Creator Clash 2 looks to build on momentum around YouTube and boxing

Harley Morenstein is an eater, not a fighter.

The co-creator of the YouTube food channel Epic Meal Time, he’s known for cooking bacon-wrapped meals and other ostentatious eats. But this Saturday, he’ll step into a boxing ring to square off against professional wrestler John Hennigan, one of 12 bouts that will make up Creator Clash 2. 

Last year’s event — something of a surprise success — sold out the 10,000-seat Yuengling Center in Tampa, Florida, drew more than 100,000 pay-per-view buyers and raised $1.3 million for the Alzheimer’s Association, American Heart Association and Healing Horse Therapy Center. The YouTube video of the full event has accrued more than 3.3 million views. 

The event brings unlikely internet celebrities together to do something unexpected. It’s like a concert crossed with “Dancing With the Stars,” if the stars were all punching each other in the face.

“When I was there, I thought the vibe was way more similar to a VidCon or a fan meetup,” Morenstein said of the event’s first year (VidCon is the year’s biggest in-person event for internet content creators). “People came with their merchandise already. They are fans of certain fighters. They wanted to watch one person on the card. They didn’t care who they were fighting.”

It’ll be Morenstein’s second bout. Last year, he emerged victorious against his friend Arin Hanson of the gaming YouTube channel Game Grumps in a match that surprised even him.

“I had his little blood stain on my glove,” Morenstein said. “And he was fine, but I was still like, ‘Oh, my god, he was supposed to go to Busch Gardens today. He’s got a bloody nose and like, what am I doing here?’”

Live events have been a staple of internet creator culture dating back to early fan meetups. Conventions like VidCon and Playlist Live have given fans the opportunity to interact with their favorite content creators for over a decade. But in recent years, influencers have begun to create their own live events tailored to their communities, including tours, award shows and even their own conventions, to varying degrees of success. 

Meanwhile, boxing emerged more recently as a popular way for internet creators to settle beefs, attract attention and fire up their most fervent fans. Beginning with the fight between YouTubers Olajide Olatunji (better known as KSI) and Joe Weller in 2018, established creators have increasingly pivoted to boxing after finding the sport to be a lucrative opportunity. Much of the hype around influencer matches, like most boxing events, is predicated on showboating, betting and trash talking.

Creator Clash hardly has any of that. Instead, it aims to be different by de-emphasizing online drama and big payouts, said Ian Jomha, one of the event’s co-founders, who will also jump in the ring on Saturday.

Jomha said that the sport of boxing itself has enough drama to focus on and that the main goals of Creator Clash are to “entertain and…