ONE Championship Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong has opened up on the Asian martial arts giant’s further expansion into the United States.
The promotion made its U.S. on-ground debut at the sold-out 1STBANK Center in Colorado with ONE Fight Night 10 this past May, and the event exceeded all expectations.
Appearing on BJPenn.com’s “Just Scrap Radio” podcast, Sityodtong noted that ONE’s agreement with streaming giant Amazon Prime – announced in 2022 – was a huge part of the successful first foray into the Western market.
“Our partnership with Amazon has been huge; Amazon and ONE are super happy with the partnership. It’s exceeded all expectations for both Amazon and for us, and I think the proof was in the pudding at our May 5 debut in the U.S. in Denver,” he said.
“Obviously, it was a sold-out show several weeks in advance, and I was genuinely shocked that we had created the buzz and that there was a big fanbase already for ONE. On top of that, we hit record-breaking viewership on Amazon for the event but also, we trended No. 1 on Twitter for sports – above NBA, and all of the other popular sports properties here, so that was very surprising.”
ONE recently announced that it has a minimum of four events in store for U.S. fans in 2024, as the promotion looks to build on the momentum it has gained this year.
While the news has the martial arts world buzzing, Sityodtong revealed that this is just the beginning of a plan for the global giant to establish a greater foothold in the Western market.
“We’re increasing our efforts for U.S. expansion; it’s a huge priority market for us. Of course, there’s also the fans’ support, so it only makes sense for us to come once a quarter next year, and hopefully, that’s just the bare-bones minimum in terms of what we’re going to do next year. Knock on wood, we’re working on some big and exciting things,” he said.
“I feel like we’ve only just put our toes in the water. Next year we’ll put our foot in the water, and hopefully things go from there, then we’ll jump full on into the swimming pool. I think the fact that we’re 180 degrees opposite of anything that exists here in the U.S. Whether it’s our multiple-discipline platform, whether it’s our ethos of authentic martial arts, it’s a very different approach and it’s something that our American fans are very excited about.”
