Actual wisdom from the ONE Championship boss

Chatri Sityodtong is Tony Stark, but cooler. The most powerful person in Asian MMA was abandoned by his father in his youth, and the family experienced homelessness for a time. He endured, and ended up earning an MBA at Harvard Business School, working as a management consultant for Bain and Company (Mitt Romney not Batman 😉 and then founded his own $500 million hedge fund. Along the way, he had 30 Muay Thai fights.

Then he retired from the world of finance to focus on the fight business. His ONE Championship is Asia’s largest sports media property, and his Evolve MMA chain turns out world-class talent in a variety of fight sports. In sum, in a world of voices, Chatri Sityodtong is worth listening to.

Via Facebook.

I owned a US$500 million global hedge fund when I decided to retire from Wall Street at 37 years old. On paper, I was on top of the world. I had everything in life and more. Inside though, something was missing in my soul. No one knew it, but I knew it. All of the money and material things in the world could never fill that void. I was not living my definition of success. I was living society’s definition. It was painful to admit, but I had climbed up to the top of the wrong mountain. I remember vividly how scared I was to walk away from the life that I knew in order to chase something that I truly loved. My family and friends told me that I was stupid and crazy. My mom kept reminding me of our days when we suffered together in poverty.

In life, we don’t choose what or who we love.

Martial arts has been my greatest passion in life since I was a kid. I’ve been involved in martial arts for more than 30+ years as a student, a fighter, a teacher, a coach, and now a CEO. It has changed my life in so many ways. It has given me integrity, humility, courage, strength, discipline, compassion, work ethic, honor, respect, and so much more. It has also given me a warrior spirit to conquer adversity in life. Above all though, martial arts gave birth to my biggest dream in life, ONE Championship.

If there is one thing that I can share from my journey, it is that the world has it wrong. Success does not create happiness. Happiness creates success. Do what it is that ignites your soul. If you love what you do, it will emanate in everything you do. Happiness is your reward. And success will inevitably follow. Ultimately, I’d rather be a failure at something I love than be a success at something I hate.

Live your life.