The UFC has long dominated the mixed martial arts scene in the United States as well as many other countries around the world, but ONE Championship Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong seeks to change that. The organization held its first event on U.S. soil in early May to great success and fanfare, and it may only be a matter of time before The Home of Martial Arts becomes a household name on that side of the world.
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Content creator Patrick Gavia, who makes MMA documentaries on his YouTube channel, recently gave a brief overview of how Sityodtong built ONE into one of the biggest sports media properties on the planet in a video entitled “This Man is the #1 Threat to The UFC”.
The investigative piece gave a look at how the Thai-Japanese entrepreneur discovered martial arts as a young boy and focused on how instrumental Sityodtong’s mother was in helping him chase dreams he never thought he could achieve.
The compilation of interviews reveals how Sityodtong persevered through adversity to graduate from Harvard Business School and turned down multiple job offers in order to start a company with his friend, which he then sold so he could move to Wall Street and learn how to invest.
Chatri Sityodtong has taken ONE Championship from zero to hosting 200 events to date
Later, the video looks at how Sityodtong saw the immense potential of uniting the various martial arts across Asia under one body – an idea that eventually became ONE Championship.
ONE has sought out the best martial artists in their respective disciplines from all over Asia and the rest of the world with the vision of showcasing these incredible talents to a global audience.
It mounted its first-ever show inside the Singapore Indoor Stadium in 2011 and has ventured to multiple countries and cities across Asia since then. From purely MMA shows, the organization’s events have since featured other disciplines such as Muay Thai, kickboxing, and submission grappling. To date, there have been over 200 ONE events, and it only continues to grow with regular monthly events like ONE Fight Night on Prime Video and weekly shows in the iconic Lumpinee Stadium dubbed as ONE Friday Fights.
Chtri Sityodtong’s ONE Championship might become the #1 MMA promotion in future
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With the promotion making its U.S. debut, Sityodtong has come full circle in his journey to the other side of the globe. From a kid with big dreams who lived with his mother in his college dorm room, he now returns as a global industry leader who is ready to challenge the established institutions of the sporting world. Considering how far the promotion has come in just over a decade, its not impossible to think that Chatri Sityodtong can lead ONE in a quest to topple UFC from its place at the top of the MMA world.
On Friday, June 9th, fans will get another taste of what makes ONE Championship different when they watch ONE Fight Night 11 on Prime Video, which will be broadcast live and for free on Prime Video for Amazon subscribers across North America.
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