By the Numbers: One Championship

This is ONE, The Home Of Martial Arts. #WeAreONE #MartialArts pic.twitter.com/cCwaqA9YKQ

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) April 8, 2019

Four world title fights, four world grand prix bouts, eight former or current titleholders on the same card -- One Championship’s inaugural event in Japan held on March 31 of this year is proof of how far the organization has come. As they gear towards a more progressive future, let’s look back at some of the numbers that have defined the Asian promotion.

8: Years in existence. The promotion was launched on July 14, 2011 as One FC by Thai-Japanese businessman and martial artist Chatri Sityodtong along with former ESPN Star Sports senior executive Victor Cui.

7: Years since One Championship held its first female fight. On March 31, 2012, Nicole Chua tapped out Jeet Toshi at the Singapore Indoor Arena in the event titled One FC “War of the Lions.”

130: World champions on its roster. According to the One Championship website, the promotion has around 130 fighters who are world champions in various combat sports, the highest density in any organization. Their most recent event in Japan in March saw a total of 22 world champions in action.

41,900,000: Viewers from around the world tuned in to that historic first event on Japanese soil dubbed One Championship - A New Era. That’s according to a report released by Nielsen. One Championship Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong said their initial target was 50 million viewers. While they didn’t hit that mark, they were happy with the turnout and thankful to the viewers. Still, according to Sityodtong, the organization’s three-year goal is to reach around 100 million viewers per event.

19: Countries represented, and this was just on their Japan card. These countries include the Philippines, Singapore, Japan, Thailand, South Korea, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Brazil, Russia, Kazakhstan, Australia, France, Italy, the Netherlands, India, Cyprus and the United States.

136: Countries wherein One Championship can be seen. It is currently on a 10-year broadcast deal with Fox Sports Asia. Announced on Jan. 30, 2012 in a press conference, the partnership is considered the largest MMA media deal in Asian history.

12,000: Seating capacity of the Singapore Indoor Stadium, venue of the very first One Championship event on Sept. 3, 2011. The show dubbed One FC “Champion vs. Champion” featured the Philippines’ Eduard Folayang and South Korea’s A Sol Kwon in the main event. It also included the likes of Phil Baroni, Yoshiyuki Yoshida and Gregor Gracie.

4: Years since the promotion was renamed to One Championship (from One FC). The announcement was made by CEO International Victor Cui on Jan. 13, 2015, who stated the rebranding was largely due to cultural and linguistic reasons.

3: Former UFC fighters who jumped to One Championship in 2018, and these were Demetrious Johnson, Eddie Alvarez and Sage Northcutt. Johnson was part of the groundbreaking trade that involved Ben Askren moving to the UFC, while Alvarez and Northcutt were both signed as free agents.