ONE chairman Chatri reveals massive gains in 2023, big plans for '24

THIS year has been a banner year for ONE Championship, and its chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong knows things are just heating up.

Speaking to CNBC, Sityodtong shared how ONE grew massively this year. The promotion continued its partnership with Amazon Prime Video and BeIN sports while getting key deals with some of the biggest networks around the world.

ONE beefs up content

ONE has also beefed up its weekly content through its ONE Friday Fights series at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, which has dominated Thai airwaves on primetime after signing a crucial partnership with Channel 7, the largest network in the country.

The weekly show has also had a direct effect on Filipinos. It has been a stomping ground for on-the-rise fighters such as Carlos Alvarez, Fritz Biagtan, and Carlo Von Bumina-ang, to name a few.

Suffice to say, as ONE rises into a global powerhouse, so do the martial arts scenes in the surrounding regions.

“We’ve just been growing leaps and bounds all over the world. Today, we’re broadcasting in 190 countries every single week, live,” Sityodtong said.

“This is with the biggest broadcasters, with Amazon in the U.S., Channel 7 in Thailand, Seven network in Australia, BeIN sports in the Middle East, Global out of Latin American. These are the biggest broadcasters, and the most prestigious broadcasters.”

ONE numbers triple

With the addition of its Friday Fights shows and its consistent Fight Night events, ONE’s numbers tripled this year, making this the biggest, busiest, and the most fruitful 12 months for the world’s largest martial arts organization.

This year ONE also broke ground in the United States, holding ONE Fight Night 10 in Colorado last May, something that was well received by U.S. fans.

“This year is actually a record year. Our viewership records are up triple-digit percentages, and live events – 60 live events versus 20 live events the year prior. So the business is on fire,” he said.

“Our revenues as well. We’re a little north of 100 million this year and we’re already on track because we have high visibility of these deals for 200 million dollars, approaching 200 million dollars for 2024.”

But this is just a precursor for the year ahead, as Sityodtong shared the return of ONE’s numbered events. ONE 165 and ONE 166 are set for Japan and Qatar, respectively, alongside the continuous Fight Night and Friday Fights events.

“I just announced on my social media, we’re going back to Japan. We’re going to do Qatar and obviously come back to Singapore and in the U.S. By the way, there will be more events in the U.S. in 2024,” he said.

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