Foreign martial arts association makes a splash

One Championship looks to rival UFC as champ of the West.

How many casual American sports fans about a year ago had heard of One? Try none.

OK, maybe that’s a bit of a reach. But the Singapore-based mixed martial arts organization was an afterthought at best in the United States among the hodgepodge of companies trying to put a dent in UFC’s heavyweight share of the combat sports marketplace.

Try ignoring One Championship now.

After staging shows for seven years across Asia from Myanmar to China, One has come out swinging in the U.S. — throwing millions at big-name free agents, signing a major cable TV deal and raising capital needed to not only keep its grip as the dominant MMA promotion of the East, but perhaps use global expansion to eventually rival UFC as the champ of the West.

“They’re making a serious push,” One fighter Eddie Alvarez said. “I don’t think it’s going to be long before you can crown them one of the top promotions in the world. They’ve done everything possible in their favor to become that.”

Alvarez, a Philadelphia native, should know as well as any fighter about One’s commitment to becoming a major player in the U.S. fight game. “The Underground King” has fought for several MMA promotions and made his name in Bellator as a two-time lightweight champion and in UFC where he won the same title in 2016 and headlined the promotion’s first card in Madison Square Garden against Conor McGregor. The 34-year-old Alvarez became a free agent after his last fight in July 2018 and decided to explore his options outside UFC. He traveled to Singapore and met One founder and CEO Chatri Sityodtong and learned U.S. expansion plans and acquiring other name fighters were on the horizon, as well as ongoing talks that would broadcast fights in America. Alvarez was impressed, not just by One’s outline for the future, but in a multimillion-dollar contract offer that he says makes him one of the highest-paid fighters in the sport.

“Our deal is more in the lines of a real pro sport deal, like football or baseball,” Alvarez said. “The package deal is an eight-figure deal. When we brought that to the UFC to match it, they declined matching it and I had to move forward. I’m happy I did because One Championship is the only major promotion that I have not won and conquered the world title in. It’s history and legacy for me.”

Alvarez was part of a flurry of transactions that put MMA fans on notice that One was intent on becoming a singular sensation. One obtained Demetrious Johnson, the long-reigning UFC flyweight champion better known as “Mighty Mouse,” in a trade with UFC — yes, a trade — for Ben Askren. Sage Northcutt, once hailed as a future UFC star, also signed with One. Meisha Tate, a former 135pound champion in UFC and Strikeforce, has signed on as One’s vice president and was set to move to Singapore.

One strengthened its roster with notable U.S.-based talent ahead of a North American television deal with Turner Sports. The threeyear deal will see One content broadcast on Turner’s platforms including TNT, which is received by more than 90 million households in the United States, as well as streaming platform Bleacher Report Live and other Turner properties.