THE ONE CHAMPIONSHIP THE CASH MACHINE
THE ONE CHAMPIONSHIP THE CASH MACHINE
By Serge TREFEU (2025)
One Championship has become Asia’s largest sports media, broadcast in 150 countries around the world.
Its founder, Chatri Trisiripisal, better known by his ring name Chatri Sityodtong, had a bad start, investing millions of dollars without his company taking off.
But this incredible businessman persevered, firmly believing in the success of his business. Today, his promotion is valued at over a billion dollars!
His promotion, based in Singapore, was founded in 2011. He initially focused on MMA before also integrating Kickboxing and Muay Thai.
Chatri Trisiripisal went to study in the United States, where his perseverance led him to a long career on Wall Street. He then retired from the world of finance, using the money he earned to pursue his passion for martial arts.
Chatri Sityodtong, born to a Thai father and a Japanese mother, grew up in Thailand. In his youth, he fought about thirty Muay Thai fights under the colors of the famous Sityodtong Gym in Pattaya, run by the legendary master Yodtong. He also has a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
In 2024, Thai Prime Minister Srettha presented Chatri Sityodtong with a special award for his contributions to Muay Thai. The Thai government also honored him as one of the 20 most influential Muay Thai teachers.
In 2008, Chatri Sityodtong founded a massive combat sports training facility in Singapore, Evolve MMA Gym. Three years later, he created the ONE Championship promotion.
The organization’s early years were particularly difficult, as it failed to attract broadcast partners and advertisers. However, this did not prevent it from slowly advancing its promotion for about ten years.
Chatri Sityodtong’s real masterstroke came in the early 2020s, when he managed to convince major financial partners and strong associates to join the adventure.
A visionary, he saw the enormous potential of the combat sports sector, which is booming with millions of fans around the world. In the United States in particular, the market for combat sports gyms is estimated at $9 billion.
Chatri Sityodtong surrounded himself with business experts who played a key role in the financial growth of ONE Championship. His partners include:
Saurabh Mittal, current vice president of ONE, Hua Fung Teh, Group president, Jesley Chua, financial director of ONE.
Saurabh Mittal is an Indian engineer who graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School. He began his career in the hedge fund industry before co-founding Indiabulls, an Indian group specializing in real estate and financial services, in 1999.
In 2014, Saurabh Mittal sold part of his shares in Indiabulls and moved to Singapore. He founded Mission Holdings, a private investment company that holds stakes in several companies, including ONE Championship. His fortune is estimated at $965 million.
Hua Fung Teh, a Singaporean of Chinese descent, is the Co-Founder and Group President of ONE Holdings (ONE). He co-leads the company with a focus on group strategy, global partnerships and capital markets.
Prior to joining ONE Championship, he was a Principal at TPG Capital, a global private equity firm, responsible for the origination, execution and management of investment portfolios in Southeast Asia.
He is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he received a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Jesley Chua, also from Singapore, is Chief of Staff and Head of Corporate Finance at ONE Championship. She also serves as Acting Chief Operating Officer of ONE China. Prior to joining ONE, she co-founded an alternative loan fund and spent over a decade in asset management. She holds a BA in Economics from Stanford University.
Another memorable poker move that businessman Chatri Sityodtong brilliantly pulled off was convincing one of the world’s most important investors: the company Sequoia Capital Operations.
Sequoia Capital Operations is an American venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, California. It specializes in seed, early-stage, and growth-stage investments in private companies, primarily in the technology sector. As of 2022, it had approximately $85 billion in assets under management.
Chatri Sityodtong convinced these wealthy investors that his unique format of MMA, Kickboxing, and Muay Thai fights represented the future of the combat sports business, thanks in part to the impact of social media.
Sequoia Capital Operations executives Michael Moritz and Douglas Leone met with Chatri Sityodtong in Singapore, a meeting that would forever change the fate of ONE Championship. Chatri Sityodtong showed them that sports venues and events are powerful business models, deeply embedded in consumers’ daily lives. Sports are becoming a universal language, omnipresent in conversations between family and friends.
He also highlighted the digital revolution in Asia, with the proliferation of smartphones and social networks like Facebook and Instagram driving exponential growth in the market. During the 2020s, the popularity of videos on social media tripled, becoming a major discovery channel.
Moreover, according to Google’s Southeast Asia Internet Economy Report, users in this region spend significantly more time on mobile Internet than their counterparts in the rest of the world, which represents a golden opportunity for the development of ONE Championship.
Chatri Sityodtong showed his investors that combat sports have taken the lead over team sports and Formula 1 racing in terms of mobile content consumption.
According to him, these disciplines are too long to watch on a small screen, while MMA and Muay Thai, with their explosive matches of only three rounds, are perfectly suited to mobile formats.
He also highlighted the evolution of the consumption habits of new generations, immersed in TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. These platforms favor short, intense and spectacular content, recalling popular cultural references such as Dragon Ball Z or Street Fighter.
Additionally, Chatri Sityodtong emphasized a key element: the heroic values conveyed by ONE Championship. The organization’s fighters embody perseverance, discipline, and courage, inspiring millions of fans around the world.
With his bold vision, Chatri Sityodtong has succeeded in his bet, attracting his prestigious partners, who have invested heavily in the meteoric rise of ONE Championship.
In 2022, Chatri Sityodtong, President and CEO of ONE Championship, became one of the new official promoters of Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, a legendary temple of Muay Thai.
The Royal Thai Army, which owns the stadium, extended him an official invitation, an opportunity he enthusiastically accepted.
He was granted this honor by Generals Narongpan Jitkaewthae, Suchart Dangprapai, Ronawud Ruengsawat and Vasan Phungsampao, marking a new era for this Muay Thai monument.
With this alliance, ONE Championship has firmly established itself in the heart of Bangkok, the combat sports capital of Southeast Asia. However, the promotion has introduced its own rules, upending some of Muay Thai’s deep-rooted traditions.
From now on, fights at Lumpinee under the ONE umbrella are fought over three rounds, with small MMA-style gloves and without prolonged clinch. Gone are also the heated oil massages, the traditional Ram Muay music and, most importantly, the punters in the stands.
This approach favors explosive fights, focusing more on quick KOs than on technique and artistic gestures, elements that are dear to Muay Thai purists. But this destructive and spectacular style appeals to the general public, which is the great strength of the ONE Championship.
The explosion of ONE Championship has caused a real division in the world of Muay Thai, pitting defenders of traditional Muay Thai against fans of ONE and its more hard-hitting style. There are now two sports currents:
The “Sam Yok” (3 round) fans, who enjoy the fast and intense format of ONE.
The “Haa Yok” (5 round) fans, who are attached to the more strategic fights of traditional stadiums.
This revolution and the exclusivity contracts with ONE boxers have also led to tensions between Chatri Sityodtong and some of the biggest promoters at Lumpinee Stadium, including Nuttadaj Vachirarattanawong, the boss of Petchyindee Promotion, one of the most influential stables in the country.
Fans of the “Haa Yok” remain loyal to historic stadiums like TV7, Omnoi and especially the prestigious Rajadamnern Stadium. However, the Radja has also evolved, adopting changes inspired by ONE.
The young CEO Bank Thirachai is currently revolutionizing the Rajadamnern Stadium with his famous three-round RWS tournaments, while integrating a unique sound and light show under a futuristic concrete dome, thus offering a unique visual and immersive experience in the Mecca of Muay Thai.
Today, at ONE Championship, top fighters can earn colossal sums, ranging from $100,000 to $300,000 per fight.
Its founder, Chatri Sityodtong, has an estimated fortune of $350 million.
Thanks to strategic partnerships with renowned broadcasters such as Amazon Prime in the United States and Sky Sports in the United Kingdom, ONE has established itself as an essential reference in the world of combat sports.
In Thailand, the promotion dominates the market with its weekly events at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium, broadcast live on Ch7HD.
In 2024, ONE continues to break audience records with 60 live events, demonstrating exponential growth in revenues in multiple countries.
Parent company ONE Group Holdings moved its legal operations from Singapore to the Cayman Islands in 2022, further strengthening its attractiveness to investors.
In 2024, Forbes valued ONE Championship at $1.3 billion, making it the fourth most valuable combat sports promotion, behind:
– UFC (MMA) – $11.3 billion
– WWE (Wrestling) – $6.8 billion
– AEW (Wrestling) – $2 billion
– ONE Championship (MMA, Muay Thai, Kickboxing) – $1.3
billion
– Matchroom Boxing (Boxing) – $850 million
ONE now benefits from the support of investment giants such as:
Temasek, a Singaporean company managing a portfolio of $389 billion.
GIC, a Singaporean sovereign wealth fund active in more than 40 countries.
ICONIQ, an American company specializing in wealth management for tech and finance fortunes.
In 2025, ONE Championship will host events in several prestigious destinations such as Bangkok, Singapore, the United States, Japan and Qatar.
A true global phenomenon, ONE Championship has become a cult classic and is still making headlines!
Source:
Bangkok Post
One Championship
Forbes