One Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong admitted that the company felt unsure about how the US would react to its brand when it first brought it to the market last year. Nonetheless, with the event obviously a success, the executive revealed that the promotion is now planning to hold one event every month in the US “eventually.”
UFC, PFL, and Bellator are undoubtedly the most prominent brands in the US, and infiltrating the market could be a challenge to foreign promotions. Yet, the Singapore-based One Championship tried its luck when it held ONE Fight Night 10 in May last year. According to Sityodtong, the company was actually told to have the event in a bigger venue but opted for a smaller one due to uncertainty of how MMA fans in the country would react. Yet, the exec revealed being surprised by the fans’ reception of its fighters, not to mention the event sold out weeks earlier.
“I was shocked,” Sityodtong said on the Thicc Boy podcast. “I had no idea what to expect. I honestly didn’t know if we were gonna sell that [out] or not, and that’s why I was conservative and going with a 7,000-seater venue and, you know, everyone’s saying, you know, on my team, they’re all saying, ‘Chatri, our brand is big enough to go to, you know, a 15,000-20,000-seater in America. You got to do it for the debut.’ But I said, ‘No, I just don’t have conviction.’ I have no idea where we sat in America.
“But eventually, I mean our stars, whether it was Muay Thai or grappling or MMA, they were treated like superstars. They were treated like, exactly what you said, how Taylor Swift would be treated. It was nuts.”
With this success, it seems the company has found the confidence to invest in more events in the US. In its earlier announcement, the company shared that it would have two ONE Fight Night events in the country this year: ONE Fight Night 26 on September 6 at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado, and ONE Fight Night 28 on November 8 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.
In the future, Sityodtong shared that there is a plan to make its presence regular every month in the US, where it has a partnership with Amazon.
“I think we dipped our toe in the water, and then from there on, from September onwards, we’re going to do ONE event per quarter in the U.S., which is a minimum,” the chairman said. “Eventually, we’d like to get to once a month in the U.S. per the Amazon plan.
“I mean, ideally, having one on-ground event in the U.S. once a month on Amazon Prime video would really ignite things for fans.”
