ONE Championship raises $100 million

[UhHuhSure]

It's not about the stars reposting the articles, it's the articles themselves. They're straight up fluff and propaganda pieces.

I honestly havent read any of them, so I'll take your word for it. Most of what I see from the promotion is on MMA forums and visiting their website.

 

[Asurah]

Yeah but the same can be said of fighters doing that under any organisation. I remember it wasnt long ago fighters in the UFC were lambasted by Dana for not using social media to push their stars.

I dont doubt ONE may exaggerate their worth or their ambitions, but the hate they get seems unjustified. They have had some of the greatest fights I've seen in MMA.

There is much more to criticize them about aside from their media stuff, matter of fact the media stuff is probably the least important of the criticisms. They have great fights, sure, but they also are incredibly shady from putting fighter's health at risk to extreme favoritism to implementing a farcical "weight cut ban" that is selectively applied. I like a lot of the fighters they have and they usually put on entertaining events but I am not a fan of the things they do as an organization.

 

[UhHuhSure]

There is much more to criticize them about aside from their media stuff, matter of fact the media stuff is probably the least important of the criticisms. They have great fights, sure, but they also are incredibly shady from putting fighter's health at risk to extreme favoritism to implementing a farcical "weight cut ban" that is selectively applied. I like a lot of the fighters they have and they usually put on entertaining events but I am not a fan of the things they do as an organization.

I see the same things with every MMA company in regards to favoritism and fighter safety/health. The only difference is, ONE tried to make some changes because of the kid dying. Their connection to EVOLVE is kind of sus, however, EVOLVE fighters have gotten their ass beat live on air.

 

[Asurah]

I see the same things with every MMA company in regards to favoritism and fighter safety/health. The only difference is, ONE tried to make some changes because of the kid dying. Their connection to EVOLVE is kind of sus, however, EVOLVE fighters have gotten their ass beat live on air.

Favoritism to where they let a champion miss weight, announce that she made weight, and keep their belt or get up to 7 tries to make weight? Fighter safety where they brag about letting that same fighter fight through pneumonia and taking all of those tries to make weight? They basically left a guy in a foreign country to fend for his own after being KO'd. ONE isn't trying to make changes, the whole weight cut ban was just a PR move, they don't enforce or enforce it very selectively. I don't so much have an issue with gym-promotion connections, tons have it, just don't go through tons of hoops to give fighters from those gyms advantages.

 

[UhHuhSure]

Favoritism to where they let a champion miss weight, announce that she made weight, and keep their belt or get up to 7 tries to make weight? Fighter safety where they brag about letting that same fighter fight through pneumonia and taking all of those tries to make weight? They basically left a guy in a foreign country to fend for his own after being KO'd. ONE isn't trying to make changes, the whole weight cut ban was just a PR move, they don't enforce or enforce it very selectively. I don't so much have an issue with gym-promotion connections, tons have it, just don't go through tons of hoops to give fighters from those gyms advantages.

I dont know about that, but everyone was pissed at Daniel Cormier for supposedly cheating the scale in his Title fight. Didnt the guy who got beat up go to a local Singapore hospital? I recall another foreign fighter saying how great they treated him when he needed to go to a hospital. There was also a fighter who got treatment while not even having his bout. Theses things I saw posted in Reddit by the fighters or some other forum.

I mean realistically there are lots of things promoters/orgs do that can be scrutinized. I just want to see more fights and less drama.

 

[Jake the Muss]

Did they recently just raise 100 million or have they raised 100 million since the creation of the organization 2011? I'm not saying this isn't big news because Sequoia Capital is a big name (after googling), but it is misleading like typical ONE Championship stuff.

They have raised $100 million from Sequoia Capital and Mission Holdings in a Series C round.

https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/one-championship#/entity

 

[Asurah]

I dont know about that, but everyone was pissed at Daniel Cormier for supposedly cheating the scale in his Title fight. Didnt the guy who got beat up go to a local Singapore hospital? I recall another foreign fighter saying how great they treated him when he needed to go to a hospital. There was also a fighter who got treatment while not even having his bout. Theses things I saw posted in Reddit by the fighters or some other forum.

I mean realistically there are lots of things promoters/orgs do that can be scrutinized. I just want to see more fights and less drama.

I'm with you on wanting less drama but I also want to see fighters treated properly and for ONE to at least address and try to fix their shortcomings rather than just sweeping it all under the rug with a few paid for articles. That goes for all promotions.

 

[kingcillo24]

Franklin's okay.

I have no idea what Franklin does for the promotion besides a Chuck Liddell UFC role. He isn't on their website under the About Us section.

 

[UhHuhSure]

I have no idea what Franklin does for the promotion besides a Chuck Liddell UFC role. He isn't on their website under the About Us section.

I wonder too. He occasionally commentates but not the main commentator who I wish they would replace.

 

[kingcillo24]

They have raised $100 million from Sequoia Capital and Mission Holdings in a Series C round.

https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/one-championship#/entity

https://www.mmafighting.com/2017/7/19/16000920/one-championship-announces-major-equity-investment

"ONE Championship announced a major equity investment.

Asia’s leading mixed martial arts promotion said Wednesday it reached an agreement with the Sequoia India and Mission Holdings group and others. While it did not release the specific number from this arrangement, the company said the deal brings the amount of capital raised over the company’s six-year history over the $100 million mark."

MMAFighting could be wrong and I've never used crunchbase

 

[Katsumi Yamada]

https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2015/10...t-hospital-amputation-fighter-safety-mma-news

They also made up this whole system that supposedly banned weight cutting just to get heat off of their back for a fighter dying on them. Their Strawweight champion, Angela Lee, consistently misses weight but ONE doesn't report that and allows her to keep her title. They usually bring in Atomweights for her so she's basically getting a 2 weight class advantage on most of her opponents. The list goes on and on.

Favoritism to where they let a champion miss weight, announce that she made weight, and keep their belt or get up to 7 tries to make weight? Fighter safety where they brag about letting that same fighter fight through pneumonia and taking all of those tries to make weight? They basically left a guy in a foreign country to fend for his own after being KO'd. ONE isn't trying to make changes, the whole weight cut ban was just a PR move, they don't enforce or enforce it very selectively. I don't so much have an issue with gym-promotion connections, tons have it, just don't go through tons of hoops to give fighters from those gyms advantages.

Can you post a source on Angela Lee failing to make weight for her fights? From what I understand about their weight class rules, you are allowed as many attempts to weigh in as you want, up until 3 hours before the event. The only hard rule is that you have to pass the hydration test in order to weigh in. I don't think there is anything shady about it.
This is why they normally have a couple of catchweight fights on each card.

 

[Katsumi Yamada]

Follow ONE, Angela Lee, and some of their other big stars on social media, and you'll see almost daily reposts of some new article talking about how awesome and great ONE is, and how they're taking over Asia. Forbes, CNN, etc. They all read the same.

I basically stalk Angela Lee's Instagram and never see that kind of stuff unless it directly involves her or her brother or her boyfriend, ONE fighter Bruno pucci

 

[leto1776]

I basically stalk Angela Lee's Instagram and never see that kind of stuff unless it directly involves her or her brother or her boyfriend, ONE fighter Bruno pucci

Even if they're only about her, they're still ONe fluff pieces.

 

[outlaw order]

https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2015/10...t-hospital-amputation-fighter-safety-mma-news

They also made up this whole system that supposedly banned weight cutting just to get heat off of their back for a fighter dying on them. Their Strawweight champion, Angela Lee, consistently misses weight but ONE doesn't report that and allows her to keep her title. They usually bring in Atomweights for her so she's basically getting a 2 weight class advantage on most of her opponents. The list goes on and on.

wow really...do they do that only with her or with all fighters? how can you take them serious if bush league shit like that is going on

 

[Katsumi Yamada]

Personally, regarding the Surabaya event cancellation, considering Javanese culture's pretty different from that of Jakarta (from what I understand) and the only thing on the card that was close to a local draw for the area was Stefer Rahardian, it makes sense they canceled the event. Ticket sales were probably horrible cuz' nobody in Surabaya wanted to watch a bunch of foreigners fight each other, no matter how awesome all of them are or how interesting the matchups were. It was like ONE's equivalent of why the UFC canceled their Philippines show last year; bad ticket sales. So they bailed cuz' it would've lost money (and been a waste of good fights that would've been draws anywhere else) if they went through with it.
Historically, ONE's really struggled in Indonesia cuz' they can't get any stars in the area-- they had Fransino Tirta, but he retired looks like, and now their biggest stars in the region are Vincent Latoel and Anthony Engelen (I like the both of 'em, but the fact that they're the biggest Indonesian stars in MMA right now says a lot.) They even had to demote themselves from the Istora Senayan to the Jakarta Convention Center cuz' it was getting inefficient paying for that big arena when they couldn't fill it out; a half-filled-out 6,000-seat arena's better than a quarter-filled-out 12,000-seat arena.
It seems like they were trying something completely different by, instead of catering to the locals, trying to galvanize interest in a new-but-familiar region by stacking the event with a really interesting long-awaited title fight, a middleweight title-eliminator (rumored to be), a bantamweight fight that could not only put the winner on the contenders list for the division but featured the return of an EVOLVE star, a former boxing world champion, and two very high-level prospects (one of whom is Indonesian), and it backfired. It seems pretty alien that something like that wouldn't draw a crowd, but I think it shows just how different the sports entertainment sphere is in the whole region.
Or maybe there were some legitimate logistical problems that're so esoteric that you have to live in the area to know about it, but I think my scenario's more likely

I was at that half-full 6000 seat stadium and it was dead. I think most of the people there (myself included) got their tickets for free.

MMA in Indonesia is a non-starter anyway, and Surabaya people would be even less interested than Jakarta people.
(There were a lot of foreigners at the Jakarta show)

 

[potemkin723]

Hoax, $100 million and yet most of their events always gets cancelled?
Hoax

 

[potemkin723]

One Championship is a promising promotion mismanage by the wrong people.

If that $100 million is true, then why they can't hire a well known and talented fighters instead of those local wannabe throw away fighters there?

 

[leto1776]

Can you post a source on Angela Lee failing to make weight for her fights? From what I understand about their weight class rules, you are allowed as many attempts to weigh in as you want, up until 3 hours before the event. The only hard rule is that you have to pass the hydration test in order to weigh in. I don't think there is anything shady about it.
This is why they normally have a couple of catchweight fights on each card.

How many times do they do the hydration test?

 

[Katsumi Yamada]

How many times do they do the hydration test?

Not sure. All i know is that if you fail you need to rehydrate until you can pass...and only then can you weigh in.

It's basically the weighing of piss so it's not difficult or time consuming to do.

 

[nhbfan8080]

I was at that half-full 6000 seat stadium and it was dead. I think most of the people there (myself included) got their tickets for free.

MMA in Indonesia is a non-starter anyway, and Surabaya people would be even less interested than Jakarta people.
(There were a lot of foreigners at the Jakarta show)

Could One FC be blamed for hospital problems (like the LePont incident) in bush league places. Its hard to put on a decent event when the infrastructure is bad.