ONE Championship breaks ground in US as 1 of 2 global leaders in martial arts
ONE Championship makes its longawaited United States debut this week with ONE Fight Night 10: Johnson vs. Moraes III on Saturday, 6 May, at the sold-out 1stBank Center in Colorado.
This marks the Western arrival for a promotion which has brought the Asian martial arts scene back in the global spotlight.
From 2011, The Home of Martial Arts has climbed its way toward global relevance— and now they head to the U.S. for the first time as the largest promotion in Asia.
“If you look at the largest players in the combat sports industry, pure facts and figures, forget about marketing. Pure facts and figures – the Nielsen industry report, if you’re a fan or if you don’t know anything, go see how many followers ONE has,” ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong told Ariel Helwani on the MMA Hour.
“We have 70 million social media followers, globally. And I think UFC has 100-plus million. It’s very clear there are two big giants, one in the East and one in the West.”
The numbers support Sityodtong’s statements.
ONE Championship has not only used the online space to amass 70 million social media followers, it has also generated more organic video views over the past year, with 6,135 (m) compared to UFC’s 4,636.
Compared to other promotions, Glory comes the closest with 1,488 while PFL (295), Bellator (241), Rizin (225), and KSW (215) round out the major promotions.
“I think you should take a look at hard facts and numbers. Then, if you are a casual fan, just go to all the social media pages. Look at the number of followers. Look at the engagement rates. Look at the organic video views,” Sityodtong continued.
When it comes to TV viewership, ONE is also ruling that department. According to the 2022 Nielsen report “Year In Review: Sports Consumption Evolution,” ONE sits at 406 (m) in Global Cumulative TV reach to UFC’s 259.
ONE also broadcasts to more countries than the UFC – 170 to 165, respectively.
“According to Nielsen, our TV reach, unique reach, meaning viewers who watch ONE Championship, is 400+ million. UFC’s was 259 million. These are global numbers. And Bellator was at 11 million. Those are in the combat sports [industry],” Sityodtong said.