The press conference for ONE: A NEW ERA was bigger than any I have ever attended in 25 years. With way over 500 in attendance, it was bigger than the audience for any number of events I have cornered at.
Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong compellingly detailed his vision. The USA has a $19.5 trillion economy; it created the 82B NFL, 54B MLB, and 52B NBA. Asia has a $23 trillion economy, but no major sports properties. ONE Championship, with a $1 billion valuation, is the largest to date.
A usual reaction may be dubious - "Bigger than the NFL WTF??!?" However, consider ...
Late last year One Championship raised $166 million in a series D round led by Sequoia Capital. The venture capital firm has backed companies that now control $1.4 trillion of combined stock market value, equivalent to 22 percent of Nasdaq, including Apple, Google, Oracle, PayPal, YouTube, Instagram, Yahoo!, and WhatsApp. If you are dubious, what do you know that Sequoia Capital hasn't considered?
The UFC has established that MMA is capable of driving extraordinary growth. The sale to WME/IMG now Endeavor in 2016 was the largest sale of a sports property in history. And the UFC has grown greatly since.
The peak of the leadership team consists of three Harvard MBAs - CEO Chatri Sityodtong, Vice Chairman self-made billionaire Saurabh Mittal, and former jet fighter pilot Hua Fung Teh who serves as Group President. The other senior management leaders all come from the major sports properties Charti intends to surpass.
ONE is broadcast in 140 countries, with 20 million viewers per show, a number that Chatri wants to be 100 million. Among the 500+ signed fighters are 130 world champions in various combat sports.</p>
All Asian countries have homegrown martial arts, which collectively represent Asia’s greatest cultural treasure. No one before has tried to unite the 4 billion people in Asia around martial arts; indeed, rivalry has been the norm. The closest to date might be Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, but those were not organized efforts; rather they are yet another piece of evidence for the uniting power of martial arts. Showcasing the deep-rooted Asian values of integrity, humility, honor, respect, courage, discipline, and compassion, ONE Championship is using the power of media and the magic of storytelling to unleash real-life superheroes, celebrate values, ignite dreams, inspire nations, and change the world.
“We don’t sell fights like every other organization in the world," said Sityodtong at the press conference. "We build heroes who ignite the world with hope, strength, dreams, and inspiration. This is ONE Championship. As a lifelong martial artist, I want the world to see the true beauty of martial arts. Our heroes, our world champions, they exemplify the very best of humanity. I am very excited to be here in Japan. We are the only truly global sports media property in Asia celebrating our greatest cultural treasure, martial arts. ONE: A NEW ERA is the biggest martial arts event in the history of the world.”
Sunday's show has four world title fights, a Flyweight Grand Prix, the promotion debut of Demetrious Johnson and Eddie Alvarez, and on Sunday at 12:30 a.m. ET you can watch ONE: A New Era live and free on the Super App.