Tag: Chatri Sityodtong

ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong Explains Why Vitor Belfort Never Fought For Them

Vitor Belfort signed with ONE Championship in 2019 but he never made an appearance for the promotion and now their CEO, Chatri Sityodtong explained why. Belfort announced his retirement in December of 2018, yet in March of 2019, he signed a deal with ONE. He was then supposed to make his debut against Alan Ngalani […]

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Vitor Belfort signed with ONE Championship in 2019 but he never made an appearance for the promotion and now their CEO, Chatri Sityodtong explained why.

Belfort announced his retirement in December of 2018, yet in March of 2019, he signed a deal with ONE. He was then supposed to make his debut against Alan Ngalani in April of 2020 but after COVID-19 canceled events, the promotion and Belfort parted ways. Why they decided to part ways was simple, according to Sityodtong, Belfort only wanted legend fights.

“In a nutshell, Vitor joined ONE and we had this big vision that he was going to still be fighting in his prime. And I think he realized that he wanted these special fights. We wanted to put kind of a young lion – old lion storylines, but we just could never see eye-to-eye,” Sityodtong said on MMA Fighting’s MMA Hour about Belfort (via Sportskeeda). “There was just a mismatch in terms of what he wanted and what we wanted, and we tried. Both sides tried really hard. He offered a lot of different opponents. We offered a lot of different opponents and we just never came together.”

Vitor Belfort

After parting ways, Vitor Belfort made his return to combat sports in September as he boxed Evander Holyfield. It was an exhibition bout that was promoted by Triller Fight Club and Belfort won by first-round TKO. He is now linked to box Oscar De La Hoya on Thanksgiving weekend, who he was supposed to fight back in September before De La Hoya got COVID.

As for his MMA career, Belfort last competed back at UFC 224 in May of 2018 where he was knocked out by Lyoto Machida. The Brazilian is the former UFC light heavyweight champion and competed for UFC middleweight gold as well.

Are you surprised ONE Championship and Vitor Belfort parted ways?

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Chatri Sityodtong Avoids Speaking On ONE Championship Finances

After reports have questioned the financial transactions of ONE Championship, it appears the company’s CEO Chatri Sityodtong is avoiding the issue. Group One Holdings Pte. Ltd. is the financial group responsible for overseeing the fiscal duties under the ONE Championship umbrella. The financial institution has made bold claims about its success similar to Sityodtong’s consistent […]

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After reports have questioned the financial transactions of ONE Championship, it appears the company’s CEO Chatri Sityodtong is avoiding the issue.

Group One Holdings Pte. Ltd. is the financial group responsible for overseeing the fiscal duties under the ONE Championship umbrella. The financial institution has made bold claims about its success similar to Sityodtong’s consistent claims about ONE Championship. However, in a report published by Bloody Elbow, the company’s most recent financial breakdown has some discrepancies.

The financial report shows the company took $47.6 million in losses for the fiscal year of 2020, but a very suspicious transfer certainly offsets that negative balance. A nearly $400 million transaction was made by the ONE (Group) in which they sold their intellectual property rights to their own ONE subsidiary. The ONE Group is comprised of ONE Championship and its many subsidiaries, such as One China, One India, One Esports, and One Warriors

When pressed by MMA journalist Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour about the inconsistent finances and the curious transaction, Chatri Sityodtong dodged the question entirely.

“I will say that the internet is a dangerous place and you shouldn’t uh believe everything you read, and there is a lot of factual errors and inaccuracies you know? Uh, but that I mean, um, I’ll just say that we have some big news that I’m announcing and um, that’s, I’ll leave it at that. Some exciting news and yeah, I mean uh I’ll leave it at that. I’ll just say like look, the internet is a dangerous place if you believe everything you read, especially from less than uh… How can I say it politely? I would yeah, I would just leave it at that.” Chatri Sityodtong said.

After emphasizing the “errors and inaccuracies” embedded in the report, Chatri Sityodtong underlined that the mysterious transaction was all above board despite the widespread probing by media that suspected foul play may be involved.

“Uh, so I prefer the truth to come out, and my team and I are working hard, and I can just tell you that um, we have literally some of the smartest blue-chip institution investors in the world, like Sequoia Capital, um like Temasek Holdings, uh who are razor-razor sharp and their not gonna hand us $346 million dollars if we don’t know what we’re doing. Chatri Sityodtong explained to Helwani. Uh, and yeah, I mean if, if uh… I’ll just leave it at that.”

While questions continue to surround one of Asia’s biggest MMA promotions, it is unclear if Chatri Sityodtong will provide answers in line with what reporters are in search of.

ONE Championship has been on the radar of many MMA fans since the infamous 2018 one-off trade between Ben Askren, and UFC’s former flyweight champion Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson. Alongside Sityodtong’s claims of financial success, the ONE CEO also made a case that his promotion has the best lighter-weight athletes compared to the UFC.

What do you make of the mystery surrounding ONE Championship’s finances?

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Demetrious Johnson Set To Face Rodtang In ‘Mixed Special Rules Fight’

Demetrious JohnsonThe Chairman of ONE Championship Chatri Sityodtong went on The MMA Hour to talk to Ariel Helwani this afternoon and announced that Demetrious Johnson‘s next fight will be a Muay Thai/MMA special rules fight against ONE Flyweight Muay Thai champ Rodtang Jitmuangnon on Dec. 5. The first and third rounds are Muay Thai and the […]

Demetrious Johnson

The Chairman of ONE Championship Chatri Sityodtong went on The MMA Hour to talk to Ariel Helwani this afternoon and announced that Demetrious Johnson‘s next fight will be a Muay Thai/MMA special rules fight against ONE Flyweight Muay Thai champ Rodtang Jitmuangnon on Dec. 5. The first and third rounds are Muay Thai and the second and fourth rounds are MMA.

This is quite the out-of-the-box idea for ONE Championship and one that almost certainly excites hardcore and casual fans all around the world.

It will be their 10th anniversary of the company and they are looking to make it a special event. The rounds will be 3 minutes in this bout. Chatri went on to continue why they are going with this type of fight.

“It’s going to bring back a Pride-style matchup and something that will commemorate and celebrate Martial Arts and its history for our anniversary.”

This is certainly one of the more unique matchups in some time and in all likelihood in the history of Mixed Martial Arts. This fight will go down on December 5th, 2021.

‘Mighty Mouse’ will be competing for the first time since suffering the first KO loss of his career. The former UFC flyweight champion was stopped by Adriano Moraes when he challenged for ONE Championship gold at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore back in April.

How do you feel about this fight? Is this something that excites you? Will Demetrious Johnson come out on top?

Chatri Sityodtong Reveals Edge ONE Championship Has Over The UFC

ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong believes his promotion has better lighter divisions than the UFC, and has pitched a blockbuster cross-promotion event. As the Singapore-based promotion continues to go from strength to strength, Sityodtong believe…

ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong believes his promotion has better lighter divisions than the UFC, and has pitched a blockbuster cross-promotion event. As the Singapore-based promotion continues to go from strength to strength, Sityodtong believes they have the rosters to be able to compete with the UFC. He’ll be hoping that point will be proved […]

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As Pandemic Recedes, ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong Talks Plans for US Debut

In early 2020, when the COVID -19 pandemic was first beginning to make its presence felt, ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong called a meeting with his team and emphasized …

In early 2020, when the COVID -19 pandemic was first beginning to make its presence felt, ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong called a meeting with his team and emphasized …

ONE Championship CEO Says Eddie Alvarez DQ Is Under Review

Following the controversial disqualification of Eddie Alvarez at ONE on TNT 1, the CEO says they are reviewing the incident. During their four-week stint on the TNT network, ONE Championship has not been without controversy. Specifically, former UFC ch…

Following the controversial disqualification of Eddie Alvarez at ONE on TNT 1, the CEO says they are reviewing the incident. During their four-week stint on the TNT network, ONE Championship has not been without controversy. Specifically, former UFC champion Eddie Alvarez lost by disqualification to Iuri Lapicus due to striking his opponent to the back […]