ONE is pretty fucking fishy. Seven years in:
Masses of venture capital
The owner has a friend at Forbes who writes monthly puff pieces about the massive success of ONE
Ambitious plans to dominate Asian combat sports, penetrate Japan in 2019, hold 120 events per annum, etc etc.
Yet:
Makes huge financial losses
Actual revenue is minimal, and mostly related to 'barter transactions' rather than actual cash
Ticket sales are usually very shitty indeed, and most tickets are given away for free
Endless lies from the company about the size of their audience - makes Dana White appear honest
No TV broadcasting deals that are worth anything
The product is given away for free as the events are broadcast over an app or YouTube
The fights are often fun, but the fighters are largely anonymous and C-level in terms of talent
Recruits some major free agents - presumably the venture capital cash will be spent on their purses - but of limited box office appeal (DJ), or post-prime (Alvarez)
Expands into boxing, kickboxing and now e-sports with no obvious rationale for doing so
What the fuck is going on with ONE?! Paging
@FrankieNYC to break down the emerging war for Asian MMA between ONE and Rizin.