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Why Other Stars Like Eddie Alvarez Could Find Value in Joining ONE Championship

Why Other Stars Like Eddie Alvarez Could Find Value in Joining ONE Championship

Early last week, ONE Championship Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong dropped a bombshell and announced the signing of multiple-time mixed martial arts world champion “The Underground King” Eddie Alvarez.

Alvarez is an established name in the mixed martial arts space, and is just two years removed from being recognized as the lightweight champion of the world. But even at his peak, Alvarez decided to make a drastic change in his career by joining ONE Championship, the largest global sports media property in Asian history.

But Alvarez’ move to Asia begs the obvious question, why did he do it?

While the specific details and reasoning behind his move will most likely be kept under wraps, let’s take a look at a few reasons why Alvarez may have found value in choosing ONE Championship over all other players in the free agent market and why other stars could follow suit.

1) ONE Championship can afford him

In terms of athlete pay, you would think that Alvarez’ previous situation was paying top dollar. But that isn’t necessarily the case or we are greatly underestimating ONE Championship’s financial muscle.

ONE Championship boasts of the largest collection of martial arts world champions in the entire industry, with over 94 world champions in different martial arts disciplines. It is worth to take note that ONE Championship not only hosts bouts of the mixed martial arts variety, but also kickboxing, Muay Thai, submissions grappling, and others.

Established stars in these sports include guys like Giorgio Petrosyan, Yodsanklai Fairtex, and Nong-O Gaiyanghadao, among others -- each commanding a premium for their performances. The fact that ONE Championship can afford so many world champions teases just how much financial strength the company really has.

“I believe the offer from ONE was too good to turn down,” Alvarez explained on a media conference call. “The UFC did their best considering what the average pay of an athlete is at the UFC, I believe the UFC did a great job. They did their best to keep me but they have a business model. They pay a certain amount for certain fighters for certain reasons so everybody is a different case. It is what it is, no harm, no foul but it’s a business first with these promotions.

“ONE looked out for me, looked out for my family, they understood my wants and my needs.”

Furthermore, its mixed martial arts stars include globally recognized talents and highly-paid athletes in Brazil’s Bibiano Fernandes, Singapore’s Angela Lee, and the Philippines’ Brandon Vera, as well as a few veterans such as Renzo and Ralph Gracie.

Sponsors and capital investors such as the highly-acclaimed Sequoia Capital have pumped dollars into ONE Championship, with the promotion recently announcing that it had raised a Series D round of funding to increase its total capital to in excess of $250 million.

So to say ONE Championship can afford Alvarez, or any other talent who seeks to join the Asia-based promotion, is a massive understatement. They most certainly can and will if the proverbial shoe fits.

2) Global exposure

To the Western world, ONE Championship is slowly creeping up in popularity but is still relatively unknown. But to the East, ONE Championship is a monster and the most prolific martial arts organization in Asia. This effectively creates a global duopoly in the martial arts industry with only two major players with valuation of at least $1 billion.

If you think Alvarez’ move to Asia means you’ll never see him again, think again. ONE Championship currently boasts broadcasting to 1.7 billion potential viewers in over 138 countries around the world through affiliate networks. In addition to this, the company also launched its ONE Super App earlier this year, a mobile app that lets you watch all of their live events for free.

Case in point ONE Championship’s latest offering, ONE: Kingdom of Heroes, which took place in Bangkok, Thailand a couple of weeks ago garnered an unprecedented 25 million viewers. This effectively shows just the kind of reach ONE Championship has currently, and is still growing.

In a recent interview with Forbes, Sityodtong also mentioned that a US TV deal is currently in the works and will bring ONE Championship to America.

"You will see a major U.S. TV deal coming before the end of the year," Sityodtong told Forbes. "We're in discussions with multiple U.S. broadcasters and we're very close to signing with ONE.”

ONE Championship is clearly expanding at a rapid rate, one that doesn’t seem likely to be slowing down anytime soon.

3) The fastest rising sports media property in the world

ONE Championship’s growth can be charted and with the latest release of data gathered by Nielsen, Facebook and Twitter, fans have a better idea at where the company is headed.

With explosive growth in viewership and engagement metrics across both traditional and digital media, ONE Championship has become the fastest growing sports media property in the world.

According to the September 2018 results annualized by Nielsen, ONE Championship’s peak TV ratings share improved 58 times in 2018 as the Singapore-based organization had a busy 24-event calendar this year, holding cards in various iconic cities across Asia.

Why Other Stars Like Eddie Alvarez Could Find Value in Joining ONE Championship

Furthermore, the promotion’s broadcast hours increased from a mere 12-18 hours in 2014 to 100-2800 hours in 2018. This is a tremendous jump, showcasing growth of over 233x the number compared to just four years ago.

If all this is just numbers for you, it just means that ONE Championship is making great use of the digital age to magnify growth in all sectors, with a keen focus on social media and OTT.

For Alvarez, joining ONE Championship is clearly an intelligent and wise decision, especially where reach is concerned.

4) A chance to prove himself among Asia’s best

Last but certainly not the least, the decision to join ONE Championship is a personal one for Alvarez.

“Without getting into further detail, we got offers from all around the world. We got offers from just about everyone you guys can think of and everyone expressed interest. I think the idea of ONE Championship was as far as organizations, ONE Championship was the only major organization that I haven’t held a world title in,” Alvarez said.

“I’ve won the Bellator title twice during my career, I’ve won the UFC title during my career and as far as I’m concerned ONE is the only major organization where I haven’t got to touch that world title belt.

“I think for myself, for my family, for my fans and everyone, this would mean I have a chance of making history, possibly history that could never be made again. It would take a fighter 20 years in the fight game to fight for these organizations and it’s almost like a lottery ticket to win one world title.

“But to be able to go to every major organization and fight their best guys in the world, fight the best guys in the organization, beat them one by one and win that world title means the world to me.”

ONE Championship employs a bevy of world-class talent, a lot of whom fans would do well to get to know. Stars such as Eduard Folayang of the Philippines, or Martin Nguyen of Australia would give Alvarez tough challenges and fans are already salivating at the matchup possibilities.

To be truly known and stamp his claim as “The Underground King”, Alvarez clearly stated that he had to win the ONE World Title. ONE is the only major mixed martial arts promotion in the world that Alvarez has yet to win a title in, and the 34-year-old has made it his mission to do so.

 

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