All You Need to Know About the ONE Championship

The ONE Championship is one of the world’s largest martial arts entities based in Singapore. The promotion organizes various competitions and bouts across various disciplines of martial arts, including Muay Thai, MMA, kickboxing, and submission grappling. Over the years, the ONE Championship has acquired the reputation of being a leading martial arts organization on a global scale as it broadcasts its martial arts bouts and events to over 190 countries. Consequently, there has been an unprecedented increase in the popularity of the ONE Championships and the organization as a whole. According to Nielsen, 

This martial arts organization utilizes class-leading event production standards to successfully conduct the most entertaining martial arts events in the major Asian countries. Each mega event features the world's best martial artists, MMA stars, kickboxing experts, and skilled submission grapplers.

Due to the ever-growing popularity of this unique Asian martial arts promotion and the martial artists who compete in these competitions, spectators now compare the ONE Championship with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). However, each promotion has its own mission, founding history, ruleset, martial arts events, weight classes, weigh-in systems, permitted techniques, fighting format, judgment criteria, anti-doping policy, ranking system, bout duration, and broadcasters. Read this article to learn all about the ONE Championship - a scintillating Asian martial arts promotion. 

Founded on July 14, 2011 by Chatri Sityodtong and Victor Cui, the ONE Championship was initially an organization focused on promoting MMA. Previously, the promotion featured boxing and Lethwei bouts as well. However, it has now ventured into Muay Thai, submission grappling, and kickboxing in addition to regularly holding MMA events. 

The first ONE Championship event was held on September 03, 2011, at the renowned Singapore Indoor Stadium. The inaugural event was a huge success, leading to the organization of over 200 more events across Asia ever since.

Chatri Sityondtong eventually revealed that the first three years of the ONE Fighting Championship were extremely challenging. Many broadcasters, investors, brands, advertisers, and employees turned down the idea of ONE, primarily because of their lack of understanding of Sityondtong’s vision. They believed that Sityondtong was promoting violence, while he was solely focused on presenting the true essence of martial arts and Asian combat sports culture to the world.

The promotion held its first event in September 2011 at Singapore Indoor Stadium. In March 2012, the promotion held its first female MMA fight at the same venue. In this fight, Nicole Chua, Singapore’s first female mixed martial artist, submitted Jeet Toshi, a seven-time Indian kickboxing champion. The first ONE Featherweight World Champion was held on February 03, 2013 at ONE FC: Return of Warriors. Eric Kelly lost this main event to Honorio Banario.

The first ONE Welterweight World Championship was held on March 14, 2014, at ONE FC: War of Nations. In this event, Nobutatsi defeated Brock Larson. In September 2014, the first ONE Flyweight World Championship was held in which Adriano Moraes emerged as champion after submitting Geje Eustaquio. The ONE Middleweight Championship was inaugurated on November 07, 2014 at ONE FC: Battle of the Lions. Igor Svirid secured an outstanding victory against Leandro Ataides in just 17 seconds.

In 2015, the organization finally changed its name to ONE Championship.

The revival of Martial Arts was at the heart of the foundation of One Championship. Sityodtong aimed at restoring this ‘’cultural treasure’’ by making a Pan-Asian sports media company solely devoted to promoting Mixed Martial Arts. Steering away from the hard-core Western influence in the game he wanted to promote values of integrity, humility, honor, respect, courage, discipline, and compassion. In spite of all the pressure in the initial days, ONE has stood by its core motives of endorsing real and non-violent sportsmen.

Their main motive is to promote MMA; for that, they also conduct a talent hunt series for amateurs. ONE Warrior Series was launched in which the winner was selected based on the performance and not by the number of victories. They also won a six-figure contract with the company.

Since it’s a promotion, people don’t apply to join but have a profile of their own to get an offer from ONE. The fighter has to attract stakeholders of the martial arts industry from all across the spectrum, which is only possible if they have competed in multiple amateur fights and leagues and have exceptional prowess and expertise in the martial art they compete in. Next comes the need for a sports agent who can negotiate a deal for them to register as an athlete with ONE.

Today, the ONE Championship has become one of Asia’s largest martial arts promotions, reaching a net value of more than $1 billion in October 2018. Until 2022, One Group Holdings, the parent company of the ONE Championship, performed all its legal operations from Singapore, but afterward, it moved them to the Cayman Islands. In 2018, the ONE Championship became an even bigger success by raising a hefty sum of $250 million from world’s blue chip investors.

Currently, the main investors of the ONE Championship include ICONIQ Capital, GIC and Temasek Holdings, Greenoaks Capital, and Sequoia Capital.

Ever since its establishment, the ONE Championship was first broadcast by multiple prominent broadcasters, including ESPN, Star Sports, and Turner Sports. Over the years, there have been many different broadcasters who have broadcasted the ONE fights.

• In 2012, GTV broadcast ONE fights. The broadcast was repeated only for 2020-2021.
• RCTI broadcast ONE fights from 2015-2017.
• iNews broadcast ONE fights from 2015-2017. The broadcast was repeated only for 2020-2023. Whether there will be a repeat broadcast in 2024 is yet to be announced.
• The ONE Championship repeat was broadcast by Moji for 2022 and 2023. 
• In 2013-2014, Indosiar broadcast delayed ONE event.
• In 2018-2022, SCTV broadcast delayed ONE event.
• In 2018-2022, Vidio broadcast live ONE fights.
• In 2022-2023, Netverse broadcast live ONE events. 
• In 2022-2023, NET. broadcast delayed ONE events.
• In 2022-2023, BTV broadcast ONE fight repeat showings in Indonesia.

After Star Sports, ESPN, and Turner, a five-year distribution deal with Amazon Prime Video is a step in the direction of targeting a global audience through an OTT platform.

Lately, ONE Championship has partnered with Horizon Sports to expand its sponsorship opportunities in the USA.

The ONE Championship broadcasts its events live and free of cost on its YouTube channel and apps. However, this facility is available in select locations only.

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

In December 2018, the ONE signed a three-year deal with Turner Sports in America. This deal brought recap shows on TNT and live streaming service B/R Live.

In March 2019, ONE Championship signed another multi-year broadcast deal but this time with Star Sports in India. In September 2019, the organization announced that FITE TV would televise the event’s two-part, 100th numbered event called Century.

In March 2023, the ONE Championship signed a deal with Seven Network, broadcasting both ONE Fight Night and ONE Friday Fights for 7 plus in Australia. In Canada and the United States of America, these events are aired on Prime Video.

In September 2022, ONE Championship expanded its broadcast to the Middle East and North Africa by signing a multi-year deal with BeIN Sports. The partnership included round-up shows, related digital and social media content in addition to conventional events. Moreover, to expand its reach, beIN Sports broadcast the events to 24 MENA territories with Arabic and English commentary.

In December 2022, the ONE Championship announced its new broadcast partnership with Tero Entertainment during a press conference for live ONE Friday Fights or ONE Lumpinee from Lumpinee Stadium, Bangkok. The broadcast was also expanded to 154 more countries through Thailand’s Channel 7.

In November 2020, ONE Championship partnered with Facebook to stream its content live on Facebook Watch and Instagram TV (IGTV).  

In April 2022, the ONE Championship signed a five-year distribution contract with Amazon Prime Video. Through this deal, the martial arts promotion also gave Amazon Prime broadcast rights for 12 live fight events yearly during prime hours in America and Canada.

The ONE Championship events were also temporarily broadcast by various broadcasters in different locations.

As of December 2023, the senior leadership and the board of directors of the ONE Championship are as follows:

The ONE Championship follows the Global Mixed Martial Arts ruleset, which involves using best practices from Asian and Non-Asian mixed martial arts rules and regulations. Somewhat similar rules apply to all the combat sports promoted by the ONE Championship, including MMa, Muay Thai, kickboxing, and submission grappling.  

As of 2023, the ONE Championship uses 10 different weight divisions for male and four weight divisions for female martial artists.

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

Unlike other martial arts or combat sports promotions, the ONE Championship’s weight classes are based on the participant’s walking weight and not on their pre-fight weigh-ins. This rule was revised after the death of Yang Jian Bing, a 21-year-old Chinese martial artist who died due to dehydration by weight cutting.

After the death of Yang Jian Bing due to dehydration by weight cutting, the ONE Championship banned any such practices, adopting the new “hydration and weigh-in system” or the “walking weight.” This change was brought about to prioritize and promote fighters’ well-being and safety. According to this new weigh-in policy, athletes were monitored constantly in their training camps. Moreover, multiple urine tests were performed to ensure they were maintaining the right levels of hydration up to three hours prior to their fight. After this revised policy no unfortunate incidents involving fighter’s’ death due to dehydration were reported. The athletes also appreciated the steps taken by the organization, the MMA community, and stakeholders in the industry.

The ONE’s new weigh in system is one of its kind in the world of MMA and combat sports. The new walking weight system involves multiple hydration tests and weigh-ins during the fight week. A participant’s walking weight is recorded on a regular basis throughout the contract period. After these tests, the athlete is assigned a weight class and offered fight events based on his walking weight. The walking weight policy was established after long discussions and collecting advice from medical professionals, consisting of the following members:

• Dr. Warren Wang, ONE’s Vice President of Medical Services
• Dr. James Okamoto, Chief Medical Advisor
• Matt Hume, Senior Vice President of the competition
• Rick Franklin, Vice President 

• The participant’s daily weight is called his walking weight. Based on this training or walking weight, the ONE assigns a weight class to the participant. The fighter cannot alter his walking weight through dehydration to be able to compete in lower weight classes.
• The weights of all participants are checked at the beginning of the fight week. Upon arrival, participants must be within the limit of their catchweight limit or the contracted weight classes.
• On event day, athletes who made weight and passed the hydration test on the previous day do not have to weigh-in. However, if an athlete has missed weight or failed a hydration test, then he or she must pass the hydration test and make weight on event day.
• Athletes who made their contracted weight and passed the special hydration test the day before the event, need not weigh in again on the event day. However, participants who miss these tests or fail them, must pass the hydration test and make their contracted weight on the fight day to be able to compete.
• In case a participant fails the hydration test on the event day, he or she will be restricted from competing. However, if an athlete passes the hydration but fails to make the contracted weight limit on the event day, then the bout will take place at a catchweight, provided the participant is within 5% of his/her official weight. However, the opponent must also agree to compete at the catchweight. In addition, a set percentage of the participant’s purse will be offered to his/her opponent for agreeing to compete at the catchweight level.

The participants’ post-fight weight must not exceed 5% over their assigned weight class or catch weight limit. In case a fighter is unable to meet these requirements, he/she will penalized according to the following rules:

The ONE MMA fights are to be played in the cage. As per the rules, all MMA participants are required to wear four-ounce mixed martial arts gloves in their matches. Similarly, Muay Thai athletes are also mandated to wear flour-ounce gloves. On the other hand, kickboxing athletes are required to wear eight-ounce gloves for the lower weight division and ten-ounce gloves for the higher weight divisions.

The bouts in MMA, Kickboxing, and Muay Thai have three rounds of five minutes with a one-minute break in between but for the Championship the bouts are of five rounds of five minutes each with a one-minute break in between.

The bout of Submission Grappling consists of a single ten-minute round.

ONE has the same rules as that of the Global Submission Grappling, Kickboxing, and Muay Thai Ruleset where a team of three judges scores the players differently in every game.

The judges score the bout in its entirety, not round-by-round.

The three judges score the bout round-by-round using a ten-point-must system. The victory is declared by the decision of the majority of the judges.

The judges score the bout by the number of catches and submission attempts. If the catches are equal or none the judges declare the win of the player who has shown more aggression.

In MMA, certain illegal targets and moves can result in the player's disqualification.

• The unsportsmanlike conduct in the form of aggression or intentionally causing harm
• Striking at the groin, trachea, throat, back of the head, neck, or spine
• Using illegal techniques of head-butting, eye-gouging, spitting, orifice insertion and hair-pulling
• Takedown that result in spiking to the head or neck

If the points tally towards the end then they use the ONE Judging Criteria of evaluating the players on the following basis:

• Knockdowns
• Number of clean strikes
• Aggression and superior positioning in the form of cage generalship
• Damage to the opponent that could be internal, accumulated, and superficial
• Knockouts via elbow strikes, clinch fighting, sweeps, and throws are allowed in Muay Thai and not in Kickboxing

Yellow cards are issued to grapplers who stall. Instead of stalling, guard-pulling is encouraged to engage the opponent. A player who has been issued a yellow card can only win by submission or judges’ decision. Based on the number of catches or the fighters’ level of aggression, judges can announce a winner.

In their commitment to fair play, ONE Championship has announced an Anti-doping policy in partnership with International Doping Tests and Management which will independently handle all the testing of its fighters for illegal substances.

There are certain allowed techniques to win the ONE MMA, Muay Thai, kickboxing, and submission grappling events. Details of which are provided below:

In ONE MMA Championships, victory can be secured by adhering to the following global MMA standards:

• Submission
• Verbal tap-out
• Technical knockout or submission
•  Referee stoppage
• Requests for a stoppage by cornerman
• By the judge’s decisions.

In ONE Kickboxing Championships, victory can be secured by adhering to the following global kickboxing rule set:

• Knockout via punch, kick, or knee
• Technical knockout due to 3 knockdowns in a round/4 knockdowns in a bout.
• Verbal tap-out
• Technical knockout by the referee or corner stoppage
• By the judge’s decisions.

In ONE MMA Championships, victory can be secured by adhering to the following global Muay Thai ruleset:

• Knockout via punch, knee, kick, elbow, or legal throw
• Technical knockout due to referee/doctor/corner stoppage
• Technical knockout due to 3 knockdowns in round/4 knockdowns in a bout
• Athlete verbally requests a stoppage
• Judges’ decision

According to the global submission grappling rule set, participants can secure victory in the ONE submission grappling matches in the following ways:

• Submission
• Verbal tap-out
• Referee stoppage due to imminent danger
• Athlete’s cornerman requests a stoppage
• Judges’ decision

If there is a tie in the catch, the grappler with the last catch or the one showing more aggression is declared a winner.

Even though the salaries remain discreet there are reports of famous and established players earning in the range of 500-750 thousand dollars in one match.

The exact fighter salaries are not disclosed by the ONE Championship, unlike in the West, especially the United States. Therefore, the net worth or per fight salary of ONE participant is not public knowledge. However, in January 2014, Ben Askren shared that his minimum salary for one fight is $50,000 along with extra bonus cash of $50,000 for exceptional performance. There are also reports of famous and established players earning 500-750 thousand US dollars per event.

This extra cash or bonus is called the “ONE Warrior Bonus,” and was first introduced on July 9th, 2014. However, the ONE Warrior Bonus was first awarded on July 11, 2014 at ONE Fighting Championship: War of Dragons. Ever since, $50,000 bonuses are also awarded to fighters for the following reasons:

• Putting on an exciting fight for the spectators.
• Showcasing incredible martial arts prowess or warrior spirit.
• Demonstrating expertise in their respective combat sport
• Ending the bout with a phenomenal finish.

Although it is customary for the fighters to get bonuses, they are distributed on a discretionary basis. According to Victor Cui,

The ONE leadership revised the “ONE Warrior Bonus” of $50,000 and reintroduced it in January 2022. Now, a minimum of one and maximum of five cash prizes are handed out at each ONE fight/event.

The prominent events when prizes were awarded to the ONE participants include:

• On July 14, 2023, at the ONE Fight Night 12: Superlek vs Khalilov on Prime Video, five participants were awarded extra cash money for their remarkable performances at the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. In this event, the ONE CEO and Chairman, Chatri Sityodtong, awarded $50,000 to Bogdan Shumarovm, Amir Aliakbari, Phetjeeja, Garry Tonon, and Akbar “Bakal” Abdullaev, for their outstanding impressive submissions and finishes.

• A million-dollar prize was announced for ONE Kickboxing World Grand Prix in 2019.

• A bonus under the title of “Performance of the Night Award” of fifty thousand US dollars was announced by Victor Cui for the winners along with the fight salary of fifteen hundred US dollars for their impressive performances.

Being in the top ten sports companies of the world doing shows across Asia, ONE over the decade has done hundreds of shows and championships. Their ONE Friday Fights is a new addition to the events whereas the World Grand Prix is one of the regular championships that are held.

Different series innovative in approaching different sports have been launched by the ONE like the ONE Super Series adopted an oriental ruleset for kickboxing while the One Lumpinee launched recently predominantly features Muay Thai.

One Lumpinee is a series of events that was announced in partnership with The Royal Thai Army according to which some 52 shows are to be held in 2023 at Lumpinee Stadium, Bangkok. It is going to be telecasted live in 154 countries. 

It is estimated that the ONE Championship a sports media is worth 1 billion US dollars and is backed by the world’s largest investors like Sequoia Capital and Qatar Investment Authority.

One Championship is a Singaporean combat sports promotion.

ONE Championship has partnered with the Global Citizen organization determined to end extreme poverty by 2030. ONE’s players motivate their fans to raise awareness for the Global Partnership for Education-GPE.

The ONE Championship was founded on 14 July 2011 by Chatri Sityadtong and Victor Cui.

UFC is an MMA-only promotion company while ONE is a combat sports promotion that organizes MMA, Kickboxing, Muay Thai, and submission grappling events.

Jesley Chua is the only female in the senior leadership of ONE Championship. She is working as the Chief Financial Officer of the company.

The ONE Championship started with the simple idea of promoting the Asian legacy of martial arts in its original form. Within a decade, it has emerged as one of the ten largest combat sports promotion companies in the world, worth billions of US dollars, with a worldwide viewership. The ONE Championship promotes a range of combat sports like MMA, Kickboxing, Muay Thai, and Submission Grappling through regular bouts, Friday night matches, and fight events. Its uniqueness lies in its many weight divisions in which players are categorized to play and succeed.

Contrary to Western trends, the ONE Championship prioritizes merit and record over face value and fan following of the participants. Fighters are refrained from resorting to violence in the fighting arena. Participants are also advised against cutting weight through dehydration. To ensure transparency and meritocracy, rules and regulations are strictly adhered to by the players and referees. Players are paid according to their experience, but outstanding performances are also rewarded, regardless of winning or losing. These rewards are a token of appreciation from the founder, who was a former practitioner himself. The unprecedented and fast-paced growth of the ONE Championship is a sign of the audience’s interest and trust built over time by the company’s commitment to combat sports. It is only a matter of time when this Asian martial arts promotion will revolutionize the face of combat sports promotion worldwide.

Photo Credit: @onefc