ONE If ONE does fold... Where will the MT/KB roster go to?

[Tayski]

Frankly I feel that if TKO wants to be the home of Combat Sports they should get a MT, KB and bare knuckle added. They got boxing & BJJ as Dana claims to love those sports but says he has no interest in MT/KB. So they need someone like Chatri no matter how caustic he is.

I see UFC announced they will start holding events in Qatar. Sorry Chatri....
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For sure they will never do KB just because of its history in the US and its lack of interest overall there, even Dana White has 0 interest for it and that's with people close to him like Joe Rogan really trying hard to convince him to do it. The talent pool is also a lot smaller these days compared to even just 10 years ago.

However Muay Thai in MMA gloves would make a lot of sense because it's very high entertainement (especially for fans who are used to fights in MMA gloves and just want to watch striking) and also because the art is a lot more respected in MMA circles. It would also help them get even more traction in the Asian markets.

Bare knuckle boxing maybe, but I think with their big focus on boxing it feels like a lesser product with a lot less talent and top athletes. It's mostly just retired boxers and mma fighters who do bare knuckle boxing. They've already damaged their reputation with power slap, and that would make it even more of a circus.

 

[IanEdwards]

And they hand out those bonusses pretty much for all finishes and impressive performances, while even the UFC doesn't do that.

they have been much less generous in handing bonuses out without a KO in the last few months, was the first time i wondered if the money was getting tight, i recall seeing some crazy 3rd wars that would be nailed on bonuses in OFF's first year but they didn't get one

 

[IanEdwards]

PS love your avatar, reminds me to go on youtube and watch me some Buakaw tonight, prob the greatest kick-fighter i have ever seen

 

[Ara tech]

One made some big fights happen, in both kickboxing and muay-thai, they accomplished a lot.

What could make One sink is it's MMA rosters, because One is very profitable in Thailand with Muay-Thai bouts and kickboxing as well, Japan is also a semi profitable land that they have conquered, despite having fierce competition (Rizin, K1, Rise)

It is their MMA roster who they struggle to afford, by lack of resources, it is an inactivity trap for most fighters, one fight per year or two, if one or two, sometimes it's one fight every two years.

Those who said that One will meet it's end, that One will collapse soon, we've heard those words since 2017, and yet One always managed to survive. They just failed to conquer the US market, and profitability only exist in Thailand and Japan. The video-game was also a huge flop.

With or without One, Kickboxing is a dying sport and that do not help. Muay-Thai will remain but won't develop more. MMA is the only sport that will really peak like never before.

If you were the manager of fighters, you would not want them to make a career in Kickboxing or Muay-Thai, Muay-Thai above 77KG is not competitive at all, and Kickboxing is a dying sport, with no bright future. Only MMA is the sport of tomorrow.

 

[Tayski]

PS love your avatar, reminds me to go on youtube and watch me some Buakaw tonight, prob the greatest kick-fighter i have ever seen

Vintage Buakaw during his first few K-1 tournaments was just something else. I instantly became a fan of his style and it's pretty much him that got me into Muay Thai. His performances in K-1 were next level impressive, and even his training footage back when he was a Pro Pramuk and even after when he opened his own gym was also really inspiring.

If you don't know what to watch, I'd recommend watching his fights from the 2004, 2005 and 2006 K-1 Max tournaments in chronological order. His 2004 run in particular was mind blowing, he went through most of his opponents like they were nothing and they were big names.

Here's a solid highlight video also:

 

[Ara tech]

It is more Kickboxing who needs One, than One who needs Kickboxing.

 

[Iactus Inferus]

It is more Kickboxing who needs One, than One who needs Kickboxing.

Brother ONE barely hosts Kickboxing fights and has a tiny Kickboxing roster. The majority of the Kickboxing talent is in GLORY, RISE, K-1, and to a lesser degree, Wu Lin Feng. ONE has made a huge impact in the Muay Thai industry, but outside of some marquee Kickboxing fights they've managed to put on, they've done little to change the landscape of Kickboxing. I guess they stalled out the careers of some top level talent, so that counts for something. Kickboxing would likely be in a better state had ONE stuck with Muay Thai and MMA (that's the main reason most of their fans consume their product anyway).

Literally just look at some rankings, here's one and another. You say stuff like this over and over on this forum and I'll keep calling it out.

 

[Ara tech]

Brother ONE barely hosts Kickboxing fights and has a tiny Kickboxing roster. The majority of the Kickboxing talent is in GLORY, RISE, K-1, and to a lesser degree, Wu Lin Feng. ONE has made a huge impact in the Muay Thai industry, but outside of some marquee Kickboxing fights they've managed to put on, they've done little to change the landscape of Kickboxing. I guess they stalled out the careers of some top level talent, so that counts for something. Kickboxing would likely be in a better state had ONE stuck with Muay Thai and MMA (that's the main reason most of their fans consume their product anyway).

Literally just look at some rankings, here's one and another. You say stuff like this over and over on this forum and I'll keep calling it out.

One is investing on MMA, Muay-Thai, BJJ, did a boxing bout once and never did it twice, and also Kickboxing.

To make a new old K-1 era ? One could have done that ? Not sure, Kickboxing is simply not very profitable in terms of audience. Boxing and MMA are just making Kickboxing shadows.

Glory is supposed the leader of kickboxing, it has given up all of it's lower weightclasses, current K-1 is underpaying it's athletes apparently and has problem with very restrictive contracts.

I'm a big fan of Kickboxing, the only thing that could have changed faces would have been to make it an olympic sport.

Bring kickboxing rules, muay-thai rules, sanda rules, karate rules, and make an hybrid kickboxing olympic sports with 3x3 rounds, and 3x5 rounds for medals rounds. Instead, the olympic is thinking of adding stupid useless sports, like the lesbians swimming dancers.

They are not thinking of making kickboxing an olympic sport, but some are showing a desire for it, see here. I really hope it will be an olympic sport.

What is needed to save kickboxing, is not the american cold war ruleset, with no low kicks and no calve kicks, only kicks above the waist, we need a modern versatile rulesets were all styles could express themselvesin, such as Sanda and Muay-Thai but also Lethwei. Almost all countries on earth will make national kickboxing teams to get gold, 2 3 billions audiences, gyms will receive national supports and money from national investors, it is the only thing who can save kickboxing, to make it an olympic sport.

 

[Mickf]

One made some big fights happen, in both kickboxing and muay-thai, they accomplished a lot.

What could make One sink is it's MMA rosters, because One is very profitable in Thailand with Muay-Thai bouts and kickboxing as well, Japan is also a semi profitable land that they have conquered, despite having fierce competition (Rizin, K1, Rise)

It is their MMA roster who they struggle to afford, by lack of resources, it is an inactivity trap for most fighters, one fight per year or two, if one or two, sometimes it's one fight every two years.

Those who said that One will meet it's end, that One will collapse soon, we've heard those words since 2017, and yet One always managed to survive. They just failed to conquer the US market, and profitability only exist in Thailand and Japan. The video-game was also a huge flop.

With or without One, Kickboxing is a dying sport and that do not help. Muay-Thai will remain but won't develop more. MMA is the only sport that will really peak like never before.

If you were the manager of fighters, you would not want them to make a career in Kickboxing or Muay-Thai, Muay-Thai above 77KG is not competitive at all, and Kickboxing is a dying sport, with no bright future. Only MMA is the sport of tomorrow.

MMA growth has already peaked. Its at a plateau stage at the moment. Still very popular but doesn't have the buzz it had a few years ago. I actually think mma is as big now as it is ever gonna get.

 

[DastardlyMass]

Something tells me that if ONE goes under and all the guys like Rodtang and Superlek were contractually free Dana White would start the UFC MT league like he just did for bjj

 

[David Street]

Chatri has been posting that it is a giant smear campaign and he is strong with Amazon, "Some have falsely claimed that ONE’s Amazon Prime Video deal ends this year, when it actually runs through mid-2027."

MMA growth has already peaked. Its at a plateau stage at the moment. Still very popular but doesn't have the buzz it had a few years ago. I actually think mma is as big now as it is ever gonna get.

Not even begun. Many dis-tractors are saying UFC is dead or dying or peaked. But that is not what I am seeing. The UFC is finally getting women fans, families are finally starting to get it and get involved. Now we are in the period of absorbing into the culture in USA. Mexico a fighting culture is starting to notice. Can you imagine TKO hired a agent to deal with governments UFC has become like its own country. Countries are shilling out millions to have events there... MMA on a whole is stagnating like the fly weight division did when Mighty Mouse was champ it couldn't move as such a dominant champ. But UFC is growing in leaps and bounds and no one else can.

 

[IanEdwards]

Vintage Buakaw during his first few K-1 tournaments was just something else. I instantly became a fan of his style and it's pretty much him that got me into Muay Thai. His performances in K-1 were next level impressive, and even his training footage back when he was a Pro Pramuk and even after when he opened his own gym was also really inspiring.

If you don't know what to watch, I'd recommend watching his fights from the 2004, 2005 and 2006 K-1 Max tournaments in chronological order. His 2004 run in particular was mind blowing, he went through most of his opponents like they were nothing and they were big names.

Here's a solid highlight video also:

yeah i've seen a lot of it before cheers, I got into kick-fighting initially having seen Petrosyan on Bellator Kickboxing (lol), realising Petrosyan was a little bit special and going down the rabbit hole on his career and obviously into Buakaw too, then realising Petrosyan was in One and here I am. thanks you Bellator Kickboxing (not a phrase you will hear very often haha)

 

[Shadess]

What could make One sink is it's MMA rosters, because One is very profitable in Thailand with Muay-Thai bouts and kickboxing as well, Japan is also a semi profitable land that they have conquered, despite having fierce competition (Rizin, K1, Rise)

Glory is supposed the leader of kickboxing, it has given up all of it's lower weightclasses, current K-1 is underpaying it's athletes apparently and has problem with very restrictive contracts.

ONE is not profitable in Thailand, nor anywhere else. They run entirely on investor money. Chatri so far has been good at getting topped up every couple years or so.

Plenty of fighters get paid peanuts in ONE as well and their contracts aren't much better, if at all. Many fighters have complained about ONE over the years.

Glory probably does more FW fights than ONE does HW? Not sure about the dig at Glory here.

 

[CaptainRomania]

Kickboxing is stagnant but doing fine. There's lots of talent around.

 

[David Street]

Kickboxing is stagnant but doing fine. There's lots of talent around.

Kickboxing is growing, not in the promotions form though.

"While kickboxing was once something of a fringe workout and martial art that not all that many people got into, we've seen it becoming more mainstream in recent years." -google AI

-With the right promotion I see it making a major comeback in combat sports too. The people's knowledge of KB & MT is growing and the fans are there, just waiting for the right platform that will represent them.

-Getting more and more people involved, when I was young if anyone kicked another in a fight we would have laughed at them as a girlish move. Now KB has got acceptance and become a part of the fight scenery.

 

[David Street]

ONE is not profitable in Thailand, nor anywhere else. They run entirely on investor money. Chatri so far has been good at getting topped up every couple years or so.

Plenty of fighters get paid peanuts in ONE as well and their contracts aren't much better, if at all. Many fighters have complained about ONE over the years.

Glory probably does more FW fights than ONE does HW? Not sure about the dig at Glory here.

If we looked at ONE only in Thailand it would be doing okay, but their past of trying to compete with UFC has cost them big time.

 

[David Street]

Something tells me that if ONE goes under and all the guys like Rodtang and Superlek were contractually free Dana White would start the UFC MT league like he just did for bjj

UFC Fight-Pass Invitational is no longer needed for BJJ as now have UFC BJJ. They should let Joe Rogen use the platform to test his belief in MMA gloves in MT.

 

[SuperLuigi]

Kickboxing is growing, not in the promotions form though.

"While kickboxing was once something of a fringe workout and martial art that not all that many people got into, we've seen it becoming more mainstream in recent years." -google AI

-With the right promotion I see it making a major comeback in combat sports too. The people's knowledge of KB & MT is growing and the fans are there, just waiting for the right platform that will represent them.

-Getting more and more people involved, when I was young if anyone kicked another in a fight we would have laughed at them as a girlish move. Now KB has got acceptance and become a part of the fight scenery.

AI is still pretty dumb and Gemini is among the worst. Check google trends - all fight sports have been declining in popularity since about 2013. The one exception is that Muay Thai has grown slightly more popular in Brazil and UK.

 

[David Street]

AI is still pretty dumb and Gemini is among the worst. Check google trends - all fight sports have been declining in popularity since about 2013. The one exception is that Muay Thai has grown slightly more popular in Brazil and UK.

"Fight Sports" is the key there. KB is growing, just not as a sport.

 

[Monk]

Glory. Iska or K1 for kickboxing are the obvious answers and Muay Thai has so many options in terms of organisations with good public exposure and increasing audiences and competitive wages so the sports themselves will remain solid..