ONE Championship: CEO Chatri Sityodtong says plan this year is international expansion, showcasing other combat sports
- This year will see more events away from Thailand’s Lumpinee, and numbered nights featuring sports other than Muay Thai
- This comes after a year of focusing on ONE Lumpinee, which has become ‘the most watched show in the history of the country’
Anyone following the ONE Championship closely will notice that the 2024 calendar already looks very different from last year’s: the numbered events are back and the schedule has a much more international feel.
Chatri Sityodtong says this is a deliberate policy.
As ONE 167 at Impact Arena in Bangkok looms closer, he told the Post that the focus this year was moving away from Muay Thai towards the other combat sports, and moving away from Lumpinee Stadium.
If 2023 was the year in which ONE Championship became synonymous with Thailand’s historic Stadium, then 2024 looks set to be notable for an international expansion.
“I think of it as chapters in a book. Last year was the chapter of making sure we had the world’s greatest striking product at Lumpinee and we did that. We delivered numbers not just in Thailand but all over the world.”
ONE 165 took place in Tokyo in January, and the promotion then headed to Qatar for the first time with ONE 166 in March. Besides the different locations, Chatri says these numbered events are an opportunity to showcase fighters from across the combat sport spectrum.