Tag: ONE Championship News

The Coronavirus pandemic continues to play havoc with MMA schedules with ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong announcing on Facebook today that all May events are to be indefinitely postponed.

ONE had three events scheduled for May, starting with two Singapore shows on May 1 and 8 and ending with what was supposed to be the promotions first mega event of 2020 ONE: Infinity 1 on May 29 inside the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines.

Sityodtong’s announcement comes as no great surprise, given that Singapore’s lockdown, which started on April 7 and which was due to end on May 4, has now been extended until June 1.

It will be interesting to see the plan ONE comes up with in terms of producing shows going forward. Even if ONE gets the green light to hold closed-door events in Singapore, overseas-based fighters flying into the “Lion City,” will almost certainly be required to undergo a period of self-isolation for 14 days.

Few fighters will relish the thought of spending two weeks confined to a hotel room, but it may be what is required to make fights happen. However, ONE may be looking at options outside of Singapore or could be waiting to see what type of restrictions will be placed on visitors come June 1 before they begin making concentrate plans.

Times like this calls for companies to think outside the box and the brains trust at ONE will no doubt be looking at doing whatever it takes to safely get events running again.

ONE Championship has been forced to postpone its upcoming closed-door shows following the Singapore Government’s decision to enforce a lock-down on all non-essential services. ONE was gearing up to hold four audience-free shows starting on Friday, April 17.

ONE CEO, Chatri Sityodtong, made the announcement today via social media.

ONE is now set to return to action on May 29 when it stages ONE: Infinity 1, inside the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines.However, this event may also find itself undergoing changes as the Philippines has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. Hospitals in Metro Manila are currently at capacity due to an influx of patients with COVID-19.

Fans will want to keep a close on further announcements in regards to ONE: Infinity 1.

If you have ever wanted to try your hand at martial arts but were unable to take a class for whatever reason, you might want to head over to Evolve MMA’s Facebook and YouTube pages.

The Singapore based gym, founded by ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong, will be live-streaming classes each day from 9 AM to 9:15 PM (SG time), and they won’t cost you a cent.

Evolve is one of the top martial art gyms in South East Asia but has been forced to close its doors until May 1, due to new regulations brought in by the Singaporean government to help curb the spread of the Covid-19. Sityodtong is not a man who can ever be accused of lacking creativity or drive, so today’s announcement, which he broke on his Facebook page, provides another example of his out the box thinking.

While it is not hard to locate online training videos, the live streaming of these classes, followed by an interactive Q&A, will hopefully help create a sense of community for people currently in isolation, and who may be feeling cut off from the outside world.

ONE Championship has yet to make any official announcements regarding matchups for its upcoming Singapore shows. Still, it now appears that ONE Women’s Strawweight World Champion Xiong Jing Nan will soon be defending her title.

The 32-year-old is currently in Singapore, and yesterday in an Instagram post, she revealed she has just signed a bout agreement. Singapore has introduced tight new rules for arrivals into the city-state, requiring all new entrants to self-isolate for 14 days. So the fact that Xiong is already in Singapore is an indicator that she will be fighting in the near future, perhaps as early as April 17 when ONE:Hope, takes place.

There was no mention of who she would be facing in the post, but the logical choice would be Singapore’s, Tiffany Teo. The pair previously fought back in 2018, with Xiong stopping Teo in the fourth round to claim the inaugural ONE Women’s Strawweight World Championship. Since then, Teo has racked up two straight wins in the division, while Xiong has recorded three successful title defenses.

ONE’s four upcoming shows are all scheduled to take place behind closed doors, and due to the ongoing travel restrictions around the world, the cards are likely to feature a high number of Singapore-based fighters.