ONE Championship to Hold 'Record Number of Events' in 2024, Return Focus to MMA

Further details regarding ONE Championship’s plans for its 2024 schedule have come to light.

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.”