21.09.1968 (55 gadi)
Frederico Lapenda is an award winning movie producer and visionary fight promoter who is one of the founders of the sport of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). Lapenda is widely credited, along with Ultimate Fighting Championship UFC co-creator Art Davie, as being responsible for the globalization of MMA. Lapenda is also president of the Beverly Hills Film Festival Grand Jury, has produced many films, numerous MMA events, video games, music concerts, and documentaries, two of them, Kidnapping and Unknown Distance, were eligible for Oscar nominations. Lapenda received a national honor for his lifelong accomplishments, when he was appointed a Tourism Ambassador by the President of Brazil, alongside such luminaries as Ronaldinho, Vitor Belfort, Renzo Gracie and Romero Britto. One of his most significant accomplishments was the creation of Allies of the Amazon, a children's book about four super-powered talking animals who protect the Amazon rainforest, with comic book legend Stan Lee. In 2011, Lapenda produced the first Pay Per View by YouTube on his Fight Game Channel, broadcasting a Moscow event worldwide. In 1998 he became the first producer to broadcast MMA on US TV on channel 22 in Los Angeles. In 1997 he introduced PPV to Brazil with his World Vale Tudo Championship III (WVC) event in São Paulo and in 1997 his WVC event aired on US PPV, making him just the fourth producer to promote MMA on US PPV.