ONE Championship emerges as most dominant brand of martial arts in Asia

With a tremendous strategic growth plan laid out over the course of the next 24 months, which promises a record 36-events in 2019, nearly double that of the target in 2018, ONE Championship continues to stamp its claim as the premier martial arts organization in Asia.

As the promotion gears up for the second quarter of the year, the future appears very bright for ONE Championship and its mission to deliver a unique flavor of authentic martial arts to fans all across the world.

Led by Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong, ONE has absolutely exploded over the past couple of years.

ONE Championship’s aggressive expansion and growth across Asia, dominating both social media and television viewership metrics since its inception, has been well documented.

In the past three years alone, ONE has come to a peak TV ratings share of 1 to 2 per cent to a staggering 11 to 51 per cent in early 2018.

That is up to 51x the amount of growth. In comparison, TV ratings in Asia for global sports media properties such as the EPL, F1, and the NBA only sit at 1 to 6 per cent.

This includes an increase in annual TV broadcast per core country, coming from 12 to18 hours to a phenomenal 100-2800 hours, a more than 230 times spike.

Social media impressions sit at 19 billion, up from just 352 million four years ago -- a whopping 54x increase.

This includes social media video views, which rounds out to an unimaginable 3.5 billion from just 312,000 in 2014.

This trend is poised to continue, and also to grow at an even faster pace, as ONE traverses the next eight months.

Earlier this year, ONE Championship bolstered its leadership ranks with the addition of two incredible figures in the world of business -- Mission Holdings head honcho Saurabh Mittal, who sits alongside his college best friend Sityodtong as Vice Chairman of ONE Championship, and fellow Harvard alumni and former Singapore Air Force fighter jet pilot Hua Fung Teh.

While Mittal aids Sityodtong in day-to-day operations in running the largest global sports media property in Asian history, Teh is charged to lead ONE’s digital expansion, sitting at the helm of the company’s soon to be released mobile app which promises to revolutionize the way martial arts is consumed by fans in Asia.

It is these types of innovations which has brought ONE Championship monumental success in the short time that it has been in operation in Asia, taking martial arts from being a niche sport to a mainstream sport broadcast to a potential 1.7 billion viewers in over 136 countries worldwide.

Due to the enormous broadcasting platform, ONE Championship has also attracted major global sponsors like Casio, Disney, Under Armour, Haier, Universal Music Group, and many more.

ONE Championship has also quickly dominated both social media and television viewership metrics since its inception in 2011. One huge factor for its success is the authenticity of its content.

ONE Championship’s authenticity is its focus on developing homegrown martial arts superheroes.

Heroes like Singapore’s Angela Lee, the Philippines’ Eduard Folayang, and Myanmar’s Aung La N Sang who all came from Asia. Because they are from Asia, Asian fans can relate with their backgrounds.

The appeal lies in not just turning athletes into superstars by strictly promoting them as such, but by giving them a solid local fan base that is happy to support one of their own.

People of all ages and genders are identifying with ONE athletes on a human level. It’s an amazing sight to behold.

With the unwavering belief in its product, ONE Championship has also been able to attract large sum investments from of the world’s biggest and most prolific investment banks such as Temasek Holdings, Sequoia Capital, and Mission Holdings.

In line with the organization’s mission to discover Asia’s young martial arts talent, ONE Championship has also established a new documentary series featuring the legendary Rich “Ace” Franklin.

The multiple-time world champion, who serves as Vice President of ONE Championship, will be starring in a new program called Rich Franklin’s ONE Warrior Series and serving as its active CEO.

In the new ONE Warrior Series, Franklin travels to various Asian nations to visit local gyms in cities such as Bangkok, Manila, Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing to discover new and upcoming martial arts talent.

The series recently concluded its first season just last month, awarding deserving prospects with lucrative ONE Championship contracts amounting to over US $100,000.

It’s an incredible opportunity for aspiring professional martial artists in Asia to compete on the global stage of martial arts.

The region has some great talent emerging over the past few years as the popularity of the sport has skyrocketed.

In addition to ONE Warrior Series, ONE Championship also stamped its claim as the world’s largest martial arts organization with the recently launched ONE Super Series, which brings together the absolute best from the world’s various striking martial arts.

ONE Super Series aims to provide the world’s best martial artists a prestigious global platform to showcase the beauty of Asia’s striking arts such as Muay Thai, kickboxing, karate, taekwondo, Kung Fu, wushu, sanda, silat, lethwei, and more.

The promotion boasts the signing of legendary strikers such as kickboxing superstar Giorgio Petrosyan, as well as Muay Thai legends Nong-O Gaiyanghadao, Sam-A Gaiyanhadao, and Yodsanklai Fairtex, among others.

ONE Super Series kicked off in Manila in mid April and also unveiled a brand new ONE Championship five-rope ring where the promotion plans to host all of its bouts in the very near future.

If the sort of action and excitement fans saw in Manila from ONE Super Series is any indication at the future success of this new innovation, things are definitely looking bright.

ONE Championship also recently established corporate offices in Beijing and Shanghai, in concentrated efforts to expand across the Chinese mainland.

The promotion’s aim is to bring authentic martial arts action to fans all across China, showcasing the elite level talent of homegrown Chinese martial artists as they showcase their skills on the biggest global stage of competition.

There are a plethora of martial arts promotions currently operating in Asia, including various smaller organizations, but it is ONE Championship which has been able to maximize the potential of the sometimes complicated market.

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