‘ONE 161: Moraes vs. Johnson II’ airs live in North American primetime on Friday, August 26.
LAS VEGAS – Singapore-based martial arts organization ONE Championship has its sights set on the North American audience, and the promotion has landed a major streaming deal to aid that effort.
On August 26, “ONE 161: Moraes vs. Johnson II” will air live in primetime in the US and Canada on Amazon Prime Video as part of a multi-year deal with the streaming giant. Reigning ONE flyweight champion Adriano Moraes faces former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson in a highly anticipated rematch in the night’s main event.
ONE vice president Rich Franklin, UFC Hall of Famer and former UFC middleweight champion, said the new deal marks the beginning of a much larger strategy to grow the brand’s presence in America ‘ Above.
“It’s huge for us,” Franklin told MMA Underground after a press conference at The Novo. “For us, it was advantageous because Prime Video was just tying sports content, right? Like, now they’re home to Thursday night NFL, so that was a no-brainer for us.
“This is huge for us. They have 200 million subscribers. This will open up the audience of the United States and Canada for us to come to the United States, so this is the first phase for us, our entry into the United States , and then of course we’ll start on the floor next, and those events will be on Prime, too.”
Amazon’s vice president of global sports video Marie Donoghue said ONE Championship was an attractive partner for the platform for several reasons, including the fact that the organization hosts muay Thai and kickboxing bouts, as well as matches of grappling submission, to go with the most typical. MMA contests.
“We started with sports a few years ago, and one thing we know is that our audience loves marquee sports – they just love them – and so with ONE Championship, you can’t get better, especially in the MMA space. , “Donoghue said. “We’re thrilled. We’re excited to be alive, which will be amazing. They’re in primetime on Amazon Prime and you know, these people are different.
“I talked a little bit about her on stage. I mean, they have more disciplines. They treat women the same way. They bring compassion and integrity and so many amazing cultural values into their events, as well as into the programming around them, so I think it’s really unique and a great opportunity for us. “
For now, ONE will continue to host its events at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, although they will be held in the morning locally to be broadcast in primetime in North America. The company has previously hosted nearly 200 events across Asia throughout its 10-year history, although the time difference has made it a challenge to entice a North American audience.
The new deal calls for a minimum of 12 events a year to be broadcast on Amazon Prime Video during the term of the deal, though Franklin said that as the company continues to return to a more robust travel schedule after the height of COVID-19 restrictions, that number may increase.
“They’re going down to schedule,” Franklin said. “Obviously for us, we have been very affected by COVID. I mentioned that at the press conference – with Singapore as such a small country, it closed all our trips, and for us to go through it is really amazing, so we are now back to the point where we are again a traveling entity and come here in the US, so I imagine that by 2023, we may end up reevaluating and getting above and beyond 12, but that’s just kind of how let’s go. We’ll figure it out. “
Franklin said the ONE Championship is likely to host the organization’s first live event in the United States next year but had no further details to offer on that front. For now, the company is simply focused on successfully launching a potentially crucial streaming deal in the United States and Canada and is excited to show the audience the organization’s unique product.
“It’s exciting for us to bring a different product to the United States,” Franklin said. “It’s not just an MMA organization, is it? We have muay Thai, kickboxing, grapplers, and all these world-class athletes. I mean, I’ve seen the matches. I’ve seen the muay Thai games we’ve put on. these four-ounce gloves that are amazing matches.The quality of kickboxing – That is, these guys never fail to lead, and the number of world champions we have on the roster that Were they champions in their individual sports before they came to the ONE Championship? It will be fun for the American audience, for sure. “
