For those who haven't heard of ONE FC; its a brand new (deep pocketed) MMA promotion based out of Singapore. Branded as
"Champion vs Champion - Asia's greatest battle of champions"
The first event is being held on 3rd September in Singapore national indoor stadium (12,000 seater).
Some big names such as Cris Cyborg and Shinya Aoki have been linked to the promotion. The fighters currently signed to the huge roster are:
-6x Muay Thai World Champion, Anuwat Kaewsamrit (Thailand)
-Wushu and MCFC Champion, Eduard Folayang (Philippines)
-Sanda World Champion, Bao Li Gao (China)
-Spirit MC Champion, Kwang Hee Lee (Korea)
-6x Muay Thai World Champion, Namsaknoi Yudthagarngamtorn (Thailand)
-Total Combat FC Champion, Eddie Ng (Hong Kong)
-Malaysia Champion and XFC Champion, Adam Kayoom (Malaysia)
-Sanda World Champion, Zhao Zhi Long (China)
-BJJ World Champion, Zorobabel Moreira (Brazil/Singapore)
-URCC FC Champion, Kevin Bellingon (Philippines)
-WBA Boxing World Champion, Yodsanan Sityodtong (Thailand)
-Muay Thai World Champion and K1 Veteran, Ole Laursen (Philippines)
-Risingon FC Champion, Soo Chul Kim (Korea)
-2x MCFC Champion, Mitch Chilson (USA/Singapore)
-BJJ World Champion and MCFC Champion, Leandro Issa (Brazil/Singapore)
-URCC FC Champion, Eric Kelly (Philippines)
-5x Muay Thai World Champion Orono Wor Petchpun (Thailand)
-Sanda World Champion, Ba Teer (China)
-Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Champion, Gregor Gracie (Brazil)
-Muay Thai World Champion, Yoddecha Sityodtong (Thailand)
-Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Champion, Rolles Gracie (Brazil)
-Afghanistan Champion and MCFC Champion, Malik Arash Malawyi (Afghanistan)
-Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Champion, Igor Gracie (Brazil)
- The brand will be aired on ESPN STAR throughout Asia in some 500 million homes.
- The organization has also planned a reality series entitled, ONELife. The other two events are the ONE National Qualifier Series and of course, One Fighting Championship.
- The organization plans to bring their fights into every major city in Asia, something that no one has done before.
- Bas Rutten is commentating
- They will be using unified rules
- OneFC is very well funded. Their pockets are deep. They are believed to be funded by a syndicate of businessmen from the Middle East.
- The owner's name is Victor Cui. He worked for ESPN Star Sports for quite some time and more or less single handedly set up Martial Combat. His contacts in the sports broadcasting world run deep, and the respect for Mr. Cui runs high. With this, the sponsors he has lined up and the financial muscle behind him is rather impressive. His experience organizing non-MMA events with very much success is great. Heard of the X-Games? He has been involved in such.
- OneFC is looking to sign top fighters from Asia. Amongst these top fighters, One Fighting Championship will be featuring fighters from the highly touted Evolve Mixed Martial Arts in Singapore. Evolve MMA is a cutting edge facility, one of the best in the world. It is run by Chatri Sityodtong.
- The organizers believe JMMA shows are aimed only at the Japanese market. This creates a huge gap in the Asian market.
- according to Middleasy "Expect a lot of your favorite Japanese fighters to make the transition to this new organization. "
they are having a press conference in about 4 hours. i will update this thread with the announcements once i get over the fact that orono wor petchpun, anuwat and namsaknoi will be fighting mma.
some links:
https://www.facebook.com/ONEFCMMA
dedicated mma-japan.com section with all the articles
http://mma-japan.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=50&Itemid=94
http://twitter.com/#!/ONEFCMMA
good bloodyelbow article
http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2011/7/5/2257770/one-fc-has-the-potential-to-be-the-top-mma-promotion-in-asia