The History of KOTR

King of the Ring (KOTR) started back in 2021, as a small promotion that was birthed through back street fights. Hungry, upcoming fighters contended in various locations across the city; KOTR managed to bring together fighters from the ashes of Bellicose MMA & offer a paycheck to compete in PRIDE FC like tournaments. The first was hosted in a dingy, abandoned warehouse by Garbon Meqvabishvili, a man who had managed various fighters across the city during Bellicose MMA's peak.

During this rather underground fight night, 8 contenders were pitted against each other in a tournament, each fight happening after the other to contend for the title of "King of the Ring". It was Rafford Mann who came out victorious. With a large crowd that were all excited for the fights, this planted an idea for King of the Ring. Garbon had eventually managed to acquire a property called Mountain MMA, where some of the best fighters in the city fought out of. With the new promotion the International Fighting Championship starting up, KOTR was primarily ran by fighters of the IFC, who wanted the MMA scene to thrive. Now, with Garbon having an image to uphold, & not wanting to continue to host underground bouts, he managed to make an arrangement with ULSA to host a legit, professional tournament. During this tournament, 8 fighters competed against each other in the ULSA gym. It was Jackson Hayes who became victorious, winning the entire tournament & becoming the King of the Ring.

KOTR progressed, eventually hosting one of the biggest multi-week long events in Los Santos MMA history at the Fantasia Event Hall. Various men fought across the weeks, eventually leading to one Beau Moxley to win the tournament. KOTR was thriving, but various unfortunate events led to its downfall. Most of the fighters in KOTR had historically been upcoming competitors from the IFC, but with the IFC's closure in late 2021 & the passing of Garbon, KOTR had shut down its doors. Fast forwards to the present day. Leonid Tukhachevsky, the champion of Bellicose MMA & a former student of Garbon, brought King of the Ring back, managing to find it various sponsorships across the city, the best of which being Bellicose MMA. He had brought it from a promotion that primarily did tournaments to an actual UFC-like promotion. Bi-weekly events were hosted, with champions being crowned & contenders making their name across the city. Media began to get involved, veteran fighters such as Didac Fraga, Rhys Young, Michael Koczo & Michael Rogov joined due to the consistency KOTR gave. Now, King of the Ring has its own venue to host events, plenty of sponsors & plenty of fighters from both SAFA & Bellicose MMA jumping ship to fight with them. Approaching the 10th event, KOTR seeks to stake its claim as the leading MMA organization in the city.