ONE Championship: A New Era, Kirik’s blog 2 – Needs More Art
The UFC and UFC fighters aren’t to blame. They are responding to what profitably puts asses in seats in the West.
ONE Championship is widely understood as the promotion dominating the MMA scene in Asia, as the UFC does in the west. But what may best distinguish ONE isn’t geography, but rather a focus on values. ONE Championship is The Home of Martial Arts, a celebration of Asia’s greatest cultural treasure and its deep-rooted Asian values of integrity, humility, honor, respect, courage, discipline, and compassion.
However, these aren’t just Asian values. No sane parent in North America or Europe raises their children to deal with disagreement by first hurling personal insults on the social network, and then shoving when you get face to face. That’s an angry 14-year-old boy’s world order. But that’s exactly what MMA fighters do in the west.
I’m guilty. I get excited when Jon Jones shoves Daniel Cormier, when Conor runs his mouth on nitro, when Nurmagomedov went all Air Khabib. The UFC and UFC fighters are rationally responding to what profitably puts asses in seats in the West. I have met the enemy and he is us, fans.
Fans in Asia are different.
ONE Championship 1 took place on September 3, 2011, in Singapore. Phil Baroni was in the co-main. I am a lifelong Baroni fan. I reffed him in grappling before he ever had an MMA fight, and he was incredible even then. He is the quintessential New York badass, and shoved his opponent at the weigh-ins. The local fans were not impressed. At the risk of over-generalizing, what appears in New York to be the height of manhood, the battling, two-fisted embodiment of rock and roll, in Asia looks like weird, out of control thuggery.
Because of its fans, and because of its inspired leadership, ONE Championship champions positive values.
I’m in Toyko, Japan for ONE Championship: A New Era, and with my infrequent visitor’s grasp of the nation, Japan feels like everything works harmoniously. I don’t like paying hotel rates for beers so last night I walked around and found a convenience store and bought three Asahi Dry; when I handed my credit card to the woman behind the counter, she took it as one might a family heirloom, something worthy of respect, held carefully. Respect is the rule here, and it’s compelling. And the toilets … in the words of GSP, “Oh my God.”
I’m not expressing anti-US sentiments. I’m proud of my country. I’m proud of the American brand of MMA. And I’m not starry-eyed. Everything and everywhere has its problems; that’s an inherent part of the human condition. And that’s exactly why we need so badly to learn from one another.
It’s often asked when ONE Championship is coming to America. There are four billion people in Asia; ONE doesn’t have to come to America. But I think American fans have to better appreciate the art in mixed martial arts.
The solution isn’t blaming someone. It’s not that Dana White is venal and pushes fighters to lash out at each other. It not that fighters are the type of jerks who want to spend their free time bickering bitterly on Twitter. Fighters and the UFC are just giving us what we want, and we are getting it. It you, it’s me, it’s us. If you want more, ONE is here. On Sunday at 12:30 a.m. ET you can watch ONE: A New Era live and free on the Super App.
