Mixed Martial Arts to return with 2 Dare events at nightclub

A Mixed Martial Arts event organized by Dare at Club Insanity in October, 2013. Photo: Coconuts Bangkok

After settling legal issues regarding mixed martial arts events in Thailand, the country’s premier event will be back later this year with two shows at a downtown nightclub.

Sure to feature the same loud music, light shows and fast-paced MMA fights which have helped Dare gradually gain a cult following in Bangkok, the two Dare events will be held this fall at Club Insanity on Sukhumvit Road.

Six cards have been held to date in Bangkok after Dare’s inaugural show took place at Club Insomnia (now Club Insanity) in 2011 and featured a number of fighters who would go on to sign with ONE FC and the Ultimate Fighting Championship including Will Chope, Arnaud Lepont and Zorobabel Moreira.

Three more events were held at the same venue over the course of the next year until disaster struck, with widely publicized quotes from a Sports Authority of Thailand official declaring MMA events damaged the image of Muay Thai and were not permitted within the Kingdom.

Dare describe themselves as the “Rebels of MMA” and responded to the ban in their own inimitable style with an invitation-only event in 2012 which was billed as a gameshow to exploit legal loopholes by casting the fighters as actors and the audience as extras.

It was an imaginative solution but the people behind Dare still needed to resolve the issues surrounding the sport’s legality, which they succeeded in doing and a year later the promotion returned to Club Insanity with a show headlined by a welterweight matchup between Joe Ray and Ole Laursen.

The event went ahead without a hitch with Laursen and Ray going toe-to-toe for the best part of three rounds before the American finished the Danish-Filipino with a rear naked choke in the final seconds of the fight.

There is no word yet on which fighters will be involved in Dare’s events set for Aug. 9 and Oct. 25, or when tickets will be available. But for up-to-date information visit Dare online.

Related:

PHOTOS: DARE MMA mayhem returns to Club Insanity

DARE doubles down on MMA in Thailand

MMA dares to go live in Bangkok

French phenom chokes out competition at DARE mixed martial arts tournament



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