Further details regarding ONE Championship’s plans for its 2024
schedule have come to light.
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In an interview with the
South China Morning Post, ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong revealed
that the Singapore organization will return its focus to mixed
martial arts following a 2023 that saw a heavy emphasis on muay
thai and other combat sports.
“You’re going to see MMA back in full force,” Sityodtong said. “We
have our U.S. stadium shows, we have Qatar, Japan. In the
Philippines we have one or two shows.
“ONE Friday Fights and the muay thai product are very much on a
firm footing now. We’ve laid the groundwork and feel very
comfortable it’s running on autopilot, and now we’re able to scale
up. We’ve firmly established we have the No. 1 striking property on
the planet. The focus will be sharply back onto mixed martial
arts.”
If all goes as planned, ONE will have a busy itinerary in the
coming year. Sityodtong revealed that Christian
Lee will return to action for a title defense in February,
while strawweight (125-pound) champ Jarred
Brooks will face Joshua
Pacio in a rematch early in 2024. Other championship bouts are
expected to be announced in the near future.
“The event calendar for next year is going to come out early next
week. We will be announcing north of 60 events. When you add
everything we are doing in the coming months, maybe 70, maybe
more.
“We have a bunch of others in the works. We are going back to key
markets. I’m very excited for the announcement. The next chapter of
2024 is going to be a record high number of events for us across
all different martial arts, around the world in different
locations. I think that will get fans and athletes super pumped.
I’d rather not comment too early right now.”
While Sityodtong
previously confirmed the promotion’s plans to hold events in
the U.S., Japan and Qatar in the coming year in an interview on
CNBC, the ONE CEO is also optimistic about breaking new ground in
Europe in the near future.
“Yeah, knock on wood, I think in the next couple of weeks I will be
making a major announcement for Europe, our biggest for Europe in
our history.” he told the Post. “It’s very exciting.”