"It was everything I thought it would be" - Chatri Sityodtong on the success of ONE X

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ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong (center) was extremely satisfied with how ONE X turned out. [Images courtesy of ONE Championship]

It's fair to say that ONE Championship's biggest event ever, ONE X, more than lived up to the hype. The 20-bout card that served as the 10-year anniversary event of the promotion had fights and awesome moments that we will not forget for a long time. When ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong said that it might become one of the best, if not the best, martial arts events in history, he was not far off the mark.

In the post-event media scrum, the ONE boss expressed his thoughts on the event:

"Man, it was magnificent. It was everything I thought it would be. The co-main and main just blew the stadium away. Just blew the whole world, really, you know? It was insane. So much fun."

The co-main and main events indeed blew everybody away. The title fight between Angela Lee and Stamp Fairtex was a see-saw battle that ended in high drama. Lee had to fend off a knockout scare early on to rally and score the submission win.

For the co-main event, the experimental mixed-rules match between ONE flyweight Muay Thai champion Rodtang Jitmuangnon and Demetrious Johnson delivered in spades. 'DJ' surprisingly held his own against the champion in the Muay Thai round while Rodtang put in a valiant effort to survive the MMA round.

With 10 finishes and heaps of action, ONE X will truly go down in history as one of the best martial arts events ever.

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"We’re definitely going to do more special-rules superfights" - Chatri Sityodtong after seeing ONE X co-main event

Speaking of the mixed-rules co-main event, Sityodtong expressed his interest in doing more of such fights. He finds the concept interesting and something that could generate memorable spots. In the media scrum, the ONE CEO stated:

"You know, one thing I realized, we’re definitely going to do more special-rules superfights. Definitely. It’s just so interesting, you know? So I think you’re going to see more of those in the future."

When asked who he thinks should partake in future mixed-rules bouts, Sityodtong said:

"I literally said to [ONE VP] Matt Hume, ‘Bro, get a creative session together. Let’s all do this. Pick our brains. Anybody in the roster. Any crazy ideas, any wacky things we can do. To give the fans something, a special treat that no one else can do in the world.’ So yeah, we’re going to put our heads together next week."

Thanks to ONE X, it looks like we're going to see more hybrid-rules superfights between athletes of different disciplines. It harkens back to the early days of MMA. However, the ideas of combat and techniques have largely evolved. One thing is certain. We can't wait to see more.

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