ONE Championship CEO Eyeing More U.S. Events Following Successful Debut Card

ONE Championship had its maiden debut on the shores of the United States this past Friday, May 5 at the 1stBank Center in Denver, Colorado with ONE Fight Night 10, and the promotion's experience has its chairman and CEO wanting to do more events in the future.

"I'm kicking myself because my team was saying, 'Let's do [a] 15,000 or 20,000-seater' and I was like, 'No, our brand is just nascent in the States'. I honestly had no idea that we had a fan base in the States because we've only been on Amazon Prime once a month," Chatri Sityodtong stated.

"It's mind-blowing to me that we have so many fans. The fans were rabid. It was clear in the stadium that the fans have been following our athletes like they knew the story. It wasn't like new-timers like 'Oh, let me check out ONE Championship.' It was like hardcore rabid fans. I was shocked."

ONE Fight Night 10 was a massive gamble on the Singapore-based combat sports organization's end, and it ultimately paid off for them with a solid card all-around.

Names such as Ok Rae Yoon, Kairat Akhmetov and Tye Ruotolo picked up solid victories, but fans were also treated to big knockouts from Jackie Buntan, Stamp Fairtex, Zebaztian Kadestam and Rodtang Jitmuangnon.

They were also treated to a fun night of affairs as Aung La N Sang made Fan Rong tap out, Sage Northcutt returned with a massive submission of Ahmed Mujtaba, and ONE flyweight submission grappling king Mikey Musumeci retained the belt against Osamah Almarwai via rear-naked choke.

While the main event, which also served as the trilogy bout, between ONE flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson and Adriano Moraes did not have the explosive ending that many were looking for, the American's homecoming was successful as he retained via unanimous decision.

With a successful outing tucked tightly in their pocket, Chatri teased that they have big plans related to another U.S. card, but he will first check with Amazon's higher-ups to ensure that "sure it's aligned to what they want and go from there."

He also assured that fans will get to see more ONE Championship stars visit the U.S.

When asked about whether their weekly ONE Friday Fights being held live in the US, he mentioned the following.

"Anything is possible. 100%, anything is possible right now. I think this event was an overwhelming success. Just look at the viewership metrics, look at the trending, social metrics, look at the stadium, the fact that we sold out weeks in advance," Chatri beamed.

"There's a clear rabid fan base, in our brand, in our product, and the whole of martial arts, it's really resonating with American fans and it's something totally new, totally different from anything existing in the market, it's completely unique anywhere in the world. I think there's a huge opportunity here."

ONE Championship's thrust of being a globally-recognized combat sports powerhouse continues to gain steam, and having more events in the U.S. will surely push them to even greater heights.