ONE Championship FC

Chatri Sityodtong announced in July 2011 that he founded One Fighting Championship because he thought martial arts was Asia’s “cultural treasure” and there was no Pan-Asian promotion to unify the continent.

Unlike traditional marketing, the primary purpose of ONE is to promote “values of integrity, humility, honour, respect, courage, discipline, and compassion.” According to Sityodtong, ONE finds and hires rivals who are “outstanding role models and good human beings with wholesome values,” and “you don’t see any of the trash-talking or any kind of criminal offences or behaviour you see in other promotions.”

Sityodtong said that ONE FC’s first three years were a “living hell.” Many broadcasters, businesses, sponsors, and even potential workers turned him down because they didn’t grasp ONE’s vision.

On 3 September 2011, One Fighting Championship staged its debut event, ONE FC: Champion vs. Champion, at the sold-out Singapore Indoor Stadium. The organization hosted its debut female MMA bout on March 31, 2012, at the same arena as ONE FC: War of the Lions. Nicole Chua, Singapore’s first female professional MMA fighter, defeated Jeet Toshi, the seven-time Indian kickboxing champion.

At ONE FC: Rise of Kings on October 6, 2012, Soo Chul Kim earned the first ONE Bantamweight World Champion by stopping Leandro Issa, while Kotetsu Boku defeated Zorobabel Moreira by TKO to win the inaugural ONE Lightweight World Champion.

Honorio Banario beat Eric Kelly in the first ONE Featherweight World Championship on 3 February 2013 at ONE FC: Return of Warriors. The inaugural ONE Welterweight World Championship match, which had to be postponed from 2013, took place on 14 March 2014 at ONE FC: War of Nations. Nobutatsu Suzuki defeated Brock Larson. Adriano Moraes defeated Geje Eustaquio to become the inaugural ONE Flyweight World Champion at ONE FC: Rise of the Kingdom on September 12, 2014. The ONE Middleweight World Championship debuted on November 7, 2014, at ONE FC: Battle of the Lions, when Igor Svirid defeated Leandro Ataides in 17 seconds for the title.

The promotion announced its name change to “One Championship” on January 13, 2015. The move was done mostly for linguistic and cultural reasons, according to then-CEO Victor Cui. “I think the reason why I picked the name ONE in the first place was because I wanted a name that transcended the language barrier. If you didn’t speak English, you knew what ‘one’ was[…] It means the top, the best, and everybody could say it”, but translating the English term “fighting” into dozens of Asian languages and passing it on to partners and sponsors has proven difficult.

On October 27, 2018, ONE Championship and Ultimate Fighting Championship completed the first “trade” in MMA history. Former UFC Flyweight Champion Demetrious Johnson was freed from his contract so he could join ONE, while ONE Welterweight Champion Ben Askren was released from his contract so he could sign with the UFC. By 2018, ONE Championship had become a “unicorn,” an unlisted business worth more than $1 billion, thanks to the dissemination of its content to over 150 countries.

Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke won the inaugural ONE Strawweight World Champion on May 22, 2015, when he defeated Roy Doliguez at ONE: Warrior’s Quest. On July 18, 2015, ONE conducted the first Lethwei battle in its history at ONE: Kingdom of Warriors in Yangon, Myanmar. Burmese fighters Phyan Thway and Soe Htet Oo competed in a dark bout, and the outcome was a draw according to ancient Lethwei standards. Brandon Vera defeated Paul Cheng in the opening round of ONE: Spirit of Champions on December 11, 2015, to become the inaugural ONE Heavyweight World Champion.

On May 6, 2016, the promotion named two additional inaugural champions at ONE: Ascent to Power. For the inaugural ONE Light Heavyweight World Championship, Roger Gracie submitted Michal Pasternak. Angela Lee, 19, defeated Mei Yamaguchi in the first ONE Women’s Atomweight World Championship title match to become the organization’s first female champion and one of combat sports’ youngest-ever titleholders.

ONE Championship staged its inaugural grappling competition in Cotai, Macau, on August 13, 2016; One Grappling Challenge Macao took place prior to ONE: Heroes of the World. Angela Lee, Shinya Aoki, and Michelle Nicolini were among those who competed under International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation no-gi regulations.

Shinya Aoki and Garry Tonon competed in a “grappling super fight” under submission-only rules at ONE: Dynasty of Heroes on May 26, 2017. ONE entered discussions with World Lethwei Championship about collaborating to share athletes to fight in each other’s organizations. ONE conducted its second Lethwei match at ONE: Light of a Nation on June 30, 2017. Thway Thit Win Hlaing won by decision over Soe Htet Oo under the WLC point system, which requires a judge’s ruling if the bout reaches the distance.

ONE has not conducted any more Lethwei fights since then, although Sityodtong has professed his enthusiasm for the art and his desire to bring Dave Leduc into the organization. Martin Nguyen, the ONE Featherweight World Champion, became the promotion’s first simultaneous two-division champion on November 10, 2017, when he knocked out Eduard Folayang for the ONE Lightweight World Championship at ONE: Legends of the World.

Xiong Jing Nan won the inaugural ONE Women’s Strawweight World Championship on January 20, 2018, at ONE: Kings of Courage. Another submission-only “grappling superfight” took place at the event, this time between Shinya Aoki and Marat Gafurov. ONE awarded its first Muay Thai champion on May 18, 2018, at ONE: Unstoppable Dreams, when Sam-A Gaiyanghadao defeated Sergio Wielzen to win the first ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Championship.

This was followed by ONE’s first kickboxing champion at ONE: Battle for the Heavens on 7 July 2018, when Kai Ting Chuang defeated Yodcherry Sityodtong in the first ONE Atomweight Kickboxing World Championship match. Srisaket Sor Rungvisai defended his World Boxing Council championship against Iran Diaz in the main event of ONE: Kingdom of Heroes on October 6, 2018. To date, this is the only boxing battle under the ONE Championship name.

The inaugural ONE Bantamweight Muay Thai World Championship and ONE Atomweight Muay Thai World Championship contests took place in February 2019. Nong-O Gaiyanghadao beat Han Zihao in the former on February 16, 2019, at ONE: Clash of Legends. The latter occurred on 22 February 2019 at ONE: Call to Greatness, where ONE Atomweight Kickboxing World Champion Stamp Fairtex fought Janet Todd to become the promotion’s first two-sport champion.

Multiple ONE championship titles in kickboxing were also introduced in 2019. On 10 May 2019, Petchdam Petchyindee Academy beat Elias Mahmoudi in the first ONE Flyweight Kickboxing World Championship bout at ONE: Warriors of Light. Regian Eersel defeated Nieky Holzken in the first ONE Lightweight Kickboxing World Championship bout, which took place at ONE: Enter the Dragon on May 17, 2019. On November 16, 2019, Roman Kryklia fought Tarik Khbabez to win the inaugural ONE Light Heavyweight Kickboxing World Champion at ONE: Age of Dragons.

On December 6, 2019, the inaugural ONE Bantamweight Kickboxing World Championship and ONE Strawweight Kickboxing World Championship contests took place at ONE: Mark of Greatness. Alaverdi Ramazanov won the bantamweight title by unanimous decision over Zhang Chenglong, while Sam-A Gaiyanghadao followed suit by earning the strawweight title by unanimous decision over Wang Junguang.