ONE Championship President Talks Global Expansion, ‘Right To Win’ In U.S.

ONE Championship has been having a banner year in 2023. Bolstered by ONE Friday Fights in Bangkok and its U.S. debut, the martial arts organization has been making waves since the calendar turned over. And there are no signs of slowing down.

ONE Championship Group President Hua Fung Teh was recently featured on CNBC’s Street Signs to discuss the company’s outstanding year-to-date and future. Naturally, one of the first topics was about its U.S. debut, ONE Fight Night 10.

“So we had our first U.S. event in Denver, Colorado, a month before the Nuggets won the NBA Championship, so it was great timing. But, yeah, that was a sold-out event. It broke all records in the U.S. on our streaming platform, Amazon Prime Video, and I think that event really showed us that we not only have a right to play, but we have a clear right to win in the U.S.,” Teh told CNBC.

“So we are going to be having more events in the U.S. next year, and we’re also looking to expand the partnership with Amazon.”

Teh mentioned how the expansion is happening around the globe. At the top of the list was the Middle East.

Already partnered with Qatar Media City, Teh teased a debut of a big event that could happen before the end of the year.

“We signed an MOU with Qatar Media City, that actually is an existing partner. So this is an extension of another MOU that we signed last year to bring our live events to Qatar. We have a 2-3 year relationship now with Qatar,” Teh said.

“QIA, the sovereign wealth fund, invested in ONE. They actually led our last funding round about 18 months ago, and since then, we have gotten more and more, I guess, deeply networked in the Qatari ecosystem. We have signed with BeIn Sport, a Middle East broadcast deal – one of the big sports broadcasters in the world. They are Qatar owned. We’ve also signed, as I’ve mentioned, with Qatar Media City to do our reality programming in Doha.”

“And now we are going to be bringing our crown jewel, our live events, to Doha. And it should happen as soon as this year.”

Expansion comes with continued investment, but Teh was clear that every metric is pointing up for ONE.

The ONE Group President cited the brand and the rabid fans as a reason for that growth. It leads toward an expectation for a huge future for the world’s largest martial arts organization.

“Because we’re expanding globally, and because the opportunity is so large, we will obviously have to keep investing in the business. The U.S., for instance, is a clear investment market,” Teh expressed.

“If you look at our revenue, if you look at everything, our metrics, everything is up and to the right. Even during the pandemic, you know, viewership and revenue were up.”

“Assuming that march continues, and look, the sports business is one of operating leverage — once you have the asset, you have incumbency, you have the fans, it takes on a life of its own, right? There’s not much incremental cost in trying to win that incremental dollar because the asset, the brand, the popularity, and the fandom is already there, and all sports properties go through this journey.”

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