ONE Championship Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong Sityodtong proposed a cross-promotional superfight between ONE Championship Strawweight World Champion Angela Lee and UFC counterpart Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
Both fighters are unbeaten. The 20-year-old Lee holds an 8-0 record with all her fights, except for one lopsided decision, ending in a spectacular finish. The 29-year-old Jedrzejczyk holds a 14-0 mark.
That fight however may never happen. The UFC, in a statement made through its Senior Vice President of International and Content Joe Carr, claimed that despite Lee’s obvious talent, she is not on the level of current UFC strawweights.
The UFC response dismayed Sityodtong who hoped that a fight between the two would show why ONE Championship is favored by Asian viewers.
“I am disappointed by the western arrogance displayed by the UFC, especially as guests in our home of Asia. The theme of foreigners coming here and bashing Asians is not a new one,” said Sityodtong. “If they (UFC) really believe they are the best then they should have no issues accepting our humble invitation of our world champion versus their world champion.”
Lee has emerged as one of Asia’s biggest MMA stars and has had a tremendous impact on the Asian market.
Lee on her own could sell out an entire arena, and she isn’t alone in ONE Championship which has a large roster of top marketable talents like welterweight Ben Askren and Filipino superstar Eduard Folayang, among others.
“The reality is our product resonates with Asia because of our values and our celebration of true martial arts. Those values of humility, courage, discipline and honor. What the UFC does doesn’t resonate in Asia.”
ONE has held at least one event every month in a major city in Asia, while the UFC has held just the one in Singapore in the past couple of years. UFC Manila was scheduled for 2016 but had to be canceled at the last minute when headliner BJ Penn was injured.
Sityodtong believes it is because ONE’s overall end product differs vastly from that which the UFC offers.
“Metrics indicate that ONE Championship is at least five to 10 times larger than UFC is in Asia, depending on the country,” said Sityodtong.
And it isn’t merely claims from top brass at ONE that shows the promotion’s dominance in the region. Social media and TV statistics also back the company’s sentiments. A recent look into the social media and TV numbers of ONE Championship last month showed an incredible spike in viewership and audience engagement over the past year alone.
ONE’s show in Manila last April – which headlined Folayang and a host of popular fighters from Team Lakay in Baguio – became the highest-grossing ONE Championship event of all-time and instantly the most watched combat sports event in Asia based on real-world numbers. Ratings even beat out UFC’s pay-per-view extravaganza between its most marketable star in Conor McGregor who took on then UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez.
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