ONE chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong promised a massive 2024, and the Philippines is part of those plans.
This year was huge for ONE Championship and Muay Thai, but the organization’s MMA arm has taken a backseat to the “art of eight limbs” over the past 12 months, especially with the addition of ONE Friday Fights.
But Sityodtong bared how ONE is working on the return of their MMA-centric shows. Even ONE Lightweight and Welterweight MMA World Champion Christian “The Warrior” Lee and the eventual rematch between ONE Strawweight MMA World Champion Jarred “The Monkey God” Brooks and Joshua “The Passion” Pacio will even happen next year.
There’s also a good chance that the rematch could happen in one of the shows that the promotion plans to do here in the Philippines.
ONE back in full force
“You’re going to see MMA back in full force. We have our U.S. stadium shows. We have Qatar, Japan. In the Philippines we have one or two shows,” Sityodtong told the South China Morning Post.
“ONE Friday Fights and the Muay Thai product are very much on a firm footing now. We’ve laid the groundwork and feel very comfortable it’s running on autopilot, and now we’re able to scale up. We’ve firmly established we have the No. 1 striking property on the planet. The focus will be sharply back on mixed martial arts.”
Before the pandemic hit, the Philippines was one of the key markets for the promotion, with ONE Championship holding four events a year in the country.
Changes in the programming left the Philippines without a live event last year as The Home of Martial Arts focused on Lumpinee Boxing Stadium for most of 2023 to great results.
The last time ONE was in the Philippines was in December of 2022 in a sold-out show at the Mall of Asia Arena, and Sityodtong promised to return to the iconic venue soon.
“The event calendar for next year is going to come out early next week. We will be announcing north of 60 events. When you add everything we are doing in the coming months, maybe 70, maybe more,” he said.
“We have a bunch of others in the works. We are going back to key markets. I’m very excited for the announcement,” he added.
“The next chapter of 2024 is going to be a record-high number of events for us across all different martial arts, around the world in different locations. I think that will get fans and athletes super pumped. I’d rather not comment too early right now.”
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