One Championship breaks new ground in 2019

SINGAPORE-based martial arts organisation One Championship will finally break new ground in three major Asian markets - Japan, South Korea and Vietnam - in 2019.

The company, which bills itself as the largest global sports media property in Asia, will stage two 'live' events in Tokyo - the first on March 31, and another on Oct 11.

Of the 24 confirmed events announced for next year, there is a stop in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam for the first time on Sept 6.

One Championship will round off what is fast shaping up to be a busy year with a debut in the South Korean capital Seoul on Dec 20.

Singapore will have three 'live' events in 2019 - on Feb 22, May 17 and Nov 22. This is one more than it usually holds in the Lion City each year.

"Singapore is such an important market for One Championship. Martial arts in Asia has no better place it can call home. For us to bump our shows in Singapore to three shows next year, it's the natural progression," said the company's chairman and chief executive officer Chatri Sityodtong at a press conference in the Japanese capital on Thursday.

The One Championship juggernaut will also continue to visit cities in China, Thailand, the Philippines, Myanmar, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Fight-crazy market

The first 24 of 30 events of One Championship's 2019 schedule were announced by Mr Sityodtong in Tokyo.

One Championship has been eager to make the breakthrough in the lucrative and fight-crazy Japan market for a long time.

The plan was to have a show in Tokyo this September, according to its original 2018 calendar released last year, but this date was pushed back due to undisclosed reasons.

Mr Sityodtong said the first show in Tokyo will be held at the historic Ryogoku Kokugikan stadium, in the sumo-obsessed neighbourhood of Ryogoku. There will be at least two world championship fights that night, and "a ton of international and Japanese superstars" on the fight card.

"Japan has a rich martial arts culture and history, and One Championship has been planning for a very long time to bring our authentic martial arts experience right here to the fans, deep in the heart of Asia," explained Mr Sityodtong.

Also present at the press conference were some of One Championship's most famous fighters, including reigning women's atomweight world champion Angela Lee, bantamweight world champion Bibiano Fernandes, and heavyweight world champion Brandon Vera.

Several Japanese fighters were also in attendance, among them Mei Yamaguchi, Ken Hasegawa, current strawweight world champion Yoshitaka Naito, and former lightweight world champion Shinya Aoki.

The fact that One Championship now has a fixed date for its Japan debut is a significant coup for Mr Sityodtong and the company he founded a little over seven years ago in Singapore.

Japan is, after all, one of the world's largest martial arts markets, and the birthplace of a number of martial arts including jiu jitsu, judo, karate and aikido.

After gradually branching out to the rest of South-east Asia, One Championship made its debut in China in late-2014 and then in Thailand in 2016.

With Japan, South Korea and Vietnam already pencilled in, Mr Sityodtong has said previously that he wants to hold events in India, the third-largest economy in Asia.

It's all part of his grand vision of "unleashing" martial arts superheroes onto the world, a mission at One Championship that Mr Sityodtong describes as "sacred".

One Championship's viewership numbers are growing by the year. In 2018, there have been an average of 11 million viewers for each 'live' event across its core markets, according to Nielsen. In 2015, this figure was less than one million viewers.

"My personal goal is to reach 100 million viewers per 'live' event within the next three years through a combination of organic growth and new markets," Mr Sityodtong added.

The main event

There are eight more big shows for the rest of 2018, with the next stops being Shanghai (Sept 8), Bangkok (Oct 6) and Yangon (Oct 26).

There is one more live event in Singapore - titled "Heart of the Lion" - on Nov 9 at the Indoor Stadium in Kallang.

Once again, crowd favourite Angela Lee will feature in the main event as the 22-year-old will attempt to be the first woman in One Championship history to be a champion in two separate weight divisions at the same time.

On Thursday, it was confirmed that Lee, who is still undefeated, will face the winner of the Sept 8 bout between reigning strawweight champion Xiong Jingnan of China and Brazil's Samara Santos.

For all the fighters at One Championship and the millions of fans around the world, it's certainly shaping up to be an exciting end to the year and an even wilder roller-coaster ride in 2019.