Conceived and produced by box office heavyweight, Franck Gastambide, The Cagea French series on MMA (Mixed Martial Arts in English), will be broadcast from Friday November 8, 2024 on Netflix, a new step in opening this sport as spectacular as it is violent to the general public.
“I assume that I try to ensure that the widest audience likes the story that I am going to tell.“, declared to AFP the director, himself a fan of this combat sport which mixes boxing and fists and wrestling, formerly called free combat or free-fight.
This five-episode series chronicles the rise of a young MMA champion played by Melvin Boomer. The actor made himself known by notably playing the rapper JoeyStarr in the series The World of Tomorrow which told the story of the NTM group.
Classic, the story evokes that of the boxer Rocky by Sylvester Stallone, a claimed influence of Franck Gastambide. He has also carved out a tailor-made role for himself: that of a coach reminiscent of Rocky’s old coach, with the same cap 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 [il y a été légalisé en 2020] and it is the first to release a Netflix series on this sport“, he enthuses to AFP.
RMC Sport holds the broadcast rights in France for the main MMA leagues, including the most prestigious, the American organization UFC. Leader of streaming platforms, Netflix has clearly put the resources into place for this global release. The Cage features some of the biggest international (Canadian Georges St-Pierre, American Jon Jones) and French (Ciryl Gane) MMA stars in their own roles.
Franck Gastambide is no stranger to mainstream successes in entertainment cinema. After The Kaïras (2012), Pattaya (2016) et Taxi 5 (2018), he signed the action comedy in 2023 Medellin for the Prime Video platform, with a global success.
Son “challenge principal” pour 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 introduces you to this sport in all its aspects: the fights, but also everything around, the coaches, the managers, the financial problems.“, explains Antoine Simon to AFP. Another characteristic dimension highlighted by the scenario, the importance of social networks. The fighters challenge each other there, even insult each other, and a knockout or a strangulation can go viral there. .
The networks are also at the heart of the strategy to popularize MMA in France implemented by RMC Sport. In addition to the paid television broadcast of the fights, this media broadcasts extracts or documentaries for free on its various channels: X, Twitch and YouTube. They have millions of views.
The day before the arrival of The Cage on Netflix, RMC Sport is programming a documentary on the history of MMA, to try to conquer an even wider audience, because the media coverage of this sport in France is still far from what it is in the United States, even if the things are changing.
The audiovisual production giant Mediawan announced in mid-October a partnership with the French league Ares to create fiction or documentaries. The M6 group is preparing a reality TV show on MMA. And Cédric Doumbè, a fighter as talented as he is provocative, will participate in season 5 of the comedy game LOL: whoever laughs, gets out! sur Prime Video.
