ONE Championship Co-Founder Sees U.S. As 'Clear Investment Market'

ONE Championship has remained steadfast in its desire to live up to its moniker as the "Home of Martial Arts," and co-founder Hua Fung Teh believes that bigger things are coming for the Singapore-based combat sports outfit.

Speaking with CNBC during the 14th Annual Meeting of the New Champions (AMNC) backed by the World Economic Forum, Teh had the following to say about ONE Championship's rising popularity in the U.S. and shared some of their future plans.

"We had our first US event in Denver, Colorado... That was a sold-out event, it broke records in the U.S. on our streaming platform, Amazon Prime Video. I think that event really showed us that we not only have a right to play, but we also have a clear right to win in the US," Teh explained.

"We are going to be having more events in the US next year and we're also looking to expand the partnership with Amazon."

The Southeast Asian promotion's first foray in the U.S., dubbed ONE Fight Night 10, last May 5 featured ONE flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson's title defense against Adriano Moraes in the trilogy bout.

Meanwhile, ONE flyweight Muay Thai king Rodtang Jitmuangnon defended the belt against Mexico's Edgar Tabares in one of the co-feature attractions.

Both champions would go on to leave the 1stBank Center in Denver with their belts around their waists along with ONE flyweight submission grappling champion Mikey Musumeci after pulling off a submission victory against Osamah Almarwai among other great performances throughout the 11-fight show.

When it comes to holding events near its home base of Singapore, ONE Championship has also been a rating monster, especially with the recently concluded ONE Friday Fights 22 held last Friday, June 23 at the famed Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand being a smash hit.

According to ONE Championship chief Chatri Sityodtong, the event logged a 4.3 rating among all demographics in Thailand and a 5.8 rating in the male (15-plus) demographic.

That event saw Prajanchai PK Saenchai claim interim strawweight Muay Thai gold in the main event, while Superlek Kiatmoo9 set himself up for a challenge against Jonathan Haggerty with a first-round knockout of Nabil Anane.

Also on the card was Anatoly Malykhin and Arjan Bhullar's bout to become the undisputed ONE heavyweight champion, which the former won after a three-round beatdown that ended in a TKO of the latter

Furthermore, Teh also hinted at bringing a ONE Championship card to Doha, Qatar, which may happen sometime later this year.

With so many feathers in its cap at this point, the organization is not content with its growth just yet and Teh pointed out how important the U.S. market is to the company's future.

"Because we're expanding globally and because the opportunity is so large, we obviously have to keep investing in the business. The U.S., for instance, is a clear investment market," Teh later added.

"But in terms of profitability, we've come on record to say this before, we expect to be profitable within two to three years. If you look at our revenue, our metrics and everything, everything is up and to the right–even through the pandemic. Viewership and revenue were up."

ONE Championship has established itself as a major player in the combat sports community, and based on Teh's comments, it appears that it will continue to build on its momentum moving forward.