MMA (mixed martial arts) is one of the fastest growing sports in the world today. Many MMA promotions came out and starting to rise also like ONE Championship. One Championship or previously known as ONE Fighting Championship (ONE FC) is a very famous Singaporean-based MMA promotion in Asia. It was established by multimillionaire entrepreneur Chatri Sityodtong and former ESPN Star Sports senior executive Victor Cui on July 14, 2011. Their first event was held on September 3 2011 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. As of today, they already held more than 40 events with shows being held across the Asian continent.

Today, ONE Championship is Asia’s largest sports media property with a global broadcast to over one billion homes in 118 countries according to CNBC. Its popularity is increasing rapidly because of its partnership with FOX and Star Sports for an unprecedented 10-year cable television deal with a coverage that spans 70+ countries across the world. Some of the notable fighters of ONE Championship include Shinya Aoki, Bibiano Fernandes, Ben Askren, Roger Gracie, Brandon Vera, Jadamba Narantungalag and Jens Pulver.

All types of martial arts are allowed in ONE Championship as long as the fighter follows their rules. Asia is widely known as the birthplace of many famous martial arts that is why many fighters have their own unique style of fighting. Even if it is Karate, Muay Thai, Kung Fu, Silat, Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, Kali, Shuai Jiao and Aikido, these are all allowed in the competition.

Rules

ONE Championship™ uses the Global MMA Rule Set which blends a combination of Best Practices from Asian and Non-Asian Rules.

Bout Duration

Each bout will be 3 rounds x 5 minutes per round with a 1 minute break in between rounds.

Championship bouts will be 5 rounds x 5 minutes per round with a 1 minute break in between rounds.

Ways to Win

A victory is attained by one of the following ways:

• Knockout
• Submission
• Verbal tapout
• Technical knockout by referee stoppage
• Cornerman requests a stoppage
• Decision

Decision Wins

In the event that a bout goes the distance, it will go to a judges’ decision.The 3 judges will score the bout in its entirety, not round-by-round. Judges will utilize the ONE judging criteria in descending order of importance to determine the winner of the bout.

ONE Judging Criteria:

• Near KO or Submission
• Damage (Internal, Accumulated, Superficial)
• Striking combinations and cage generalship (Ground control, Superior positioning)
• Earned takedowns or takedown defense
• Aggression

TECHNIQUES

Standing Techniques

Standing:

1) Striking including kicks, knees, punches, forearm and elbow strikes to the head, body and legs are allowed. With exception to illegal targets including

• Groin
• Throat
• Trachea
• Back of head, neck or spine
• Small joint manipulation

2) Clinching and standing submissions

3) Takedowns:

• All takedowns are legal but must not result in spiking or pile driver to the head or neck

Grounded Techniques

A fighter is considered grounded when they have any part of their body other than the soles of their feet touching the ground

• Punches, elbows, kicks and knee strikes to the head, body and legs
• Submissions
• Kicks to the head, body and legs
• Up-kicks to the head, body and legs
• Stomps to the body and legs

Illegal Techniques:

• Stomps to the head
• Head Butting
• Hair Pulling
• Eye Gouging
• Orifice Insertion
• Spitting
• Grabbing onto the cage fence

(source: http://onefc.com/)

Weight Classes