Roberto Gallo Reveals How Centurion FC is Changing Lives Through MMA in Brazil

iGaming Real Talk is launching new interview series from BiS SiGMA South America. The event has matured into a perfect melting point for business in Brazil and also Latin American market. In two days, we have had conversations with leaders, experts from mature businesses in LatAm and Brazil, and we talked about the regulation as well as the state of the market in Brazil after regulation. This series is brought to you by EvoVerse.

They offer custom crypto casino source code so that you can launch your crypto casino the way you want it, and you can have full control over your margins and the product. This series is also brought to you by Blockotech, which is your go-to platform provider for LatAm market. The Blocko Padel Tour sponsored by SiGMA also brings together global iGaming community with sport, fun, and competition across some of the events. Hello and welcome back to iGaming Real Talk.

I'm very excited to have Galo here with me from Centurion Association as well as Centurion FC. I have been following the brand for a long time as they have been doing events across iGaming events as well as SiGMA. I know they're also involved with SiGMA Foundation and some of the charity activities. So, this was a really interesting opportunity for me to have Galo here and speak straight to him in terms of the vision and what they're doing at CFC.

So, Galo, welcome to the show.

Thank you very much for inviting me, and it's a pleasure for me to be here. And I know many guys in this industry say what this guy does all the time here. And maybe today we can explain why.

This is true. Some people told me that.

I like it. I like it. We're keeping it real. We're starting with that as well. So, yeah, I mean, please, how did you start Centurion FC and what was your intention behind it? Centurion FC is a project that started around 6 years ago now. As a small event in Malta.

I think I remember this one. I was working at SiGMA back then.

It was really yeah. So, we started as a normal event. Then COVID hit us like any live events would suffer. In that moment...

You did events before COVID?

Yeah, yeah, I do. I do. I actually did one event with COVID and it was no restriction either. But I kept it with no restriction. So, I don't think it was necessary. So, we did like UFC did. Basically, we survived COVID. And in that moment I realized that a full structure of a company only for live events would be really weak. So, I rethought and rechanged and re-elaborated and came up with the idea to create a stronger company, an international project, different strategy.

I put together the knowledge I had at the time and I created a new Centurion, let's call it. And this new Centurion I created some shareholders. I structured it more as a proper company. And we started this venture.

What inspired you or what prompted you to start the brand?

My background comes from the fighting world. I was training. I was connected with the Gracie family that is the founder of UFC. So, that gave me the idea and the knowledge about this MMA world because now everybody knows about it, but a long time ago not many knew. So, I got passionate about this. And you know, they say you find a job that you like, you're never going to work. So, I followed my vision, my dream, and I am here.

And since then after COVID to now, how's the journey been so far? In terms of events, in terms of expansion. I know you do with other events as well, other iGaming events. So, if you could talk us through that period.

Basically, we started with the world tour. We go around the world. We follow SiGMA. I value this partnership very much. Eman was always there for me for Centurion, and I appreciate that. He gave me the open door to this industry in a new way. So, we did the world tour. The first year it was interesting. It was very nice. We proved that we can work in any country, anywhere. We have the connection and the logistics capacity to do this.

Then after this I learned myself to be more a CEO of a company because more the company grows, more the structure changes and everything changes. And there's something that like everybody, the hard way, mistakes are the best way to learn and I still learn. So we did this expansion, we focused our strategy in the Latin market. This is why we moved into Brazil.

We had a little bit of a problem in the moment because we were in the middle of when the market was not legal and became legal. There was some confusion. It was a very delicate moment to be here. We felt that moment but like everybody, but after that now everything is starting and starting to make shape. It's more easy to understand and now we are here, we gained a strong position in Brazil.

I'm the president of Centurion and also of the association of Centurion with the Faculdade da Luta. We had this conversation with them about this, about what we can do.

Yeah, yeah, there is a partnership with SiGMA Foundation, right? Is this the Faculdade da Luta project?

Faculdade yes. Basically, talking with them like we talking about opportunity, the situation in Brazil. And I said let's do something, and we came up with this project. The Faculdade da Luta that is part of association of Centurion, yesterday was one year anniversary. It was very good. We had brilliant numbers. We had 968 inscriptions. We had 360 active participants. We did 12 events. We did 5 ones. We distributed 520 food baskets. It's like a big full of food for them.

So, what's this project about for someone who doesn't know anything about this?

So, Faculdade da Luta is an institute in São Paulo close to Heliópolis, the biggest community in São Paulo. We give free English classes, free marketing classes, financial classes. We give all the combat sport classes: MMA, jiu-jitsu, boxing, Muay Thai. We do women's self-defense classes. We do activations in schools. We do distribution of food. All these...

So, it's more like community initiatives for underprivileged...

Yes. Yes. It's an NGO. It's basically we give the opportunity and support for who is in need. And for me it's good. I believe in this. I found in the fighting side that there is a lot of good talent in Brazil, but there's no opportunity. And we are a door to the opportunity for at least for the fighting world. Not only fighting world because we can teach English to find a job. We try to give the maximum we can back to the community.

It's every fighter of Centurion, we never ask for a ticket. We always have 1 kilo of food in exchange for entrance. So, it's very active, the social side of Centurion. And SiGMA Foundation helped us to make this vision reality. We were one year. Now we are thinking to make the next one. So, if there's anybody interested who wants to be part of this whole project, we are looking to make the second one in Brazil. It's working good.

It was not easy again because in the social aspect everybody claps the hand for what you do, but nobody puts the money to help you. And it's a very expensive project to keep alive. We are Centurion is alone. It was alone. But now somebody started to come. We just closed a partnership with Big Game that was very helpful for us. So, of course we need support because more support we have, more activity we can do, more Faculdade that we can create.

So, I am open to who wants to help to create opportunity.

You're more like a channel, yes, an opportunity for businesses, for people who would like to contribute to the society in a good way. Obviously and a meaningful way. That's a very noble cause. Thank you for sharing with me here. Cool. I mean, even when we look at the fights, the MMA, what's the whole concept behind it?

Are you more interested in developing talent from the grassroots level so that they will have opportunities in the fights, or the fights themselves are for any other reason like for entertainment? I want to get into the purpose of it.

Okay, MMA is entertainment. Before sport it is entertainment. So, MMA as everybody knows is the fastest growing sport in the world. Everybody likes it. Everybody can witness. You can understand the power.

How did it grow so popular?

It's just because the human being likes fight. If you like it or dislike it, you are attracted by fight. If there's a fight right now here, everybody will be looking at it. Everybody will be talking about it. So, we have this in our nature. Somebody likes it, somebody dislikes it, but we are fascinated by fight. The fascination creates the entertaining side. What MMA does, it makes it an entertaining show.

So, it's much faster, it's much more dynamic, it's real, and this is in the human blood.

It's not like WWE.

No, it's real. It's real as it gets. It's real. You can feel that. You can touch that. It's a sport. It's one of the few combat sports that doesn't need politics. In boxing, there's a lot of politics, a lot of connection, management. Here is real. If you can fight, you proceed, you go forward. You can feel it. That is why it's getting so popular, it is very fast. But, it's entertaining most of all. For my personal side, I like to offer, I transform lives.

Because I have a lot of guys that passed through us. They are today UFC champions. They are today changing their lives. I believe in bravery.

Do they come from UFC to here?

From me to UFC.

Okay. That's the next level for them.

Yeah, they are. They are the top level they can reach. They passed through me. I know them. I pick them. I have this good eye, I can see the good talent. I can see a talent, I invest on them. And then they become...

Something there, there, there below.

Yeah. So, this is completely changing their lives. And I know it's nothing in return. I believe, I respect this world. I respect this world because this guy, a fighter is somebody who gives 100%. The fighting world and the business world are very connected. It's every day a fight. Every day 24/7. If you dedicate it, maybe you're going to make it. But, you have to be dedicated 100%. And this you can find in the fighting world. This is what I respect. This is what I support.

How important is the mental clarity, the mental balance for a fighter who is fighting in MMA or any other sport, for example? Especially MMA since we are talking about it. How do you train them when they are totally new to the sport?

It's two ways. We can divide into two parts. Physical training. Physical training is done by repetition. Hard work, repetition, repetition, repetition. Repetition makes perfect. And the psychological aspect. Because it's a completely different level. And the only person who loses is the person who fights. And they have to pass through losing, they have to pass through physical pain, because there's a lot of physical pain, physical restriction, diet. It's a hard life.

It's a completely mentally, physically very hard life. It's not for everyone. There are few. And I say all the time with them, "You can give 100%, 1,000%, this is not going to make it happen. It's going to maybe make it happen." And they know. But they still take the task, they still do the job, they still show what they have.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, as you mentioned, I see a lot of similarity between the fights and the business itself. Because now I'm running my own thing now since a year and a half. All it requires is consistency. When no one is supporting in the beginning to just keep going, I see the similarities in what you're saying.

It is resilience. Resilience is the nature of any kind of business, any kind of sport, any kind of...

Great. And when we look at the plans for Centurion FC beyond Brazil, what markets are you expanding in terms of LatAm? And what are the projects you're planning in the next 1 year or so?

The project is LatAm. From LatAm is dominated in MMA by Brazil. So, we are now between the top two promotions in Brazil. That is very good calculating that these promotions have been here for 50 years and longer. So, when you reach the top of Brazil, you can expand easily in any other country of LatAm. So, I believe by this year we will reach that point. We have just finished filming the first reality show of MMA ever done in Brazil.

Oh, what is it about?

It's a new concept. Today actually we're going to go out with a teaser. We created a documentary reality show. It's based mostly on the behind the life of a fighter, what they have to do, the story behind. As director of this reality show, I see and witness stories that are incredible.

Because I think people don't see what happens behind, right? They see what happens in the ring. It's great, but there is a lot that needs to happen for them to be in the ring.

This reality show is proof that it shows this. 20 persons behind the light, they will have breakdowns, every day a very hard life behind them and they still follow the dream. It's very interesting because I focus, basically everybody knows the fight, but I focus on the human being behind it. We had a big name included, we had Jose Aldo, we have Charles Oliveira as the team leader, we have many other big names in MMA.

We did something nobody ever did in Brazil, we made history again. We'll have the official trailer by end of the month and we are talking with big platforms for the date. So this is going to help us again to become the first one in this space.

Amazing and you know, I also like how you give an opportunity for gaming businesses to have exposure and visibility because I think the fights are also streamed on TV if I'm not mistaken. So can we talk about the opportunity the brands have when they're looking to penetrate into the markets?

It's very simple. MMA is a proven concept that has a reach. It has an organic reach that nobody else has. We have all demographics, 18-55, which is basically the demographic that everybody wants. We attract them not even working. We just do our job and they come to us. So, we have a lot of traffic, a lot of engagement. I believe that most of the companies they are obsessed with soccer. Yes, soccer is good. It's proven, it's good.

But, we're talking about the 580 million followers of MMA around the world. This is a number that should not be passed through. Some few operators, some few companies invested in MMA and today these companies are the top companies. You can see Stake. These guys saw it in MMA and they put the money in day zero. Look at them today. And a lot of people again don't understand the potentiality of this sport.

Was it key to Stake's success? I was watching the podcast with David which he did with Ali, founder Alexander. And David was mentioning that if we look at the company, it's not a company that is existing for decades. It's a very new company, but they are almost the number one now if not number one or number two in iGaming in terms of like everything they do. And UFC partnership was their key strategy to grow.

They are very bright, they see this, they evaluated it. They sponsored us in the beginning. I appreciate them because they gave me this trust. But it's true. Again, it's a market right there. It's very much cheaper than soccer. It's there to grab and nobody sees the potentiality of this market, not at full. And who is going to invest in this market is going to be repaid in time.

There is still opportunity you think or some players already?

Opportunity because as I say, like everybody wants a brand ambassador. I believe in everybody believes in numbers, right? So, it's the Messi of the situation with the 30 million followers. Or you get some 20 fighters with the total following they reach the same number. You pay 20 times less. And the followers are more loyal. And the demographic is exactly the one we know. We know that the demographic of MMA, they don't bet a lot in MMA.

But when they enter they like to play games. They are good customers. So, the opportunities are there. We are there. So, we're ready to talk with anybody. Centurion can be seen as an asset for the gaming industry. Because I personally believe my strategy always was don't follow the PPV system, the normal monetization. Follow more the gaming industry because it's much more possibility for everybody.

It sounds like it's underpriced right now. And also something that is not fully exploited yet.

Definitely.

Thanks for explaining further on that. And also when it comes to your next events, where are the next events?

Tonight we have one and then we're going to... we just did now the reality show, give a little bit of a shake on everything here.

I'm looking forward to that.

On July we're going to have our next event in July and then we're going to go on every two months basically.

And one of the other questions that comes to my mind, especially because of the Brazil and the regulation here, is they're also sometimes discussing to ban brand sponsorships. What do you think about that?

I think it's very simple. If you want to kill any sport in this country, you ban the sponsorship on sport. Soccer will die. Any sport today is supported with majority to the gaming companies. Everybody is very fast to point the gaming company.

Yeah.

Look at my personal history. SiGMA Foundation, I say, 2,500 families impacted in one year.

2,500 families.

So, they impacted. What is wrong about this? So, this industry is supporting soccer, supporting many sports that create jobs, create life, change life. So, before you say something is bad, you should see the full picture. Of course, you need a regulation. We have a regulation today. But, this would be a dangerous thing to do. I don't believe nobody would be so foolish to do that.

Well, I mean thank you for sharing that and thank you for joining me as well, sharing your story, sharing your plans as well as the impacts that you're creating within the community. So, I really appreciate this opportunity and I look forward to attending the fights in the evening as well and covering some of the events.