Press conference: The rise of OneCampionship show: You can always tell a lot about the interest level for a given show by prior media attention. The media presence is a strong indicator of initial public attention and then they amplify that through their channels to compound it. In the main press conference yesterday, @onechampionship CEO, Chatri Sityodtong presided over a veritable horde of media correspondents here in Manila. There is a sense of real growth in Asian MMA. Mr Sityodtong expounded his long term vision for growth of the sport in Asia and beyond. His main goal is to reconcile the modern sport of MMA with traditional martial arts values to create greater social acceptance and support in a way that can create massive growth over time and make MMA a true mainstream sport. The vision for the athletes is one of killers in the cage, but gentleman outside; and where the athletes are the draw both as fighters and as people. It is very interesting to observe the differences from American MMA culture where a much more confrontational attitude outside the cage is seen as essential to selling a show. Here in the philippines this approach seems to be working very well, as a sold out show projected to a huge television audience across Asia and covered by a media swarm bigger than I ever saw in North America takes shape. I have always believed that to get to the top you have to stand out and represent something different from the others. Mimicry can get you only so high – at some point you have to do things your own way if you want to reach your full potential. OneChampionship looks to be doing exactly that. Excited to see them setting up the big show!!
