5 most significant moments in ONE Championship's 10-year history
In just 10 short years, ONE Championship has grown from a fledgling MMA promotion to a massive powerhouse in the world of martial arts. With almost every promotion in the past 20 years following the blueprint set by the UFC, ONE managed to escape their influential shadow.
ONE Championship has effectively separated itself from all the other fight leagues today simply because they approached the business with a sense of purity. The Asian promotion chose to build its philosophical foundations on the martial arts spirit and nothing else.
While western organizations use their fighters as marketing machines to fuel hype through trash-talk, bad blood and drama, ONE takes a different route. They see their fighters as heroes that exemplify the the values of humility, integrity, courage, honor, respect, discipline and compassion.
bit.ly/WatchLOBibiano Fernandes faces off against John Lineker while Martin Nguyen fights Kirill Gorobets THIS FRIDAY! #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship
#ONELightsOut | 11 March | How To Watch π bit.ly/WatchLO https://t.co/r4t3ciItK5
When you take pre-fight drama and trash talk off the table, fighters will rely on their skills and character alone to generate viewership. This is one of the reasons why ONE became such a global hit. Fans love their fights because they are contested purely out of competitive spirit and guided by a strict code of honor.
Prizefighters are not just prizefighters. They are warriors in the purest sense of the word. ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong, speaking at a post-fight press conference, said it best:
βFor me, this is the beginning of a new era for martial arts globally...The fights were unbelievable, high-level, the worldβs best at it, the storiesβ¦ but most importantly, as you saw our heroes, the values of humility, integrity, honour, respect, courage, discipline and compassion. These are the values I believe are going to resonate all over the world. We live in a time unfortunately of a lot of negative energy, a lot of divisiveness. And I want to use ONE Championship the platform. We have a hashtag, #WeAreONE, because we want to unite the world.β
Now that they are marking their first decade with their 10th-year anniversary event, ONE X, we look at ONE's storied history and how they got here.
We rank the significant moments that made ONE not just the official home of martial arts today, but also a significant entity in the business of professional fighting.
Of course, there are countless significant moments in the Asian promotion's history. Today, however, we boil them down to just five.
#5. ONE Championship atomweight phenom Angela Lee became the youngest MMA world champion ever
On May 6, 2016, at just 19 years old, 'Unstoppable' Angela Lee made history by beating MMA veteran Mei Yamaguchi for the inaugural ONE atomweight belt.
Not only did Lee eclipse the UFC's Jon 'Bones' Jones' record, she also did it in one of the greatest fights in women's MMA history. It was a landmark achievement not just for the Canadian-American prodigy, but for ONE Championship as well.
Fun fact about this historic fight: it had the most submission attempts in any high-profile title fight ever. This see-saw battle between two talented grapplers had so many moments where we thought the fight would end but it didn't.
Once the final bell rang, everyone in the arena and at home knew that the fight transcended the win-loss column. Nobody cared who won or lost. What Lee and Yamaguchi accomplished that night was beyond wins, losses or even title belts.
The two pioneers have written history and effectively, and resoundingly, put ONE Championship on the high table of MMA promotions.
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The first fight between Angela Lee and Mei Yamaguchi was RECORD-BREAKING! @angelaleemma @v_vmei #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship https://t.co/hNbemis9gi