CHATRI Sityodtong has a singular vision. He wants to unite all of Asia with ONE Championship a homegrown sports media property.
“Every region in the world has a multi-billion sports media property. North America has NBA, NFL, MLB, NASCAR and UFC. They’re worth four to 30 billion dollars. You go to Europe it’s the same thing. There’s EPL, Formula 1, Bundesliga, Spanish La Liga. All worth two to 20 billion dollars each,” said Sityodtong Founder and Chairman of ONE Championship.
“You come to Asia, there’s absolutely nothing on a Pan Asian basis except One Championship. There’s a billion dollar cricket industry in India. A billion dollar business of baseball in Japan. But nothing on a Pan Asian basis. That’s why I started ONE Championship.”
The choice to unite Asia under the MMA banner is well founded because Asia has been the home of martial arts for thousands of years.
“There’s a martial art in every country,” said Sityodtong. “Our biggest movie heroes all have martial arts background. Jet Li, Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan. The biggest sports hero in all of Asia is a boxer. Manny Pacquiao. So for me, I believed in my heart when I started. I knew ONE Championship would be Asia’s largest sports media property.”
Sityodtong is the quintessential renaissance man who has succeeded in everything he is involved in. He is an entrepreneur, motivational speaker, lecturer, philanthropist, martial arts practitioner and teacher.
“I’ve been doing Muay Thai for 30 years so I’m really an expert martial artist as well,” said Sityodtong. “That certainly helps me in terms of understanding what drives fighters. What their needs are. What their dreams are. What it’s like to step into a cage. Everything from safety procedures to doctors and the entire protocol to ensure safety. I understand that very intimately. I’ve also been a coach. So I know everything about what coaches go through when they’re in the cage with a fighter.”
Sityodtong has been an entrepreneur the vast majority of his life. He says he’s blessed to be able to combine the greatest passion of his life, which is MMA, with business.
“I’m able to bring 20 plus years as an entrepreneur, from Silicon Valley to Wall Street, to my experiences here at ONE championship. At the same time I’m the only person in the company who is able to switch hats, from being a chairman to being a matchmaker, to put in the best fighters, to assembling the best fight cards. I am comfortable at talking to the CEO of a media broadcast company or to the press because of my business background. I feel very lucky to be from both worlds,” said Sityodtong.
ONE Championship is already Asia’s largest sports media property with a global broadcast to over one billion homes across 118 countries around the world. Its founder and chairman is far from satisfied.
“We have 18 events this year. I won’t rest until we have one event every single week, held in a major city in Asia. Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai, Bangkok, Manila. I won’t rest until we have four billion fans in Asia who genuinely love ONE Championship. I really believe it will become mainstream. Why not? The NBA and the NFL are mainstream in America. And Asia’s missing it,” said Sityodtong.
“Every indication is that martial arts could be the greatest cultural treasure of Asia. I want everyone in Asia to be a fan. I want everyone in Asia rooting for their hometown hero on the global stage of ONE Championship. I want every broadcast company to say this is my number one rated show. I want every sponsor to say I am so proud to be associated with this property. That’s my vision. And that is why I started this company. I started five years ago because I wanted to create the first multi-billion sports media property in Asia.”