There Can Be Only ONE!
When the Black Belt staff received an invitation to jet to Singapore to report on a new martial arts organization that’s challenging the MMA promotions of the West, we jumped at the chance. Although it’s not a household name in America, ONE Championship has been called the largest martial arts organization in the world by CNN and Forbes with its events reaching a total of 1.3 billion viewers.
The man at the helm is Chatri Sityodtong, and he’s vowed to change the way people think about mixed martial arts. In a nutshell: His mission is to remain true to the traditions of the martial arts, including all the values we know and love. This, he says, is what differentiates ONE Championship from its competitors. It’s also the reason he’s so eager to shine the spotlight on his athletes, whom he calls “real-life superheroes,” men and women who inspire us to achieve.
ONE Past
“The biggest misconception about martial arts is that it’s about fighting or violence,” said Chatri, CEO of ONE Championship, as he leaned back in his chair at the Evolve Mixed Martial Arts headquarters in Singapore, the facility that many ONE athletes
