ONE Championship CEO Comments On Ben Askren’s KO Loss

Ben Askren was handed the first loss of his professional career at UFC 239. There, Jorge Masvidal threw a flying knee that knocked him out cold just five seconds into the fight. It was a shock to many, including ONE Championship CEO, Chatri Sityodtong….

Ben Askren was handed the first loss of his professional career at UFC 239. There, Jorge Masvidal threw a flying knee that knocked him out cold just five seconds into the fight. It was a shock to many, including ONE Championship CEO, Chatri Sityodtong. Below is Sityodtong’s full thoughts which he posted on FaceBook. “People […]

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Exclusive: Chatri Sityodtong Talks About Launching ONE Studios

ONE Championship has been on a roll recently with record viewing numbers, star signings, and international television deals. It appears that every other week the Singapore-based promotion is generating new headlines. However, their recent announcement that the company was launching ONE Studios, its own in-house movie and TV division, caught many people by surprise. In […]

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ONE Championship has been on a roll recently with record viewing numbers, star signings, and international television deals. It appears that every other week the Singapore-based promotion is generating new headlines. However, their recent announcement that the company was launching ONE Studios, its own in-house movie and TV division, caught many people by surprise.

In an exclusive interview with Lowkick MMA, Chatri Sityodtong, Chairman and CEO of ONE Championship, discussed where the idea came from, and what the news means for ONE’s athletes.

“I had this idea about a year ago, after a trip to Japan where I meet CEOs of all the major entertainment companies. I realized the business model in Asia, in terms of thinking of how to add value and help our talent, our athletes monetize, I realized that actually, Asia was way ahead of the U.S. if you look at the entertainment business model here in Asia,” Sityodtong said speaking to Lowkick MMA.

“We are helping to unleash these heroes, we view our athletes as partners in each other’s mutual success, we want to be able to add value to their revenue streams and offer them multiple revenue streams while their career is going on, but also after, when they retire.”

How ‘The Rock” Helped Inspire This Idea

Sityodtong cites
professional wrestler turned actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, as an
example of someone who has successfully transitioned from the athletic arena to
the big screen.

“If you think about it, Dwayne Johnson had a very similar career. He was a WWE champion, and then he left WWE,” Chatri noted.

“Eventually a Hollywood director took a chance on him and picked him up, and since then he has become the biggest movie star in the world.

“So that was sort of the genesis, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s story as well as with what I saw in Japan how the Asian talent entertainment companies try their best to obviously build their heroes and unleash them but at the same time trying to think of how to create win-win opportunities for everyone.”

It will not be the
case that every athlete signed to ONE Championship will automatically become an
actor, but the opportunity to participate in projects will be there for those
interested, who demonstrate talent and are willing to put in the necessary
work.

“It can’t be applicable to all fighters; just like in life [in] every industry you have the top of the industry who are able to make a living. So, it’s not offered to all athletes in ONE Championship, but at least all athletes in ONE Championship’s roster have an equal chance of earning an invitation to participate in ONE Studios with TVs and movie shows.

 “It’s obviously up to the athletes to take advantage of this opportunity and the fact that we are the only global promotion who has this opportunity – that’s what makes it interesting,” Sityodtong says.

Collaborating With World Class Talent

The company will
produce in-house projects as well as collaborate with outside parties when the
occasion calls for it. ONE’s current broadcast deals will also play a role in
helping distribute content.

“We have already fleshed out the business model, some productions we will do 100 percent on our own because we have the capability in-house already and other ones, we will co-produce with name directors around the world and lots of different content production houses, who have world-class capabilities’.

 “We’re in a lucky situation of being able to distribute this content across 140 countries where we have broadcast business relationships, partnerships already, and of course Netflix and Amazon studios and all the rest will also be a place for distribution.”

The aim will be for
ONE Studios to produce content covering a range of genres in multiple
languages. ONE has connections throughout Asia, and it makes sense to leverage
these connections to the best of their abilities.

“These are huge markets, if we do an Indonesian movie with an Indonesian hero that is 270 million people, China a billion people, India a billion [and] three, so these can be huge blockbuster hits on their own.”

 Thankfully, fans will not have to wait too
long for further news.

“We have been working on a movie project [for] the last several months. I am super excited for our first movie project,” Sityodtong added.

The sky looks to be the limit for what ONE Studios can achieve, and no doubt there will be plenty of interest in its upcoming cinematic debut.

The post Exclusive: Chatri Sityodtong Talks About Launching ONE Studios appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

One Championship CEO Believes Sage Northcutt Can Be A Three-Sport World Champion

Sage Northcutt’s One Championship debut did not go as planned. The prospect was knocked out in under 30 seconds and many questioned just how good he can be. But, the 23-year-old still went 6-2 in the UFC with a notable win over Zak Ottow, who he …

Sage Northcutt’s One Championship debut did not go as planned. The prospect was knocked out in under 30 seconds and many questioned just how good he can be. But, the 23-year-old still went 6-2 in the UFC with a notable win over Zak Ottow, who he knocked out. Although his MMA debut did not go […]

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ONE Championship CEO Only Open To Doing Cross-Promotion With UFC

There’s been a lot of talk on cross-promotion lately, and you can throw ONE Championship into the mix on one condition. Bellator 222’s main card opened up with a cross-promotion champion vs. champion bout. Rizin bantamweight title holder Ky…

There’s been a lot of talk on cross-promotion lately, and you can throw ONE Championship into the mix on one condition. Bellator 222’s main card opened up with a cross-promotion champion vs. champion bout. Rizin bantamweight title holder Kyoji Horiguchi challenged Darrion Caldwell for the Bellator bantamweight gold. Back in Dec. 2018, Caldwell was submitted […]

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ONE CEO Open To Co-Promoting With UFC Only

ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong is open to co-promoting with the UFC. Speaking to MMA Junkie, Sityodtong noted the UFC is the only promotion he’s interested in doing so with. Since the UFC is the number one mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion in the west, and ONE is the top dog in the east, Sityodtong […]

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ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong is open to co-promoting with the UFC.

Speaking to MMA Junkie, Sityodtong noted the UFC is the only promotion he’s interested in doing so with. Since the UFC is the number one mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion in the west, and ONE is the top dog in the east, Sityodtong believes some Champion vs. Champion matchups would be very intriguing:

“I think the only organization I’d be interested to co-promote with would be UFC vs. ONE Championship, world champions vs. world champions,” Sityodtong said.

“UFC is No. 1 in the west, and ONE Championship is No. 1 in the east, so it’s kind of a best of the east, best of the west colliding. I think that makes a great storyline for the whole world to want to watch and get excited about.”

There has been a ton of talk about cross-promotional fights as of late. Many would like to see some of Bellator’s champions face off against the UFC’s top champions as well. When asked about it, however, president Scott Coker acknowledged that he understands the UFC and Dana White aren’t fond of such a business model:

“It’s not their business model to do that, but if they want to get it on, let’s do it,” Coker said. “We would not be opposed to that. We got some killers in this league. If they want to get it on, let’s do it.”

The closest the UFC has come to working with other promotions was when they pulled off a historic trade. ONE Championship sent Ben Askren to the UFC, who in turn sent Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson. It was the first trade in mixed martial arts (MMA) history between two major organizations.

If the UFC was open to pulling off a trade with another organization, perhaps down the road their stance will change on cross-promotional fights as well.

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ONE Featherweight Kickboxing World Grand Prix Winner Set To Receive US 1 Million

On 17 May (Friday), ONE: ENTER THE DRAGON will bring one of the most exciting fight cards to the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore. Aside from a gripping main event contest between the reigning ONE Lightweight World Champion Shinya Aoki and challenger Christian Lee is a long list of exciting matchups. One of the definite […]

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On 17 May (Friday), ONE: ENTER THE DRAGON will bring one of the most exciting fight cards to the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore. Aside from a gripping main event contest between the reigning ONE Lightweight World Champion Shinya Aoki and challenger Christian Lee is a long list of exciting matchups.

One of the definite must-see action on the card is the first round of the ONE Featherweight Kickboxing World Grand Prix, where eight of the world’s best strikers currently signed with ONE Super Series will grace the ONE ring.

In a shocking turn of events, ONE Championship Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong announced during the official kick-off press conference for ONE: ENTER THE DRAGON on Tuesday, that the tournament champion will receive a USD $1 million cash prize.

“8 of the world’s best strikers compete for US$1m in the single greatest kickboxing world grand prix in history. Every single fight is World Champion vs World Champion. And it all begins this Friday, May 17 in Singapore,” Sityodtong announced on his official Facebook account shortly after the press conference.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2330889206973227&set=a.115711771824326&type=3&theater

The ONE Featherweight Kickboxing World Grand Prix consists of some of the biggest names in striking martial arts such as Kickboxing and Muay Thai. Some of these athletes include Thailand’s Petchmorrakot Petchyindee Academy, the legendary Yodsanklai IWE Fairtex, and Italian superstar Giorgio “The Doctor” Petrosyan.

This highly-stacked ladder based tournament will guarantee fireworks and excitement for the fans as all four Quarter-Final matchups are set to take place at ONE: ENTER THE DRAGON.

If being dubbed as the pound-for-pound kickboxing king in the talent-rich tournament is not enough of a motivation, then the cash prize should be more than enough of an incentive for the participants.

Also as a co-main event, ONE: ENTER THE DRAGON will feature a World Title bout between Nieky “The Natural” Holzken and his countryman Regian “The Immortal” Eersel, where one of them will be taking home the inaugural ONE Lightweight Kickboxing World Championship.

Finally, the highly-anticipated debut of American mixed martial arts prodigy “Super” Sage Northcutt is set to go down as the young star makes his ONE Championship debut against Brazil’s Cosmo “Good Boy” Alexandre.

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