ONE Championship To Gather 16 Best Muay Thai Fighters For Openweight Tourney

Since the inception of the ONE Super Series back in 2018, ONE Championship has done well in promoting not just mixed martial arts (MMA), but also purely striking-based disciplines such as Muay Thai and kickboxing on its fight cards.

As ONE Super Series gained consistently gained popularity, the promotion soon introduced world championships.

Now, ONE Championship has 14 world championship titles across both Muay Thai and kickboxing.

In the past, ONE Championship has also put the tournament format to good use, pitting together the best strikers in the world in a competition and under a specific weight division to see who can go all the way and capture glory.

It looks like the Singapore-based organization is planning to put all the best strikers in the world in one tournament, regardless of weight class.

During the pre-fight press conference for ONE Fight Night 6 at the W Hotel in Bangkok last Wednesday, January 11, company chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong announced that they will be holding an openweight Muay Thai tournament later this year.

At the end of the tournament, $1 million will be waiting for the winner.

"I'm announcing the greatest Grand Prix in the history of the sport of Muay Thai. One million U.S. dollars. 16 of the best strikers in the world will descend, this year, for one million U.S. dollars," an emphatic Chatri shared.

He then invited the fans to voice out who they want to see enter the tournament.

"Fans all over the world, please tell me who you wanna see. Do you wanna see Superbon? Do you wanna see Rodtang? Who do you wanna see because this is an Openweight Grand Prix," Chatri said. "This is gonna blow up, you're gonna see big guys against small guys, and it's gonna be huge."

"I promise you this will blow up the sport all over the world. With our global broadcast, people will be tuning in from all over the world. The very best–the very, very, very best, irrespective of weight class–Muay Thai world champions will be competing. 16 of the world's best."

Openweight tournaments harken back to the old days of the UFC and PRIDE Fighting Championships when fighters —regardless of division—went head to head.

Since Muay Thai is a purely-striking sport, it would be interesting to see how the openweight dynamic factors in during the bouts.

Top of mind, some of the biggest names that ONE Championship has on its Muay Thai roster include Joseph Lasiri, Rodtang Jitmuangnon, Nong-O Gaiyanghadao, Alaverdi Ramazanov, Superlek Kiatmoo9, Panpayak Jitmuangnon, Rodlek and Tawanchai PK.Saenchai.

It's also likely that ONE Championship brings in a couple of new names to enter the planned 16-man tourney.