ONE Championship

ONE Championship (formerly ONE Fighting Championship) is a Singaporean combat sports promotion. Founded on 14 July 2011 by entrepreneur Chatri Sityodtong and former ESPN Star Sports senior executive Victor Cui, its events have featured mixed martial arts (MMA), submission grappling, kickboxing, Muay Thai and Lethwei bouts.

The promotion's first event was held on 3 September 2011 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium; they have since gone on to hold over 100 events across Asia. It is Asia's largest MMA promotion company, having been backed by Singapore's GIC and Temasek Holdings, in addition to ICONIQ Capital, Mission Holdings, Sequoia Capital and Greenoaks Capital. In 2020, ONE was included on Nielsen's list of the world's top 10 biggest sports media properties in terms of viewership and engagement.

History

Founding and early history

Chatri Sityodtong stated his reasons for founding the organisation in July 2011 was that he believed that martial arts was Asia's "cultural treasure", yet there was no Pan-Asian promotion to unite the continent. Unlike western promotions, the organisation's main goal was to promote "values of integrity, humility, honor, respect, courage, discipline, and compassion".

On 31 March 2012, ONE FC held its first female fight during War of the Lions at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

On 13 January 2015, the promotion announced it would be changing its name to simply "ONE Championship". According to Victor Cui, the name change was made mostly for linguistic and cultural reasons.

In July 2018, WBC Super flyweight world champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai would make the next defense of his belt at a ONE Championship event in his home city of Bangkok, Thailand. In what would be their first boxing match to be promoted, ONE collaborated with Nakornloung Promotion to put the matchup together with Iran Diaz. The match would headline ONE Championship: Kingdom of Heroes on 6 October 2018. As of December 2021, this is the only boxing match under the ONE Championship banner

Introduction of submission grappling

In August 2016, ONE Championship announced a grappling tournament that followed IBJJF no-gi rules with Shinya Aoki, Angela Lee and Michelle Nicolini among the participants

In May 2017, a "grappling super fight" with submission-only rules was held between Shinya Aoki and Garry Tonon in Singapore. Shortly after, Eddie Bravo announced that he had been contacted by ONE to take part in a similar grappling super fight against Kazushi Sakuraba.

In January 2018, another submission-only "grappling super fight" was held between Shinya Aoki and Marat Gafurov.

In May 2021, ONE Championship announced that Gordon Ryan was due to debut in ONE Championship in a grappling match with Shinya Aoki to be held in August of that year. The match was later postponed by Ryan due to health issues.

In February 2022, it was announced that Mei Yamaguchi would face Danielle Kelly and Reinier de Ridder would face André Galvão in a pair of grappling matches on March 26, 2022, in an event to celebrate the organization's tenth anniversary.

Introduction of Lethwei

On July 18, 2015, before its partnership with WLC, ONE held the first Lethwei fight in its history at the occasion of ONE Championship: Kingdom of Warriors in Yangon, Myanmar. The fight showcased Burmese fighters Phyan Thway and Soe Htet Oo in a dark match and the result was a draw according to the traditional Lethwei rules.

In 2017, ONE and World Lethwei Championship officially entered into a partnership to share athletes to fight in each other's organization.
* On June 30, 2017, ONE held another Lethwei match at ONE Championship: Light of a Nation, a contest between Thway Thit Win Hlaing and Soe Htet Oo. Thway Thit Win Hlaing would end up winning a decision according to WLC point system, where a winner must be chosen by judges decision if the fight goes the distance. Since then, ONE has not held more Lethwei fights, but CEO Chatri Sityodtong has expressed his love for the art and wanting to recruit Lethwei Champion Dave Leduc into the organization.

Rules

Mixed martial arts

ONE Championship uses the Global Martial Arts Rule Set, which "blends a combination of Best Practices from Asian and Non-Asian Rules". Matches vary in maximum length, depending on whether it is for a championship title. In all fights, each round can be no longer than five minutes. Most fights have a maximum of three rounds, with one minute breaks in between, but championship matches have a max of five rounds.

Victory is attained by one of the following ways; knockout, submission, verbal tapout, technical knockout by referee stoppage, request for stoppage by cornerman, or by judges' decision. Three judges score the bout in its entirety, not round-by-round, utilizing the following criteria in descending order of importance:
* Near knockout or submission
* Damage (internal, accumulated, superficial)
* Striking combinations and cage generalship (ground control, superior positioning)
* Earned takedowns or takedown defense
* Aggression

Illegal targets for strikes are the groin, throat, trachea, and the back of the head, neck or spine. Stomps to the head of a grounded opponent, small joint manipulation, head butting, hair pulling, eye gouging, orifice insertion, spitting, and grabbing onto the cage fence are also illegal. Takedowns must not result in "spiking or pile driver to the head or neck". Soccer kicks to the head of a grounded opponent were previously legal in the competition, initially via an "open attack" rule, which required fighters to get permission from the referee to use them. In September 2012, the company adopted the Pride Fighting Championships' rules on the technique, allowing fighters to use soccer kicks without asking for permission from the referee. Soccer kicks were banned entirely in August 2016 as part of the company's worldwide expansion plans. Sityodtong stated that despite studies showing that soccer kicks are the same as a normal head kick to a standing opponent because you cannot generate any more pivotal force, the technique invites "bad publicity".

Kickboxing and Muay Thai

ONE Super Series matches are contested over three rounds of three minutes each, with title fights being five rounds. Fights are scored using a ten-point must system.

Fights can be won via:
* Knockout, resulting in the opponent being unable to answer the 10-count due to a:
** Punch
** Kick
** Knee
** Elbow (only in Muay Thai rules)
** Legal throw (only in Muay Thai rules)
* Technical knockout due to:
** Four knockdowns in a bout
** Three knockdowns in a round
** Referee/doctor stoppage
** Verbal retirement by the opponent
* Decision
** Unanimous decision (all three judges score in favor of one fighter)
** Split decision (two judges score in favor of one fighter, one judge scores in favor of the other fighter)
** Majority decision (two judges score in favor of one fighter, one judge scores a draw)
* Technical decision
* Disqualification

ONE Super Series bouts, both kickboxing and Muay Thai, are judged based on the following criteria:
* Knockdowns
* Damage (internal, accumulated, and superficial)
* Number of clean strikes
* Cage/ring generalship (superior positioning)
* Aggression

ONE Super Series kickboxing adopts the oriental ruleset, better known as K-1 rules. In kickboxing, fighters wear boxing gloves, with fighters weighing at or below 65.8 kilograms wearing 8-oz gloves and fighters weighing above wearing 10-oz gloves.

ONE Super Series Muay Thai allows elbow strikes, clinch fighting, sweeps and throws. Additionally, fighters wear open-fingered 4-oz gloves as opposed to boxing gloves.

Submission grappling

ONE grappling matches are one round of twelve minutes. Initially, matches could only be won via submission and were automatically declared a draw after twelve minutes with no submission.

On April 18, 2022, ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong announced a change to the ONE grappling ruleset, which would see a winner by decision. The time limit was also decreased to ten minutes. If neither combatant secures a submission at the end of ten minutes, a winner will be determined based on the "number of real submission attempts". Stalling will also result in a yellow card being issued. The new ruleset took effect on May 20, 2022.

Weight divisions

ONE Championship currently uses ten different weight classes:

Unlike most MMA organizations, these weight limits are based on a competitor's "walking weight", rather than pre-fight weigh-ins.

The change took place after the death of 21-year-old Chinese fighter, Yang Jian Bing (who was supposed to face Geje Eustaquio) on 11 December 2015, due to dehydration by weight-cutting in the Philippines.

The promotion banned weight-cutting by dehydration in order to promote fighter safety. The promotion’s revised policy on weight mandated that athletes are monitored in their training camps, and have urine specific gravity tests to ensure they are hydrated up to three hours ahead of their bouts. Since the new measures took effect, there have been no further serious incidents.

The new system was well received by athletes in the organization, as well as other stakeholders in the MMA industry.

Events

- 2011 in ONE Championship - 2012 in ONE Championship - 2013 in ONE Championship - 2014 in ONE Championship - 2015 in ONE Championship - 2016 in ONE Championship - 2017 in ONE Championship - 2018 in ONE Championship - 2019 in ONE Championship - 2020 in ONE Championship - 2021 in ONE Championship - 2022 in ONE Championship
- 2023 in ONE Championship (''upcoming'')

ONE Warrior Series

In November 2017, it was announced that ONE VP Rich Franklin would head up a competition called the ''ONE Warrior Series'', searching for up-and-coming martial artists in Asia. The prize is a six-figure contract with the organization, with the winner determined based on their performance instead of victories.

ONE Super Series

On February 12, 2018, ONE Championship announced the establishment of the ''ONE Super Series'', which would feature kickboxing and Muay Thai bouts. The first event that featured bouts under Muay Thai and kickboxing rules was ONE: Heroes of Honor in Manila on 20 April 2018. The promotion signed notable names such as Giorgio Petrosyan, Nong-O Gaiyanghadao and Fabio Pinca to feature on the bill. Since the inception of ONE Super Series, some events have used a five-roped ring, instead of the ONE circular cage, which had been used exclusively up until 2018. The ONE Super Series kickboxing bouts adopt the oriental ruleset. As of 2020, ONE Super Series kickboxing bouts use boxing gloves. In ONE Super Series Muay Thai bouts, open-finger 4 oz gloves are used. The first ONE event to consist entirely of ONE Super Series contests was ONE Championship: Immortal Triumph in Ho Chi Minh City on 6 September 2019.

ONE Infinity

On 13 February 2020, ONE announced the launch of the "Infinity" series, events consisting of at least three championship fights and a minimum of 12 world champions.

ONE Lumpinee

In September 2022, ONE announced a partnership with the Royal Thai Army to hold at least 52 shows in 2023 at the Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. The weekly events will start in January 2023 and predominately feature Muay Thai, but will also include MMA, kickboxing, and submission grappling bouts. They will be broadcast live in 154 countries, and reportedly offer the highest purses in Muay Thai history.

Executive and production team

ONE Championship is operated by Group ONE Holdings, whose leadership and executive team are chairman and chief executive officer Chatri Sityodtong, vice chairman Saurabh Mittal, group president Hua Fung Teh, and chief financial officer Jesley Chua. Matches are made by matchmaker and Vice President of Operations, Matt Hume. In May 2014, former UFC Middleweight Champion Rich Franklin became a vice president of ONE Championship. The referees include Olivier Coste, Mohamad Sulaiman, Yuji Shimada, Kemp Cheng and Justin Brown for MMA matches, and Atsushi Onari and Elias Dolaptsis for ONE Super Series matches. The regular colour commentators for the English-language television broadcasts are Michael Schiavello and Mitch Chilson, although Josh Thomson, Jason Chambers, Bas Rutten and Renzo Gracie have appeared as guest commentators.

ONE co-founder Victor Cui was CEO International until leaving the organization in early 2022 to become president and CEO of the Edmonton Elks. Former Strikeforce and UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion Miesha Tate was a vice president of ONE from 2018 until 2021, when she returned to active competition as a fighter.

Roster

In May 2022, Sityodtong stated ONE Championship had 600 fighters in the organization.

Fighter salary

Fighter salaries in Asia are not publicly disclosed, unlike in the US, so information about ONE FC's fighter purses is not in the public domain. However, in January 2014 Ben Askren revealed that he was being paid a minimum of US$50,000 per fight as well as a US$50,000 win bonus.

A cash bonus known as the "ONE Warrior bonus" was introduced on 9 July 2014 and implemented for the first time at ONE Fighting Championship: War of Dragons on 11 July 2014.

An award of US$50,000 is given out at the end of certain events to the fighter who impresses the most in terms of:

* thrilling the fans with exciting action;
* demonstrating an incredible warrior spirit;
* exhibiting amazing skill, and;
* delivering a phenomenal finish.

Victor Cui stated that bonuses would be handed out on a discretionary basis: "For every event, the bar will be very, very high. If a few fighters impress me, then I will hand out the bonus to a few fighters. If no one impresses me, then no one will get it. Extraordinary performance deserves extraordinary rewards. Ordinary performances deserve ordinary rewards."

The "ONE Warrior bonus" of $50,000 was re-introduced in January 2022, with a minimum of one bonus and a maximum of five bonuses awarded at each event.

Rankings

The rankings for ONE Championship's fighters are both recorded and updated when information has been obtained from the promotion's official website.

Current champions

Tournament winners

ONE Grand Prix Champions

Malaysia GP Champions

Cambodia GP Champions

China GP Champions

Myanmar GP Champions

ONE Championship records

Cross-promotional partnerships

In 2017, ONE entered into a partnership with World Lethwei Championship parties agreed on sending athletes to fight in each other's organization.

In January 2019, ONE entered into a partnership with Shooto, according to which Shooto champions would be given a contract with ONE Championship.

They entered into a similar partnership with Indonesian promotion One Pride MMA in December 2020.

On February 18, 2021, ONE partnered with American promotion Ringside United Fighting (RUF Nation). The partnership saw RUF hosting a ''Road to ONE'' 16-man heavyweight MMA tournament, with the winner getting a $100,000 contract to compete in ONE Championship.

On May 6, 2022, ONE partnered with Thailand-based Fairtex Fight Promotion. Fairtex Fight Promotion would begin hosting a series of ''Road to ONE'' Muay Thai tournaments for three different weight classes in July, offering a $100,000 contract to compete in ONE Championship.

On 27 May 2022 ONE announced a partnership with UK-based Muay Thai Grand Prix. The partnership would see MTGP hosting ''Road to ONE'' tournaments in two different weight classes, with the winners receiving a ONE Championship contract worth $100,000.

Broadcasters

It has been broadcast by RCTI (2015–2017), GTV (2012, repeat only for 2020–2021), iNews (2015–2017, repeat only for 2020–present), Moji (repeat only for 2022–present), Indosiar (delayed in 2013–2014), SCTV (delayed in 2018–2022), Vidio (live in 2018–present), Netverse (live in 2022–present) and NET. (delayed in 2022–present) in Indonesia, MediaCorp Channel 5 (temporarily) in Singapore, ABS-CBN S+A/ TV5/One Sports/ LIGA Channel in the Philippines, MyTV in Cambodia, Astro Arena, TV9 and RTM in Malaysia, Workpoint TV and Thairath TV in Thailand, TV Tokyo and AbemaTV in Japan.

On 30 January 2012, they signed a 10-year deal with ESPN Star Sports. ONE made its PPV debut at ONE Fighting Championship: Rise of Kings via iN DEMAND, Avail-TVN, DirecTV and Dish.

Since May 2018, ONE events have been broadcast live and free on both their dedicated apps and YouTube channel in select locations.

On 11 December 2018, ONE announced a three-year broadcast deal with Turner Sports in the United States that will bring live events to streaming service B/R Live and recap shows on TNT.

On 23 March 2019 ONE announced it had signed a multi-year deal with Star Sports in India. On 19 September 2019, it was announced that sports streaming service FITE TV would broadcast the promotion's two-part, 100th numbered event, Century.

In November 2020, ONE announced a partnership with Facebook to distribute ONE Championship content on Facebook Watch and IGTV.

On April 27, 2022, ONE announced a five-year distribution deal with Amazon Prime Video, giving Amazon Prime exclusive broadcast rights for at least 12 live events annually during prime time hours in the United States and Canada.

On September 29, 2022, ONE announced an exclusive multi-year partnership with beIN Sports to broadcast live ONE Championship events across the Middle East and North Africa for the first time. In addition to events, the partnership is set to include round-up shows, as well as related social media and digital content. beIN Sports will broadcast ONE's events to 24 MENA territories with both English and Arabic commentary.

On December 8, 2022, ONE joined Tero Entertainment press conference on the broadcast the event One Lumpinee from Lumpinee Stadium, Bangkok via Thailand's Channel 7 to more than 154 countries every Friday evening. Starting on January 20, 2023, this broadcast is considered a big turn in the Thai television industry because Channel 7 had to remove the television drama after the evening news (prime time), which considered a regular identity and main income of the channel since its establishment in 1967.

See also

*Bellator MMA
*Brave Combat Federation
* Glory
*K-1
*Rizin Fighting Federation
*Thai Fight
*Ultimate Fighting Championship

References

External links

*

List of ONE events
on Sherdog

{{Kickboxing organizations

2011 establishments in Singapore
Mixed martial arts in Singapore
Kickboxing in Singapore
Sports organisations of Singapore
Mixed martial arts organizations
Sports organizations established in 2011
Kickboxing organizations
Boxing organizations
Professional Muay Thai organizations