ONE In The Media

SINGAPORE, May 18 (Reuters) – Mixed martial arts may have started as a male-dominated sport, but women have grappled their way to the upper echelons of MMA and will only gain more popularity in the coming years, undefeated champion Angela Lee said.

SINGAPORE: Mixed martial arts may have started as a male-dominated sport, but women have grappled their way to the upper echelons of MMA and will only gain more popularity in the coming years, undefeated champion Angela Lee said.

Mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Ben Askren is confident of extending his undefeated streak when he defends his welterweight title at One Championship’s Dynasty of Heroes event at the Singapore Indoor Stadium next Friday. The 32-year-old American, who has a 15-0 win-loss record, will face Malaysia’s Agilan Thani (7-0).

Lessons on how to triumph over struggle and strife from the founder of ONE Championship from the launch issue of Inc. Southeast Asia Magazine

SINGAPORE – Fresh off an overwhelmingly successful show in Philippines, where it enjoyed record-busting TV viewership numbers, ONE Championship chairman and founder Chatri Sityodtong said his Mixed-Martial Arts (MMA) promotion is just getting started. With American-based UFC – widely regarded as the biggest MMA promotion in the world – still trying to regain a foothold in the Asian market following several years of missteps, Singapore-based ONE Championship has stormed forward decisively and left its rival out cold on the mat.

While Sityodtong, CEO Victor Cui and their hard-working staff of roughly 175 rightfully deserve a lot of credit for building the brand from the ground up, there is another individual largely responsible for navigating ONE to where it is today. A man that has stood by Sityodtong’s side from the very beginning as his top advisor and shareholder, but chosen to remain anonymous while assisting his former Harvard Business School classmate with high-level decisions behind-the-scenes. That man is Saurabh Mittal: founder and chairman of private global investment company Mission Holdings, former senior partner of Farallon Capital Management ($21.5B assets under management) and co-founder of public investment conglomerate Indiabulls ($2.4B valuation in 2015).

n exactly a fortnight, Joseph Schooling and Angela Lee will prove once again that there is indeed common ground for a swimmer and a mixed martial arts fighter. On May 26, Schooling will accompany Lee down to the One Championship cage at the One: Dynasty of heroes event at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

One Championship is bringing the heat with its Dynasty of Heroes card in Singapore in two weeks’ time, with world champions Angela Lee and Ben Askren headlining a card brimming with talent from the roster of Asia’s leading mixed martial arts crew. Consider the event as the first salvo fired in 2017 as One looks to deal with the return to the region of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), while working to further its own reach across Asia.

The mixed martial arts card on April 21 that featured the world lightweight title fight between Eduard Folayang and Ev Ting turned out to be the most watched MMA event in the country, according to ONE Championship. Besides filling the 20,000-capacity Mall of Asia Arena, the card, dubbed ONE: Kings of Destiny which saw Team Lakay score a 5-0 sweep, garnered a 26% peak ratings share.

ONE Championship believe they have now won the war against UFC for mixed martial arts (MMA) supremacy in Asia after their booming start to 2017. April’s Kings of Destiny card held in Manilla, Philippines, broke new records for the Singapore-based organisation, becoming the most-watched MMA show in the country’s television history. 20,000 watched on cage-side as hometown hero Eduard Folayang defended his lightweight title against Ev Ting, with millions more keeping up athome.

In a battle of mixed martial arts dominance in Asia, David takes on Goliath. ONE has surged ahead with a whopping 54 shows and its footprint today extends the length and breadth of Asia, with a solid hold on China. The franchise’s most significant moment came last May when it held a fight card in Thailand, which was previously resistant to MMA competing with the indigenous muay thai on its home soil. In the interim, UFC, founded in 1993, struggled.

SINGAPORE – One Championship chief Victor Cui sees a rosy future for the Singapore-based mix martial arts promotion, despite growing competition from Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). The Las Vegas-based UFC announced in February that it would stage a second event in Singapore on June 17, and has also increased its presence in the region, which is pretty much One’s backyard.