July has been a landmark month for mixed martial arts. The Ultimate Fighting Championship last weekend celebrated its bicentennial pay-per-view event with a blockbuster card in Las Vegas and then shortly after announced a new era for the company with the confirmation of talent agency WME/IMG’s $4 billion takeover.
That sale is the largest by a sports organisation in North American history and is further evidence of MMA’s title as one of the fastest growing forms of entertainment on the planet. It all bodes well for the sport’s other pre- eminent organisation for which July is also a significant month.
ONE Championship, the premier Asian MMA promotion, celebrates its fifth anniversary on Thursday after launching in 2011 before assembling their first card a few weeks later on September 3. The milestone also happens to coincide with a major turning point in the company’s history.
On Tuesday, it received an influx of cash to aid its expansion in Asia as it “entered into definitive agreements with a consortium-led by Heliconia Capital Management,” an investment company owned by the government of Singapore.
From its humble beginnings, the business, under the stewardship of CEO and owner Victor Cui, has grown at an exponential rate, morphing into Asia’s largest sports media property.
And ONE has only just scratched the sur- face of the potential gold mine which is Asia, a region which is viewed as a relatively untapped source in terms of MMA. After all, it is a part of the world which is fanatical about sport but lacks its own homegrown franchise to follow. But in that vacuum, ONE has prospered and speaking to Sport360, Cui declared with confidence that his company will hit a $1bn valuation mark within the next 12-18 months.
Indeed, their famed combination of elbow-strikes and red-carpet glamour has struck a chord with the Asian audience. However, they could be set to go toe-to-toe with the UFC juggernaut on their home turf.
Temasek's fully-owned subsidiary Heliconia leads a consortium to invest in Singapore-based Mixed Martial Arts company ONE Championship.
— Lee U-Wen (@LeeUwenBT) July 13, 2016
WME/IMG have been investing heavily in Asia, particularly in China and it is widely forecasted the UFC will soon bid to make its mark in the market. It’s no surprise when you consider the NBA and MLB have already made big pushes to expand their brand awareness in the region and when you factor in the vast population size, it’s a no brainer.
However, it’s a prospect which Cui isn’t breaking a sweat about just yet.
“No, I’m not concerned at all,” says the Canadian-born Filipino when asked about the UFC’s threat. “Actually, the UFC has been in Asia for nine or 10 years, twice as long as we’ve had a company. I started this company from scratch and the UFC was already a global brand when they came out here.
“I’m not sure what their plans are but they haven’t held any events in months. For me, the important thing is to focus on what we do best. We’ve got a world-class product and to most fans in Asia, ONE is synonymous with MMA. That’s all they know and it’s how they’ve been introduced to the sport. If you say to someone MMA they will say ‘ONE’.”
The UFC actually opened their Asian office in 2010 in Beijing but most of their employees were moved to an office in Singapore, coincidentally, the home base of ONE.
But the newly-acquired promotion has not held an event in Asia this year having visited three times in 2015 with a card in addition to their debut in the Philippines and South Korea.
Pulling power: ONE star Angela Lee.
Although the ‘East vs West’ dynamic could soon see the two promotions collide, Cui has not ruled out the possibility of ONE going in the opposite direction.
“I’d love to (expand into the West). I’m Canadian but I’ve been living in Asia for the past 10 years so I’d love to have an event in North America,” he explains. “But we’ll take our time, when it makes sense to move out there then we will.”
For now, there is plenty to occupy Cui’s attention. His ambition is to make ONE ubiquitous in Asia with the aim of holding one event every week of the year. It’s a task which will require a huge operation but the owner is “hiring new staff almost every day” to deal with the demands of his growing baby.
He hopes with the company’s current swell, that the potential $1bn valuation can be acquired. The question is where does this particular figure come from? Well, he explains: “It’s mostly what other people are telling us and what other hedge-funds who want to invest in the company who are telling us this.
“It’s really based on the growth of our revenue, our partners and sponsors, our broadcasts. Ultimately at the end of the day, ONE is a media company, like Formula One or the NFL. When it comes to MMA in Asia we have the largest broadcast by far and today as you look at the landscape of sport in Asia, we are already the largest to any other sport in the region.
“Of course, country by country that may differ like cricket in India for example but as a regional property it stands over almost every major city in Asia.”
Despite the UFC’s recent sale though Cui is adamant he has no thoughts of doing the same anytime soon.
“No not really (wanting to sell), not at this point,” he says. “For me this about the passion of martial arts. It’s the only sport in Asia that everybody gets. Every other sport, Asia has had to learn.”
That learning process also includes the UAE which has already been treated to a ONE event, back in August 2014 in Dubai.
“There are some really talented fighters in the UAE and there are some excellent local promotions like Desert Force,” Cui adds.
“They are fantastic feeder leagues for ONE but a lot of those guys aren’t ready for this big stage yet. We do want to come back to Dubai and hopefully we’ll do that soon it’s just that our business has started to expand so quickly out here in Asia, we’re 20 events already this year, so we haven’t had time to focus on going there. We have to move our entire team, flying eight hours to get over there and that presents problems.
“We will be back there soon, the tourism board and the sport bureau has always been very supportive and I think it’s just a matter of time.”
It seems at this point, though, time is very much on Cui and ONE Championship’s side.
