audiences, football fans and MMA fans. It doesn’t only benefit Stake.com’s outreach; it’s an opportunity for Francis to maximise impact by gaining new followers and a presence amongst the football landscape.
Amir Aliakbari keeping his reflexes sharp
MMA world champion Amir Aliakbari is caught keeping his reflexes awake this week by ONE.
The IG clip has over 500k plays, and it’s mostly due to combat sports fans loving training footage. On this note, there are many ways you can create avenues of content through training footage, from activating challenges to get your profile trending, tutorials to educate your fans on best practices or simple clips to wow your audience.
Either way, as long as you follow the algorithm of keeping it educational, entertaining and engaging, you can’t go wrong.
I think Leon believes he deserves a title shot
It’s looking like a never-ending story at this point, but Mojahed Fudailat shows his support to the British welterweight to achieve his ultimate ambition. Leon has rightfully advocated for this moment for a long time, considering he’s won 9 of his last 11 fights, ever since he lost to the current champ over six years ago.
When you excessively push a narrative, it becomes a chance for external forces to create content from it to benefit their outcomes. Mojahed has done exactly this by sampling voiceovers from previous Leon Edwards related content to make a YouTube parody video to grow his own brand.
Exactly which Fury is Jake Paul fighting in December?
It’s getting a bit confusing at this point. You had John Fury getting heated at Jake Paul in the virtual press conference on Wednesday, Tyson Fury making personal remarks towards Jake, but we do not hear anywhere near as much from Tommy Fury. I wonder why…
Nevertheless, Tyson Fury made some explicit comments about Jake Paul’s girlfriend this week, and Jake Paul came up with an entertaining response via TikTok. Thus far, the clip has 2.8m views, over 250k likes and 4k+ comments.
Despite the response seeming ‘cringy’ and ‘childish’ for some, it’s a reason why Jake Paul is an effective self-promoter. Paul and his team are reactive to his comments, and they find a way to make the situation (whether good or bad) beneficial towards him. The clip above has likely increased Jake’s brand awareness and potential new audiences talking about his upcoming fight.
Jake Paul may not be the most likeable personality, but he’s certainly one that upcoming fighters can learn from to boost their personal appeal.
That’s a wrap for this week; as always, feel free to share what insights you found most beneficial and if there’s anything I’ve missed.
Sharing lessons sports professionals can learn through sports content 