ONE Status of ONE?????

[Lionheart7167]

Just curious what's up with ONE these days?
I haven't heard anything in awhile.

A brief search on the fight finder shows that they still hold regular shows and they've all been in the same stadium in Thailand for the last few years.....

My question is what happened?

For awhile I would see their cards on Amazon Prime. They had some great, world class fighters like DJ, Askren, and Fernandes, and seemed to be planting fight cards all over Asia, expanding with global appeal.
Now it seems like the're a strictly Thai product and you never heard about them anymore.

Anyone know what happened?

 

[Kung Fu Kowboy]

According to Google AI

Key Issues Facing ONE Championship:

• Financial Losses:
  Accumulated deficits exceed $530 million, with record losses in 2023, straining finances despite increasing revenue, as spending consistently outpaces earnings.
• • Strategic Shift:
    A noticeable pivot from high-cost MMA to cheaper Muay Thai and kickboxing to manage expenses, leading to fewer MMA title defenses and more events on Friday Fights.
  • Talent & Controversy:
    Reports of poor fighter pay, last-minute rule changes (like cornermen restrictions), and controversies over weight cuts have caused some fighters to leave.
  • Operational Changes:
    Staff layoffs occurred in late 2024 as part of efforts to reach profitability, and the parent company moved operations to the Cayman Islands.
  • US Market Struggles:
    While planning for two US live events in 2025, earlier US expansion faced hurdles, and some key US events have been moved to Bangkok.

 

[Doctor Grudge]

They acquired a lot of debt trying to be a pan-asian UFC, especially since they started a decade+ ago when MMA was even less popular there than now. There is a reason why some super rich guy or big content company doesn't just make their own UFC, it's very difficult and not profitable.

After many years they were continuing to lose a ton of money, so they pivoted to something more manageable and stable.

ONE pivoted by doing shows in Lumpinee stadium in Bangkok, where Muay Thai became the central focus. Muay Thai fighters are cheaper and it was also what made them a unique product in the first place. More importantly, them staying in one place allows them to build up legs (this is what Rizin did, which obviously was 'boring' for Sherdog people but now Rizin has a stable fanbase).

It seems like in the past year that ONE has been truly expanding into kickboxing, focusing a lot on Japanese fighters (usually pitting them against Chinese on the lower cards, and then Thais on higher cards). ONE still has aspirations of having a strong international presence, but it seems like they are expanding more slowly and calculated where as before they were gung-ho (they use to do things like have a show in Manila, then Kuala Lumpur, then China, then Singapore - a lot of markets that are either weak or not saturated).

 

[EndlessCritic]

Just curious what's up with ONE these days?
I haven't heard anything in awhile.

A brief search on the fight finder shows that they still hold regular shows and they've all been in the same stadium in Thailand for the last few years.....

My question is what happened?

For awhile I would see their cards on Amazon Prime. They had some great, world class fighters like DJ, Askren, and Fernandes, and seemed to be planting fight cards all over Asia, expanding with global appeal.
Now it seems like the're a strictly Thai product and you never heard about them anymore.

Anyone know what happened?

What do you mean what happened?

They have signed a ton of Japanese stars (ie: Nadaka), and a ton of world class grapplers (Ruotolo brothers, Crevar.)

 

[BroRogan]

Last Card was just this Friday. Also noticed it's available on YouTube again in my region. Amazon done with them?

Always liked some One bc of the mix of fights which is always fun but kinda lost the connection and didn't follow them that heavy in recent months.

 

[David R]

They say in 2026 this year they will do 72 events. They expect to make $200 million.

Their Amazon ends in 2027 for them they will do 12 shows for 2026. Thailand on channel 7 HD. Japan on AbemaTV, Singapore MediaCorp channel 5, Australia Seven Network, Sky Sports for UK and Ireland.

The Thai government after Chatri complained about no help have pledged support (before the muay Thai refused support as not use muay Thai gloves). What this support will mean not sure but publicly stated One is helping Muay Thai spread and will help them. Also Fairtex has pledged to help.

They hide their current amount of debt the last recorded was the end of 2023 where it was noted as at a loss of $530 million.

Still rely on investors. With all these broadcast deals and current low operating costs they are getting by. When and if these broadcasting deals go then they will be in trouble. As Muay Thai is their main focus and these broadcasters may want more mma...

 

[skylolow]

Just got off the phone with Chatri, next quarter they will be profitable and big things coming.

 

[skylolow]

They say in 2026 this year they will do 72 events. They expect to make $200 million.

Their Amazon ends in 2027 for them they will do 12 shows for 2026. Thailand on channel 7 HD. Japan on AbemaTV, Singapore MediaCorp channel 5, Australia Seven Network, Sky Sports for UK and Ireland.

The Thai government after Chatri complained about no help have pledged support (before the muay Thai refused support as not use muay Thai gloves). What this support will mean not sure but publicly stated One is helping Muay Thai spread and will help them. Also Fairtex has pledged to help.

They hide their current amount of debt the last recorded was the end of 2023 where it was noted as at a loss of $530 million.

Still rely on investors. With all these broadcast deals and current low operating costs they are getting by. When and if these broadcasting deals go then they will be in trouble. As Muay Thai is their main focus and these broadcasters may want more mma...

$530M in loses(if the trend they where going down continued it is probably pushing 700M now)........................from the outside looking in as I've said a hundred times on here.........how, where did it go, etc etc.

The product they have produced over the years. I'd be embarrassed if any of the events cost more than 1.5M to put on. The roster surely didn't blow through even 100M in the last 10 years or whatever.

Only thing I can think of is every dollar they raise they use most of it to payout previous investors. If you aren't profitable in 10+ years, how is anyone investing in this smoke and mirrors business?

 

[IanEdwards]

Last Card was just this Friday. Also noticed it's available on YouTube again in my region. Amazon done with them?

Always liked some One bc of the mix of fights which is always fun but kinda lost the connection and didn't follow them that heavy in recent months.

One Friday fights has always been available live on YouTube, in my country at least

 

[Tokoloko]

One Friday fights has always been available live on YouTube, in my country at least

Same here. Thats why i thought that they are doing pretty much good financially. Like they could 100% secure deal with some tv here if they tried...

 

[BroRogan]

One Friday fights has always been available live on YouTube, in my country at least

Yeah but not the Fight Nights which was the case before the Amazon Deal and last Friday was the first time this was available on YT again.

Usual Friday Fights were always free to watch. You are right.

 

[MrBean]

I've always imagined (speculation only) that they indeed pay off prior investors and this is a pyramid scheme.

 

[David Street]

Chatri has had many crazy plans he spent money on, I remember when his plan was to sell a shirt to everyone of One's billion fans and get rich. Actually the Gym Chain they started that his wife runs is doing well, she seems a better business person then him he is more the dreamer.

 

[Doctor Grudge]

$530M in loses(if the trend they where going down continued it is probably pushing 700M now)........................from the outside looking in as I've said a hundred times on here.........how, where did it go, etc etc.

The product they have produced over the years. I'd be embarrassed if any of the events cost more than 1.5M to put on. The roster surely didn't blow through even 100M in the last 10 years or whatever.

Only thing I can think of is every dollar they raise they use most of it to payout previous investors. If you aren't profitable in 10+ years, how is anyone investing in this smoke and mirrors business?

I'm not sure what you mean. ONE is a well produced show. Of course it is expensive to have a company as big and aggressive as ONE. Even making a local promotion is expensive.

You need licensing, promoters, camera people, audio specialists, merchandise, distribution (he might have had to pay to get into some markets networks), airfare for everyone involved in their shows, hotels for everyone involved in their shows, people who plan the logistics themselves need to be paid.

They were based in Singapore, just the salaries and insurance and office for all of that is a ton of money.

Have to pay someone to develop their app, their shitty video game, digital marketing, television ad space (when they started TV was more expensive and competitive).

Because ONE is a pan-Asian promotion it also means it is a multi-linguistic product. They need different versions of much of the things they have for every market they were in (which was like 5-6 all at once), compared to how KSW or Rizin started where they only need content in Japanese or Polish. ONE has to pay someone to make (at least some) content in Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Burmese (one of their biggest stars is Burmese, so they likely have to appeal to Myanmar diaspora), English, Malay, Tagalog etc.

They're doing all of this while making basically none of the money on their product since an MMA show in Manila, even if it did well, would generate hardly any revenue.

Even if Chatri was a more conservative spender, ONE is easily a 9 figure venture. It never had a shot of making money with its original goal. If they had started with one country in mind it could have became profitable relatively quickly, but then they likely wouldn't have raised the money that they did starting in Singapore.