Fighters Only magazine takes on the world

Dec 24 2009 by Chris Knox, The Journal

A FORMER civil engineer turned martial arts magazine owner is looking to extend its worldwide readership and launch his own merchandising range.

Rob Hewitt turned his love of competitive fighting into a fully-fledged business in 2005, when he launched Fighters Only magazine in Newcastle with the aim of providing mixed martial arts fans in the UK with a dedicated resource.

He is now looking extend its readership to Australia and France next year after establishing the title in 13 different countries and is also hoping to set up an online TV channel to help the company increase its £1.5m turnover.

Over the years, the magazine has progressed from focusing mainly on the UK mixed martial arts scene to worldwide coverage of the sport, with contributors in the US, Canada, Europe, Brazil and Japan.

It has just established licence deals for the production of German and South African editions of the magazine. It was advised by Newcastle law firm Mincoffs.

The publication, which has 12 staff, is also about to host its first televised awards ceremony in Las Vegas, and recently signed an agreement with sportswear firm TapouT to produce a range of Fighters Only-branded clothing.

Mr Hewitt said: “Having been involved in MMA from its earliest days I knew that it had the potential to grow from being an underground sport to one of the biggest in the world and that there was a place in the global market for a brand like Fighters Only.

“With the guidance of my board of directors and the legal expertise of Mincoffs solicitors I have been able to implement plans and strategies to dominate the world of combat sports media and gain further business success from the growth in popularity of our brand.”

Mr Hewitt started out as a senior civil engineer with the Newcastle offices of North Lincolnshire-based engineers C Spencer Ltd, and headed up the construction of the Percy Main Metro station in 2002.

He then went on to launch publishing company i2 Media in 2003, which published overseas property magazine Home Away from Home before shifting his attention to mixed martial arts in order to follow his passion for boxing.

Mr Hewitt is no stranger to the fighting world. He was former sparring partner of Ian Freeman, a former British, European and World mixed martial arts titleholder and the first UK fighter to compete in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He now wants to launch a Fighters Only range of punch bags and gloves next year and said that the company had seen its advertising sales grow month on month over the second half of the year at a time when other publishers were struggling to attract companies.

“The mixed martial arts industry has grown massively this year, and far outstrips boxing and wrestling in terms of pay-per-view sales,” Mr Hewitt said.