As Pandemic Recedes, ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong Talks Plans for US Debut
Aug 25, 2021
In early 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic was first beginning to make its presence felt, ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong called a meeting with his team and emphasized the importance of creativity and resilience in an increasingly uncertain climate.
Well over a year later—and after plenty of creativity and even more resilience—the Singapore-based martial arts promotion is not only surviving the pandemic but thriving in spite of it.
Sityodtong, who knows as well as anyone how devastating the pandemic has been for business the world over, is grateful for what his team has been able to accomplish.
"We've hit record viewership numbers throughout the pandemic," Sityodtong told Bleacher Report, citing a Nielsen Sports study that identified ONE Championship as one of the most engaged sports properties in the world. "2020 was a record year for us across TV, digital, social, et cetera, in terms of viewership numbers. Same thing this year: we're breaking new records and setting record highs for social, digital, and TV metrics. So we haven't seen an impact on our business from that perspective.
"I am surprised and grateful that we are top-10 in the world, according to Nielsen, in terms of our viewership and engagement metrics," he added, noting that the cooperation of the Singapore government has been crucial to ONE's continued success. "It's been a challenge, but we've still been able to pull it off."
ONE Championship has promoted close to 50 events since the World Health Organization first classified the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic on March 11, 2020 (including its Road to ONE events, which are co-promoted with smaller leagues all over the world). The promotion's next two events, the all-female ONE: Empower event on September 3 and the stacked ONE: Revolution event on September 24—both in Singapore—are among the biggest of the bunch.
Beyond those two blockbusters, Sityodtong and his team are also plotting a massive event in December to commemorate the martial arts promotion's 10-year anniversary. That event, he says, will go down as the biggest ONE Championship has ever promoted.
"We haven't announced anything, but our 10th anniversary will be in December," Sityodtong said. "It will be our biggest card by far—the biggest card in the history of ONE. That's all I can say so far."
Big events such as ONE: Empower, ONE: Revolution and the promotion's 10-year bonanza give the impression that ONE is returning to its pre-pandemic habit of promoting blockbuster events all across Asia. That's an exciting thought for fans, but Sityodtong estimates it could be up to 24 months before things really get back to the way they were for his company and others in the sports media space.
Despite his pragmatic outlook, however, the ONE CEO and his team have resumed their mission of promoting an event in the United States—a mission that was briefly paused during the pandemic—and expects to be erecting the ONE Circle on American soil sooner rather than later.
He also anticipates a warm reception from American fans.
"The plans are 90 percent done right now," Sityodtong said of ONE's planned US debut. "When the plan's 100 percent done and I'm ready to announce it, I'll announce it, but I think American fans can expect ONE to be in the US within 12 months.
"We want to make it as big as possible and we want to showcase the full spectrum [of the ONE Championship product]," he continued, explaining how ONE sets itself apart by promoting MMA, kickboxing, muay thai, and occasionally other attractions like submission grappling and boxing.
"ONE offers something that none of the U.S. promotions offer in terms of the variety of different martial arts. Also, our fighter entrances, our fighter videos, there's a lot of production that goes into it. I would argue that our production is better than Pride, and Pride obviously was the gold standard for a long time. So I think the U.S. fans are going to be really, really surprised by how different we are from the current players in the U.S."
ONE has always been a distinctly Asian promotion, placing great importance on honoring the continent's rich martial arts history. While Asia will always be ONE's home, Sityodtong sees the US as a crucial market for the promotion.
"The reality is that ONE has become a global property—a truly global property," he said. "America is important because it's the world's largest sports market, and our entry into the US is inevitable. 100 percent we will be there, it's just a question of when."
Cracking into the competitive U.S. market will not be easy for Sityodtong and his team, but the ONE boss is confident that, with a continued blend of creativity and resilience, it can be done.
In fact, he's hoping that by the time ONE Championship is celebrating its 20-year anniversary, 10 years down the road, the promotion will be well-established stateside, as well as in Europe, South America, and Africa.
"We're going to become a true household name in every country in Asia—truly mainstream" he said. "Equally importantly, I want to become a household name in North America, in Latin America, in Europe, in Africa. I want ONE to be a truly global brand that fans love and appreciate, and that every day we're surprising and delighting our fans all over the world.
"I think it's very possible from where we're sitting," he concluded.
ONE Championship's Angela Lee Opens Up on Motherhood and Her Return to the Cage
Jul 29, 2021
Angela Lee's home is full of sounds that every new parent knows well—sounds that hung in the background as she deftly shifted from her duties as a mother to her duties as the ONE atomweight champion and picked up the phone for an interview.
"I love being a mom so much," the 25-year-old told Bleacher Report as her husband, fellow fighter Bruno Pucci, tended to their cooing, three-month-old daughter nearby. "I just love my daughter. It's amazing—more than I could have imagined.
"In the beginning, there wasn't much sleep, but things are getting much better," she added. "It's so cool how every new day, I'm learning something new, and she's doing something new. Everything we do, it's like experiencing it for the first time, because it's the first time she's doing it. It's really neat."
From the moment Lee announced her pregnancy in October 2020, she was adamant that she intended to return to the ONE Championship cage before the end of 2021. Unfortunately, getting back into fighting shape has come with its share of challenges—challenges that are difficult to accept when you're used to being at the top of your field.
"I was actually forced to eat pretty healthily for most of my pregnancy because my daughter would not let me eat oily foods or fatty foods," Lee said with a laugh. "I couldn't stand any meat—especially red meat, steak—which is crazy, because I usually love that.
"After I got cleared by my doctor, six or seven weeks after my daughter was born, I wanted to get back into training," she continued. "It's pretty difficult. The first few times, I took it really slow, but of course, being an athlete my whole life I wanted to get things going. I jumped into a couple of light sparring rounds, even grappling, and it's so different. Mentally, my mind knows what to do in positions, and I'll try to move in a certain way, and then it'll hurt—it'll be sharp, I'll feel something somewhere—and I'll have to pull back and end up doing the wrong move. That's frustrating, where mentally I know what to do, but my body just won't cooperate.
"I'm trying to work on patience and giving my body grace."
As Lee works on returning to her former form, she's drawing inspiration from the likes of Miesha Tate, Rachael Ostovich and Michelle Waterson—women she considers friends, all of whom happen to be mothers and world-class professional fighters.
"[Tate] is an inspiration, 100 percent," Lee said, referencing the former UFC bantamweight champion, who recently mounted her own comeback after giving birth to two children. "She reached out to me multiple times throughout my pregnancy and postpartum, just giving advice.
"My friend Rachael Ostovich has a daughter, too. Also, another woman that I messaged a couple of times is Michelle Waterson. I watched her documentary, Fight Mom, and it's super-inspiring. I think I'm going to watch it again to get me through the tough times.
"It's not an easy thing to do: Being a mom is the toughest job in the world, then on top of that, being a fighter-mom is just another level. It's so nice that I'm able to reach out to women like them who have gone through the process of having babies and getting back to [fighting], because right now, this is my first time. I don't know what to expect. I don't know when my body's supposed to feel back to normal. I just feel very lucky that I'm able to reach out to these women. It helps, because you feel like you're not alone. Other people have gone through this and came out on top—so I know I will too."
Coming out on top is, as always, what Lee strives to do.
Despite the difficulties she's encountered as she looks to get back into fighting shape, the decorated ONE titleholder is sticking to her initial projection and aims to be ready to compete again by the time the year is out.
"I'm shooting for the end of the year," she said. "That's my goal: to be back in tip-top shape and ready to fight."
Lee will return to a division that is packed with top talent, including stars like Denice Zamboanga, Seo Hee Ham, Meng Bo, Alyona Rassohyna, Stamp Fairtex and Itsuki Hirata, all of whom seem to be in arm's reach of an atomweight title shot.
The champion is eager to get back into the cage and start vanquishing those contenders and, despite the difficult she's had recovering from her pregnancy, expects to do so with new levels of ferocity.
After all, she now has a whole new reason to fight.
"I'm longing to get back into the cage and get that feeling back," Lee said. "I have so much more to fight for now. Mixed martial arts has always been an outlet for me. I'm going to channel all of this energy into my next fight. It's going to be Angela Lee 2.0.
"It's not going to be easy. It's going to be a long, hard road, but it's going to be so, so worth it once I get back to the top."
ONE Championship promoted the final of its four-event stint on TNT on Wednesday night, and the card gave fans plenty to talk about. In the main event, Reinier de Ridder defeated Aung La N Sang to win the ONE light heavyweight title...
ONE on TNT 4: How to Watch Eddie Alvarez vs. Ok Rae Yoon
Apr 27, 2021
ONE Championship continues its ONE on TNT series Wednesday with the return of Eddie Alvarez. Three weeks ago, Alvarez was controversially disqualified against Iuri Lapicus at ONE on TNT 1, but that has since been overturned to a no-contest. He'll take on South Korean Ok Rae Yoon, who beat No. 5 Marat Gafurov at ONE on TNT 3.
Also on the card is undefeated heavyweight Oumar Kane taking on a debuting Kirill Grishenko. Kane has been sensational since starting his tenure at ONE in January, knocking out both of his opponents in the first round. Reug Reug will have a quick turnaround having competed on April 7 but will look for another knockout victory just three weeks later.
Main eventing the card is light heavyweight champion Aung La N Sang defending his title against Reinier De Ridder, who is looking for another belt after taking the middleweight championship from Sang.
Here's the full card, how to watch and top headlines to look out for.
Where and How to Watch
ONE on TNT 4 will take place at Singapore Indoor Stadium starting at 8:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
Those in the U.S. can watch the preliminary card live on Bleacher Report or the B/R MMA Twitter account. You can also stream the prelims onB/R Live and the B/R Live YouTube channel.
The three-match main card will be shown exclusively on TNT and in the Bleacher Report app with a TV provider login starting at 10 p.m. ET. On the West Coast, the main card will be available live on the TNT app or on a delay on TNT at 10 p.m. PT.
Match Card
Main Card (TNT and Bleacher Report, 10 p.m. ET)
(c) Aung La N Sang (26-11) vs. Reinier De Ridder (13-0)
He faced No. 2-ranked Iuri Lapicus on ONE on TNT 1 less than three weeks ago and looked to be in prime position to defeat him and earn a title shot against Christian Lee. That all came crashing down when the Underground King was controversially disqualified for punches to the back of the head. An emotional Alvarez, concerned for Lapicus' health, was clearly distraught after the match.
Then earlier this week, ONE announced that the match had officially been changed to a no-contest, removing the loss from Alvarez's record. ONE's statement said that a panel "unanimously validated that illegal strikes to the back of the head occurred, but also ruled by majority that a procedural misstep occurred after the second strike to the back of the head."
This Wednesday, he has another shot at victory against Yoon, who won the chance to face Alvarez by beating Gafurov on Wednesday.
At this pace, Kane may be the heavyweight champion by the end of 2021 if he continues fighting every month.
The Senegalese sensation is tearing through the division at an alarming rate. After defeating Alain Ngalani in January by first-round TKO, Kane also made quick work of Patrick Schmid at ONE on TNT 1. Less than three weeks later, he returns for his biggest test yet against the undefeated Grishenko.
Let's see if Kane's dominant run continues.
N Sang-De Ridder 2
Light heavyweight champion Aung La N Sang has held the title for over three years, and he will defend it on Wednesday against a familiar foe. Reinier De Ridder steps in to replace Vitaly Bigdash on the card, meaning that instead of a big trilogy fight, N Sang faces the man who beat him last time out. In October, De Ridder took N Sang's middleweight belt via first-round submission.
Now they meet again in the light heavyweight division, again with a belt on the line.
ONE Championship will conclude its four-event stint on TNT this Wednesday—and the Singapore-based martial arts promotion will do so in style...
Aung La N Sang Discusses Turmoil in Native Myanmar, Fight at ONE on TNT IV
Apr 27, 2021
On April 28, in the main event of ONE on TNT IV in Singapore, Aung La N Sang will attempt to defend the promotion's light heavyweight title against Reinier De Ridder. It will be his second consecutive fight with the Dutchman, after losing the ONE middleweight title to him via first-round submission last October.
In other words, he's under significant pressure to win.
Yet heading into this crucial clash, much of Aung La N Sang's attention has been focused elsewhere—on things that would make the outcome of even the most important fight feel insignificant.
The former two-division ONE champ now calls South Florida home, but he was born and raised in Myanmar. Myanmar, for those unaware, was formerly called Burma, named after the country's Burman ethnic group. In 1989, the military leaders of the day changed its name, ostensibly to improve the country's international image and foster unity between the numerous ethnic groups within its borders.
Today, Aung La N Sang is hailed as the Southeast Asian country's greatest sporting hero. His countrymen tune into his fights en masse and even built a statue in his honor in his hometown of Myitkyina. Unfortunately, as anybody who's been following the headlines knows, Myanmar is currently embroiled in a period of immense turmoil and tragedy.
On February 1, the country's military, known locally as the Tatmadaw, detained elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and several other members of the country's ruling National League for Democracy (NLD). The Tatmadaw promptly declared a state of emergency, alleging the NLD's November election win was fraudulent. The country's election commission has said there is no evidence to support those allegations.
At that time, Aung La N Sang was preparing for a fight with Vitaly Bigdash—his originally slated foe for April 28—who was later forced off the card and replaced by De Ridder.
"The military takeover happened in early February, when the elected government, the NLD, was supposed to go into office," Aung La N Sang told Bleacher Report. "[The army is] terrorizing their citizens. They're shooting protestors and picking people up at night and shutting down the media and all the TV channels—there's only the propaganda channels now. A lot of people are living in fear in Myanmar right now. I don't think I'll be able to go back home because of this."
After the military takeover, which the U.S. government has designated a coup, the streets of Myanmar's cities erupted in protests that were met by violent crackdowns. Clashes between protesters—as well as armed groups such as the Karen National Union—and the military have since left over 700 dead and many more injured. On March 27, over 100 anti-coup protesters were killed in a single day.
Amid this chaos, many of Aung La N Sang's supporters in Myanmar have reached out to him for help. Unfortunately—and much to his disappointment—there's not much he can do from the other side of the world, beyond publicly calling for an end to the coup.
"At the start of camp, it was so hard," he said. "Every morning—even now—I would get messages. I would get messages from friends, family, fans [in Myanmar], telling me what's going on, telling me about kids getting shot for no reason. It makes me appreciate America and the freedom we have here, and it reminds me of all the evil around the world.
"There's not much I can do on a personal level," he added. "A lot of my Burmese fans really look up to me, and I'm sorry that I can't be Rambo and go over there and fight this coup for them. It's so difficult because a lot of people, especially in the beginning, were calling me out [for not doing enough], saying really hurtful things."
The situation in Myanmar took a toll on Aung La N Sang and understandably distracted him from the fight at hand. Thankfully, he was able to enlist the help of a sports psychologist through his training home of Sanford MMA.
"This is my second time working with a sports psychologist," he said. "After the last fight [with De Ridder], I felt like I wasn't mentally there, and Sanford has really good connections because of Sanford Health. It was meant to be, almost. They brought in a sports psychologist a couple weeks after my fight, and I was like, 'Man, I need this.'
"It was the most important thing. I was thinking too much about what was happening in Myanmar. I was depressed. The sports psychologist helped me allocate time in my day, instead of just being all over the place and sad."
Unfortunately, Aung La N Sang had already left Florida when he learned that Bigdash was out and De Ridder was in, so he could not rely on Sanford's sports psychologist to help him digest the news.
"I was very worried," he said. "[I got the news] when I got to Qatar. A ONE Championship rep said, 'Can you call me back right away?' and I was like, 'No, don't tell me this is happening.'
"I said, 'I'll fight anyone.' I even said Reinier would be good, too, because he was supposed to fight on the same card and lost his opponent.
"[When it came together] I was excited. I was very happy."
If Aung La N Sang is able to defeat De Ridder, he'll retain the ONE light heavyweight title and, in all likelihood, set up a trilogy fight with the Dutchman with the middleweight title once again at stake.
That's his desired outcome, but he also hopes a win will help the people of Myanmar—whether it inspires them on a grander scale or simply provides a brief distraction from the chaos that swirls all around them.
"We know a lot of the Burmese people are going to tune in. Even though it's going to be in prime time in the United States—early in the morning in Myanmar—there's going to be a lot of people cheering for me. I just hope it gives them a sense of hope, a sense of strength, and some happiness in their lives.
"But, man, the fighting I do doesn't compare to what's going on Myanmar," he added.
"I hope [there's a resolution], or there won't be a country left."
ONE Championship returned to TNT for a third straight week on Wednesday night, and the card was one for the books...
ONE on TNT 3: How to Watch, TV Info for John Lineker vs. Troy Worthen
Apr 20, 2021
ONE Championship continues its ONE on TNT series Wednesday with John Lineker taking on American Troy Worthen.
Lineker, formerly with the UFC before debuting for ONE in October 2019, is the top-ranked challenger to Bibiano Fernandes' title. He faces Worthen, a rising star out of Florida.
Here's the full card, how to watch and top headlines to look out for.
Where and How to Watch
ONE on TNT 3 will take place at Singapore Indoor Stadium starting at 8:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
Those in the U.S. can watch the preliminary card live on Bleacher Report or the B/R MMA Twitter account. You can also stream the prelims onB/R Live and the B/R Live YouTube channel.
The two-match main card will be shown exclusively on TNT and in the Bleacher Report app with a TV provider login starting at 10 p.m. ET. On the West Coast, the main card will be available live on the TNT app or on a delay on TNT at 10 p.m. PT.
After going 12-4 in his seven years at UFC, Lineker is now on the brink of his first title shot at a major promotion.
The 30-year-old defeated Muin Gafurov in his ONE debut before dismantling former champion Kevin Belingon last year, earning him the No. 1 ranking in the bantamweight division. The Brazilian takes on Worthen, who's coming off the first loss of his career against No. 3-ranked Yusup Saadulaev.
The winner will likely get a crack at champion Bibiano Fernandes, who owns the ONE record for most title defenses with eight.
44-year-old John Wayne Parr looks to turn back the clock vs. Holzken
It was a surprise to many when Parr, well into his 40s, signed a contract with ONE last year. His first pro bout was in 1997, but Parr believes he still has wins left in the tank 24 years later.
It's been nearly two years since his last match and nearly four years since his last win, but the 10-time world champion Aussie will step back into the cage to face another kickboxing legend in Holzken. The Dutchman is the No. 1-ranked contender in ONE's lightweight division and is eager for a trilogy bout against champion Regian Eersel.
ONE Championship returns to TNT for a third consecutive week this Wednesday, and the Singapore-based martial arts organization will do so with an alluring card...
