NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Alliance MMA, Inc. ("Alliance MMA" or the "Company") (NASDAQ:AMMA), a professional mixed martial arts (MMA) company that brings together leading regional productions to build the next generation of MMA champions, announced today that Burt Watson has been promoted, effectively immediately, to Executive Vice President, Operations. The newly formed position was necessitated by the Company's rapidly expanding domestic footprint which now includes 9 branded regional MMA promotions, each strategically positioned in the top media markets across the country.

“We are extremely gratified that Burt will now be applying his well-seasoned promotional experience and extraordinary leadership skills, working in close collaboration with our General Managers, towards providing direct oversight of the operational and financial performance of our regional MMA events,” said Paul Danner, Chief Executive Officer of Alliance MMA. “Based on his outstanding track record, I have complete trust and confidence that Burt will excel in this new assignment, adeptly assuming ownership of the overall customer experience, including standardizing performance expectations, and persistently pursuing process improvements by identifying and deploying best business practices across the enterprise.”

Mr. Watson began his career in boxing more than 30 years ago coordinating events that involved boxing stars Mike Tyson, Oscar De La Hoya, Roy Jones, Sugar Ray Leonard, Bernard Hopkins and Wladimir Klitschko. Prior to joining Alliance MMA as its Director of Fighter Relations, Mr. Watson was the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Event Coordinator for 14 years where he was intimately involved in producing some of their most memorable events. Preceding to his association with the UFC organization, Mr. Watson served as the business manager for legendary fighter "Smokin' Joe" Frazier for several years, and coordinated a promotional tour featuring renowned boxing greats Joe Frazier, Muhammad Ali, Larry Holmes, George Foreman and Ken Norton. Throughout his illustrious career, Mr. Watson was responsible for coordinating televised sporting events featured on numerous networks including ABC, CBS, NBC, ESPN, HBO, Showtime, USA, BET and Telemundo.

"I am thoroughly and sincerely exhilarated over the prospect of assuming such a prominent leadership role with Alliance MMA”, said Watson. “I have developed close personal and professional working relationships with both fighters and General Managers since the Company formally launched last fall, and I am now looking forward with great anticipation to devoting my many years of directly related experience towards ensuring we scale our promotional operations as quickly and effectively as possible, all while maintaining laser focus on achieving corporate revenue and profitability objectives."

Alliance MMA currently operates nine regional MMA promotions across the country: Philadelphia-based Cage Fury Fighting Championship (CFFC), Seattle-based Combat Games MMA (COGA), Indiana-based Hoosier Fight Club (HFC), Memphis-based V3 Fights, Baltimore-based Shogun Fights, Ohio-based Iron Tiger Fight Series (IT Fight Series), Miami-based Fight Time Promotions, Atlanta-Based National Fighting Championship (NFC), as well as a San Diego-based promotion. The Company has previously announced the signing of a Letter of Intent to acquire a prominent Los-Angeles-based promotion, and further expects to acquire up to nine additional MMA promotions over the next seven months.

About Alliance MMA, Inc.

Alliance MMA (NASDAQ:AMMA) is a professional mixed martial arts company that brings together the best regional productions. Alliance MMA's mission is to identify and cultivate the next generation of fighters and champions for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and other premier MMA promotions.

With some of the world’s leading MMA promotions under the Alliance MMA umbrella, the organization aims eventually to host in excess of 125 events per year, showcasing more than 1,000 fighters. Alliance MMA is also dedicated to generating live original sports media content, attracting an international fan base, and securing major brand sponsorship revenue for live MMA events, digital media, and Alliance MMA fighters.

MMA is the world’s fastest growing sport with worldwide fans of approximately 300 million according to sports marketing research firm Repucom. MMA is a full contact sport that allows a wide range of fighting techniques, including striking and grappling from various martial arts and disciplines including Boxing, Wrestling, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Karate and Muay Thai. Professional MMA fights are legal and regulated by state athletic commissions in all 50 states.

Alliance MMA, Inc. was incorporated in 2015 for the purpose of acquiring businesses that engage in the promotion of mixed martial arts (MMA) events. In 2016, the company completed an initial public offering that culminated in a listing on the NASDAQ stock exchange. Alliance MMA is the only mixed martial arts promotion company that is publicly-traded.

For more information visit, www.alliancemma.com

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These statements relate to anticipated future events, future results of operations or future financial performance. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “might,” “will,” “should,” “intends,” “expects,” “plans,” “goals,” “projects,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential,” or “continue” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. Actual results may differ materially from historical results or those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of factors including, but not limited to, those discussed under the heading “Risk Factors” in our registration statement on Form S-1 (Registration No. 333-213166) declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 2, 2016. Alliance MMA encourages you to review other factors that may affect its future results in Alliance MMA’s registration statement and in its other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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