Conceived and produced by box office heavyweight Franck Gastambide, “La cage”, a French series on MMA, is broadcast from Friday on Netflix. This is a new step in opening up this spectacular and violent sport to the general public.
“I assume that I try to ensure that the broadest audience likes the story that I am going to tell,” declares Gastambide, a fan of this combat sport which mixes boxing and wrestling and which refers to mixed martial arts. (MMA).
In five episodes, “The Cage” tells the story of the rise of a young MMA champion. He is played by Melvin Boomer, known for having played the rapper Joey Starr in the series “The World of Tomorrow”, on the group NTM. Classic, the story evokes that of the boxer “Rocky” by Sylvester Stallone, a claimed influence of Gastambide. The latter has also carved out a role for himself as a coach reminiscent of Rocky’s old coach, with the same hat still screwed on his head.
For Laurent Salvaudon, editorial director of RMC Sport, this series marks “a turning point”. “France was one of the last countries where MMA was banned (editor’s note: it was legalized there in 2020) and it is the first to release a Netflix series on this sport,” he enthuses.
RMC Sport holds the broadcast rights in France for the main MMA leagues, including the most prestigious, the American organization UFC.
Leader in streaming platforms, Netflix has provided the means for this global release. “The Cage” features some of the biggest international MMA stars in their own roles (Canadian Georges St-Pierre, American Jon Jones, for example).
Gastambide’s “main challenge” for “The Cage” was to stage the fights realistically. For this, he called on professional consultants, the journalist Antoine Simon and the fighter Taylor Lapilus. Both are the voices of MMA in France, since they comment on fights on RMC Sport. In addition to the technical expertise they brought to the series, they play their own roles in it.
“This series allows you to discover this sport in all its aspects: the fights but also everything that is around it, the coaches, the managers, the financial problems,” explains Antoine Simon. Another characteristic dimension explored by “La cage”: the importance of social networks. Fighters challenge each other, even insult each other, and a knockout or strangulation can go viral.
Networks are also at the heart of the strategy to popularize MMA in France. In addition to the paid television broadcast of the fights, RMC Sport broadcasts extracts or documentaries free of charge on its various channels, X, Twitch or YouTube. They have millions of views.
