1xBet and HYPE Fighting: the announced Rome title partnership
On 28 October 2026, a company press release announced 1xBet as title partner of a HYPE Fighting event planned for 3 November 2026 in Rome. According to igamingnews.com, the announcement described an eleven-bout card for the Italian capital.
What the 1xBet announcement set out
The release presented Rome as the next stop in an international partnership between HYPE Fighting and 1xBet. It also described the Italian event as following an earlier joint tournament held on 4 October 2026 in Quito. The announcement did not report results from the Rome event.
According to igamingnews.com, the company said the tournament would be broadcast live through its platform. The release framed the evening as a combat sports programme built around one main event and a long undercard.
The planned Rome card at a glance
The advertised programme combined two formats. Ten bare-knuckle bouts were listed alongside a single main event. The release set the total at eleven bouts.
| Element | Detail from the 28 October 2026 release |
|---|---|
| Total bouts | Eleven |
| Bare-knuckle bouts | Ten |
| Main event | Colby Covington versus Dillon Danis |
| Named bare-knuckle pairing | Francesco Morandi versus Ali Heibati |
| Planned date | 3 November 2026 |
| City | Rome |
The table reflects the advertised line-up only. These were planned bouts, not completed results, at the time of the announcement.
Main event rules announced for Covington and Danis
The release described unusual conditions for the headline bout. A fighter could win only by forcing a submission through a joint lock or chokehold. That restriction shaped the contest as a grappling match rather than a standard mixed rules fight.
The two men had met before, according to the release. In March 2026, Covington and Danis competed at RAF 7, where Covington won their wrestling match 14-4. The Rome rules differed from that earlier meeting.
The announcement also gave the bout a backstory. Covington had been scheduled to fight at the Quito event on 4 October 2026. The release said an unforeseen circumstance stopped him from entering the octagon there. It added that he had returned to shape and was ready to headline in Rome.
Bare-knuckle bouts on the advertised bill
Ten bare-knuckle boxing matches made up the rest of the programme. The release singled out one pairing for particular attention: Francesco Morandi against Ali Heibati.
- Ten bare-knuckle fights were advertised ahead of the main event.
- One named pairing was Morandi versus Heibati.
- The remaining bare-knuckle matchups were not named in the release.
- The main event was listed as a separate bout from the bare-knuckle programme.
The release described the bare-knuckle portion as the undercard to the Covington and Danis headliner. It did not list results or outcomes for any of these bouts.
How Rome fitted the wider 1xBet partnership
The release placed the Italian event in a sequence of joint tournaments. It identified Quito on 4 October 2026 as the previous stage of the HYPE Fighting and 1xBet partnership. Rome was presented as the next stage of that international series.
According to igamingnews.com, the company also used the announcement to invite fans to follow the promotion's updates and to make predictions with 1xBet. The live broadcast was described as available on the 1xBet platform.
- Previous joint event named in the release: Quito, 4 October 2026.
- Announced next event: Rome, 3 November 2026.
- Broadcast plan: live on the 1xBet platform, as announced.
- Results from Rome: not reported in the release.
These details come from a corporate announcement dated 28 October 2026. The event described was still in the future when the release was issued. Nothing in the announcement reported what happened on the night.