Create a free account to unlock this article! Get Started Already a subscriber? Log In

Speaking earlier this week at the Sports Pro Brand Conference in London, England, ONE Championship CEO Victor Cui explained how he felt the Asian MMA brand differed from the UFC in the west.



Cui began by introducing ONE Championship and explaining that there are natural east versus west competitors in all industries.



“For those of you that don’t know, ONE Championship is Asia’s biggest sports media property,” Cui opened with. “We broadcast to 1 billion viewers all over the world, in over 118 countries and we have over 20 events across the region.



“If you look at any industry, it doesn’t matter if it’s telco, mobile, automobiles, there’s always a natural duopoly between the west and the east. Apple—Samsung, Amazon—Alibaba, Ford—Kia, YouTube—Youku, Twitter—Weibo, the list goes on and on—east vs west. It’s no different in sports.”



Cui then went onto explain how the same paradigm exists in the world of MMA, with the UFC representative of the west and ONE the east. The comparison he made between the two wasn’t exactly overly complimentary in regards to the UFC.



“You got our competitor, the biggest in the west—UFC, and then you have us the biggest in the east,” Cui explained. “Now in the west, the sport has been portrayed very differently. It really is about machismo, it’s about disrespect, it’s about ‘I’m going to get in your face and throw a water bottle at you’, and trash talking. Those are all strong things for the sport in the west.



“You have to remember that in the east, we live, breathe and understand martial arts—it’s at our core and the essence of what we are. It’s the only sport in Asia which is truly Asian. Every other sport in the world we’ve had to import. We imported NFL, we imported EPL, we imported tennis, basketball—every single sport we’ve imported in to Asia, except for martial arts.



“All the greatest heroes in Asia are martial artists—Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee. The values of martial arts represent the values of our society. Respect, honor, hard work, humility, dedication, family, loyalty and martial arts has never in Asia enjoyed the multi-million-dollar marketing campaigns that every other sport has done—F1 when they come to town, EPL or WTA, yet the sport continues to flourish as it represents the values of Asia.”



Cui then explained how this impacted the naming of the company when the business had matured.



“When I first started the company five years ago, every organization in the world had the name ‘fighting’ in it so it was just what I did. But as the sport and the company matured, today our sponsors are Disney, Marvel, L’Oréal, Casio, Cannon. We launch every Marvel action movie in Asia, The Avengers, Thor, Captain America.



“So our brand and what we represent is very little about fighting. Yes, it’s a combat sport—two people they come in and they battle and challenge themselves to the highest level of competition. But really, they come in there and they represent their country and they represent their culture and their roots.”