ONE giving UFC a stiff competition
The combat sports world is currently dominated by two organisations — the UFC and ONE Championship.
For many years, the UFC has reigned supreme in the West, while ONE holds sway in the East.
Lately, however, the Singaporeanbased promotion has emerged as a major rival to UFC in the West and is challenging the American company for dominance in the global combat sports market.
The competition between the two organisations is intense, making the future of fighting an exciting prospect.
Since the company’s inception in 2011, ONE has rapidly grown into one of the most popular martial arts organisations in the world. In fact, in the last 12 months alone, ONE has outperformed the UFC in several key areas.
According to Crowdtangle and Fanpage Karma, ONE Championship had significantly more organic video views on digital platforms than the UFC from November 2021 to October 2022, with over seven million, nearly doubling the UFC’s total.
Furthermore, ONE is expected to hold more events than UFC in 2023.
The success of ONE is largely attributed to its focus on promoting martial arts as a way of life.
Its core principles of excellence, integrity, honour, respect, and courage are reflected in the promotion as a sport, an art, and a way of life.
However, when the social media followers from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and TikTok are combined, the UFC’s following outnumbers that of ONE, with an impressive 115 million compared to ONE’s 54 million.
Furthermore, the UFC has 700 fighters on its roster — 100 more than ONE.
It’s difficult to predict what will be next for ONE and the UFC, as the two organisations have different goals and strategies.
ONE will be holding their first event on US soil in May, ONE Fight Night 10: Johnson v Moraes III, featuring Demetrious Johnson against Adriano Moraes.
This clearly indicates that the Asianbased organisation is transitioning to a Western market.
However, it’s likely that ONE will continue to focus on expanding its brand internationally, while UFC will work on enhancing its presence in the United States.
They will also continue to compete for global talent, as both organisations are always looking to add the best fighters to their rosters.
Whatever happens, it will undoubtedly be entertaining for fight fans all over the world.