AOL Acquires MMAFighting.com

AOL announced that it has acquired the mixed martial arts site MMAFighting.com, http://www.MMAFighting.com. The new site adds to the already extensive Mixed Martial Arts coverage of AOL's MMA FanHouse, and after a planned relaunch later this year will become the home of all MMA content produced under the umbrella of FanHouse, http://www.fanhouse.com, AOL’s flagship sports destination. MMAFighting.com joins the network of niche and specialized content properties operated by AOL's content publishing division, which reaches more than 75 million monthly unique visitors, according to June 2009 comScore Media Metrix data.

“MMA's popularity has exploded over the past several years and we have built our MMA destination on FanHouse to be one of the premier sites for MMA coverage,” said Marty Moe, Senior Vice President, AOL Money & Finance, News, Sports, and Weblogs. “We expect MMA to continue its growth with both fans and advertisers, and with the addition of MMAFighting.com and its outstanding team, our goal is to be the leading destination for high-quality MMA news, analysis, information and community."

The planned relaunch of MMAFighting.com, a site started in 2001, will incorporate and combine the content and writers for the current MMA FanHouse, http://www.mma.fanhouse.com. The new consolidated destination will provide MMA fans with in-depth information on the sport, which to-date has been unavailable in the mainstream sports media.

The new MMAFighting.com will have:

• News and information, including exclusive interviews with MMA stars and personalities reported by a full-time team of top MMA writers and editors, including Michael David Smith, Ariel Helwani, Michael Chiappetta, Bryan Tucker and Ray Hui;
• Analysis of fighters and upcoming events;
• Photos and exclusive videos from events;
• Podcasts featuring top MMA talent;
• Power rankings, fighter salaries, a schedule of events and the latest MMA results;
• MMA discussion forums for fans to discuss the latest news and events.

FanHouse features more than 30 top sports writers from around the country, including notables such as Jay Mariotti, Kevin Blackistone, Nancy Gay, Lisa Olson, Greg Couch, Terence Moore and David Whitley. FanHouse is one of the top sports destinations on the Web, with more than 8.4 million monthly unique visitors, according to June 2009 comScore Media Metrix data.

About AOL

AOL is a global Web services company that operates some of the most popular Web destinations, offers a comprehensive suite of free software and services, runs one of the largest Internet access businesses in the U.S., and provides a full set of advertising solutions. A majority-owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., AOL LLC and its subsidiaries have operations in the U.S., Europe, Canada and Asia. Learn more at AOL.com.