How GameStop Inspired This Lingerie MMA League to Bet on Bitcoin

A lingerie mixed martial arts league is gearing up to buy Bitcoin, following the model established by $64 billion BTC treasury giant Strategy—but the league credits not Strategy or outspoken founder Michael Saylor for the inspiration, but rather video game retailer GameStop.

On Thursday, Lingerie Fighting Championships announced that it plans to acquire $2.23 million worth of Bitcoin and add it to its treasury over the next six months. 

Shaun Donnelly, founder and CEO of Lingerie Fighting Championships, told Decrypt that the move was inspired by seeing video game retailer turned meme stock GameStop buy Bitcoin in late May.

“There’s been a couple of times in LFC’s history where we’ve mirrored what GameStop has done, not intentionally, and certainly not to the same level. But when there’s a big run on their stock, we receive a little bit of the tail end of it,” Donnelly explained. “So that’s always been a company that I’ve kept an eye on a little bit. When they made the announcement, it got my attention.”

Lingerie Fighting Championships is an all-women’s mixed martial arts organization where the athletes wear very little but the fights are definitely real. The fighting league started researching the possibility of acquiring Bitcoin about a month ago, as Donnelly noticed other public companies creating Bitcoin treasuries and spiking in value. 

“I’ve always been a believer of if everyone starts doing something—I don’t mean if everyone jumps off a bridge, jump with them—but at least you need to look at why these companies are doing it,” he said. “We need to get in the game now while we still can, because if some of the projections come true, there might be a point where you just can’t get into the market anymore.”

The trend comes off the back of Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, seeing roaring success after it adopted Bitcoin as its primary treasury reserve asset in 2020. Strategy’s stock is now up more than 2,569% since its first purchase, according to TradingView.

As a result, a slew of non-crypto native firms—from cannabis companies to distilleries—have started adding Bitcoin to their balance sheets. But it was GameStop announcing the purchase of $512 million of Bitcoin that made Lingerie Fighting Championships consider the approach, with Donnelly also consulting close friends before making the decision.

“Is it jumping on a trend a little bit? Of course. But it’s also a belief that what’s happened with crypto, with Bitcoin specifically, and what we foresee happening in the future… it’s sort of just a natural thing to do at this point,” Donnelly said.

Donnelly referenced projections he’s heard that Bitcoin could surpass $1 million in value by 2035. That date is significant, as the fighting organization sees its BTC treasury as a 10-year play—because Donnelly said he heard that the last Bitcoin will be mined in 2035. However, the last of Bitcoin’s 21 million supply is expected to be mined closer to 2140. 

Donnelly added that his company considered other cryptocurrencies as treasury assets, but he believes none have the “same power that Bitcoin has” in terms of price action and marketing attention. 

That said, the fighting organization is open to taking sponsorships from crypto companies, including meme coins, and is looking to accept crypto as a payment on its website.

How did LFC get here?

Donnelly had just wrapped up filming “Tight,” a 2011 mockumentary series about an all-girl porn star rock band, when actor Joel Chanin asked to borrow money to purchase Bitcoin. The then-writer and director laughed at Chanin, claiming that it was worthless because you couldn’t use it in real-world stores.

“I was very wrong and willing to admit my mistakes,” Donnelly laughed, adding that Chanin still works with him and serves as Coach Joel Kane in the Lingerie Fighting Championships. It’s worth noting that Donnelly still does not personally hold Bitcoin.

In the mid-to-late 2000s, Donnelly was a producer for Playboy TV, creating hits like “The Boy Nexxt Door”—a TV show about a guy who wants to pursue a career in the adult film industry. By 2013, he created the first edition of Lingerie Fighting Championships, which was originally shot in a similar mockumentary style to “Tight” with a fake audience.

“I don’t think the cable companies understood the joke, because they presented it as a sporting event, and it did well. So they ordered more,” Donnelly said, adding that they sold real tickets for the organization’s second event. “We were in that odd position of becoming the very thing we were making fun of.”

Numerous successful events later, the Lingerie Fighting Championships went public via a reverse merger with Cala Energy Corp. However, Donnelly said, Cala Energy Corp failed to deliver on a number of promises made during the merger, which left the organization in a sticky position.

“I’d never really had an interest in having a public company, and certainly didn’t know what I was doing. So I made every mistake you can make as a public company,” Donnelly told Decrypt. “I brought in every toxic lender you can. At one point, we had six in that space. We have bought out five of them, and the one that stayed are fans of what we do.”

The sole remaining lender, called Octus Fund, helped Lingerie Fighting Championships raise the $2.23 million to buy Bitcoin, he said. Right now, the organization is solely focused on its upcoming fights in London and Cardiff, but afterwards, it would be open to raising more capital for additional Bitcoin buys.

“As a public company, you’re really two companies,” Donnelly explained. “On the public side, it raises interest in us and all of that stuff. On the business side of things, if [Bitcoin] continues to rise, as is our belief and prediction, it gives us access to additional funds, should we need them.”

The burning question at the core of the public company treasury trend is: Can a public company stomach a 76% drop in Bitcoin’s value, as the leading cryptocurrency saw in the year after setting its then-peak price of around $69,000 in November 2021?

Donnelly said in the case of Lingerie Fighting Championships, the company won’t be reliant on Bitcoin as its primary revenue generator—thanks to a YouTube channel of 837,000 subscribers, a touring show, and new broadcast deals. He believes that this will reduce the pressure put upon the company if Bitcoin’s price were to drop.

However, this privilege may not be the case for every company hopping on the Bitcoin treasury trend. Some experts have warned that firms may be forced to sell their digital assets, potentially at a loss, to pay off investors.

Edited by Andrew Hayward