April 6, 2025 – Lagos, Nigeria – The African Warriors Fighting Championship (AWFC) the premier promoter of Dambe, traditional Nigerian boxing and a Silverbacks Holdings’ portfolio company, has announced a groundbreaking broadcast partnership with DAZN, the world’s leading sports entertainment platform. Under this exclusive agreement, DAZN will serve as AWFC's global streaming partner and will broadcast the highly anticipated Dambe World Series —a tournament consisting of five events where Nigeria’s top athletes will face off against international challengers in the ancient sport of Dambe.
Originating in Nigeria, Dambe is a unique form of kickboxing that draws inspiration from traditional spear and shield combat. Fighters use one hand, wrapped in rope, to strike, while the other is reserved for defence. Kicks, often with fierce intensity, are also a key part of the combat style.
AWFC has led the charge in increasing the Dambe's global visibility, with viral videos of sport garnering millions of views on social media. This partnership with DAZN is a monumental step towards the AWFC’s goals of increasing the commercial viability of traditional Nigerian boxing and bringing Dambe to a global audience. Leveraging DAZN’s ubiquity within fight sports and its unparalleled reach, AWFC will introduce the raw intensity, skill, and excitement of the sport to DAZN’s ever-growing combat audience.
The Dambe World Series will build upon the success of AWFC’s King of Dambe event in 2024, which featured the first-ever European competitor, Luke Leyland, facing off against AWFC veteran Shagon Yellow. The electrifying bout ended with a second-round stoppage for Yellow and attracted a live audience of 10,000, with millions more tuning in online.
Maxwell Kalu, Founder of African Warriors Fighting Championship, stated:
“We are incredibly excited to partner with DAZN, the global leader in sports streaming, to share AWFC Dambe with the world. Dambe is a sport with deep cultural roots and immense athletic appeal, and we can’t wait to introduce it to a global fan base. This partnership is a key step in our mission to elevate African traditional sports, and with DAZN’s unparalleled reach, we are confident that 2025 will be the year Dambe captures the attention of fans worldwide.”
DAZN, which was recently backed by SURJ, a division of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, is the Global Home of Boxing with partnerships with leading boxing promotions such as Matchroom and Queensbury, along with MMA’s PFL. Known for its cutting-edge streaming technology, DAZN will broadcast all Dambe World Series events live. Fans from around the world will be able to watch the action in real-time. The first event is scheduled for June 2025, with additional events throughout the year, culminating in a finale that will showcase the best Dambe fighters from around the world.
In October, Silverbacks Holdings, a private investment firm focused on Africa-related companies operating in underserved industries, invested in AWFC. The firm signed and announced the investment during the FII8 in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) becoming a significant minority shareholder and gaining a board seat. Silverbacks aims to elevate African combat sports, and help AWFC become the leading Africa born combat sports platform.
DAZN is the home of European football, women’s football, boxing and MMA, and the NFL (excl. USA). DAZN is building the ultimate sports entertainment platform, based on premium sports rights, world-leading tech, and multi-platform distribution. DAZN believes that fans from across the globe should be able to watch, read, bet, play, share, socialise, buy tickets and merchandise, all in one place, with one account, one wallet and on one app.
Silverbacks Holdings, established in 2019, is a Mauritius-based investment firm allocating capital in tech, entertainment, sports, and the creative economy across Africa. Silverbacks has achieved seven profitable exits since inception. Its portfolio includes investments in the Cape Town Tigers (a basketball franchise, 3X times South African national champion and finalist in the 2024 African tournament of the NBA), Forever7 Entertainment (a film producer which sold two movies to Netflix), Moove (a fintech mobility company, backed by Uber and Mubadala, operating in 19 cities across five continents) and Wave (a fintech company, backed by Stripe and Sam Altman, established in many markets as the leading provider of remittances and mobile banking payment solutions). Silverbacks capital and resources are dedicated to dominant platforms’ builders able to drive sustainable growth on the global stage, while also focusing on job creation and gender equality.