SINGAPORE-BASED combat sports organisation One Championship will finally make its long-awaited on-ground debut in the United States in 2023, with the state of Colorado picked to stage the company’s first live mixed martial arts (MMA) event in the world’s largest economy.

Earlier this week, it was announced that the venue of this historic show will be the 6,500-seater 1stBank Center arena in the Denver suburb of Broomfield. The card will be headlined by a world championship trilogy bout between flyweight world champion Demetrious Johnson of the US and Adriano Moraes from Brazil. 

The pair have battled twice before with each scoring a knockout victory, and they will look to finally settle the score on US soil.

Last year, Colorado’s state athletic commission gave the green light to One Championship’s global rule set, which is different from the Unified Rules of MMA typically used in North America. One Championship’s rules allow knees to the head of a grounded opponent.

As One Championship looks to eventually hold as many as 12 live events in the US each year, BT Weekend speaks to Group President Teh Hua Fung – a Singaporean who joined the company in 2018 – to find out more about the big breakthrough into the American market. This interview has been edited slightly for brevity.

How was Colorado chosen as the site for One Championship’s first US show?

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Colorado has a rich history in sports and MMA, with multiple globally recognised sports teams and a built-in martial arts fanbase. It also hosted the first major US MMA event back in 1993. We are grateful for the support of Colorado’s state athletic commission and can’t wait to put on a show worthy of our Colorado fans’ passion and welcome.

What are the company’s growth prospects in the US?

The US is a new market for us, but it’s also the world’s largest and most sophisticated sports market with an insatiable demand for martial arts. 

We have spent the last 10 years growing our brand, fine-tuning our product, and building the largest global roster of world champions across all martial arts disciplines. 

We are already delivering our product to US fans on a monthly basis through our partnership with Amazon Prime Video, and we believe there’s a big opportunity to replicate the success we have seen in other markets and become one of the leading players in the US over time. 

What are the other potential US cities that could host live events down the road?

We are not in a position to share the other potential locations yet. The US has so many exciting and dynamic sporting venues and we are really spoilt for choice. We are working on a calendar that will provide the right mix of athletes, card line-ups and locations that can light up our US fanbase and help us make a big impact from the get-go. 

What’s your assessment of the ability to make inroads into the market share owned by other major players such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)?

Our North American fanbase is already growing by leaps and bounds, and our US fans and partners have been asking us to host live events there for some time now. We have made the decision to make our US debut after canvassing feedback and assessing the opportunity, and we believe now is the right time.

We have grown to become one of the two largest combat sports organisations in the world alongside UFC. The combat sports market itself - both in the US and globally - is also extremely fast-growing. 

There’s definitely enough room for everyone. We have a clear path to making inroads into the US with our differentiated, multiple-discipline product and brand ethos of values, heroes and stories.  

Apart from the US, are there any other new markets that are on the radar?

As a global sports property, we are always assessing opportunities to expand and deepen our presence in both new and existing markets. In recent months, we have announced new broadcast partnerships with top-tier broadcasters such as beIN Sports in the Middle East and Globo in Brazil. Our 2023 live event calendar will also reflect this strategy, and we have further exciting announcements planned in the coming months.

As we head into 2023, how many live events will there be around the world next year?

You can see that live events have already been coming back in a big way as the world makes up for lost time after the pandemic. Now that we are seeing the end of most pandemic-related restrictions, we are targeting to host more than 60 live events around the world next year. It will be a busy time for us as we average at least one event a week in 2023.