'Good Start' in U.S. for one

A shock loss for a legend, a wild knockout and a champion dethroned.

Mixed martial arts (MMA) organisation One Championship ended its month-long foray into the North American market yesterday with its fourth event in four weeks, One on TNT IV, with as many talking points as it started.

The event, like the three others in the One on TNT series which preceded it, was held at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in the morning so it could be aired in the United States on prime time on American television network TNT.

In the main event of One on TNT IV, Myanmar fighter Aung La N Sang lost his One light heavyweight world title to Dutchman Reinier de Ridder in a unanimous decision.

This meant de Ridder became just the third fighter to hold two One world titles simultaneously, after he also beat Aung La for his middleweight title last October.

Elsewhere on the card, American MMA legend Eddie Alvarez suffered a unanimous decision loss to South Korean Ok Rae-yoon after five rounds.

Alvarez, a former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and Bellator champion, had been disqualified in a fight with Iuri Lapicus at the One on TNT 1 event on April 7, but the result was later overturned and ruled a no-contest.

There was also a bizarre win for Belarusian fighter Kirill Grishenko over Senegalese upstart Oumar Kane, with Grishenko throwing the knockout punch right as the bell signifying the end of the second round was rung.

One Championship chief executive Chatri Sityodtong said that while he felt the One on TNT IV event did not rank among one of One's best events, the series of events in April was a "good introduction of One to American fans".

He added: "They got a peek at some of our athletes and got a look at an entirely unique, differentiated product and brand… Overall, I would say it's a good start."

He noted that One's different rule set and judging criteria from the UFC has generated plenty of discussion online from American fans.

The ratings for the One on TNT series events have fluctuated. After drawing an average of 196,000 viewers for the first show, they saw an almost 70 per cent jump to 337,000 for the second, but dropped to 290,000 for the third.

Chatri said: "I'm not satisfied by our TV ratings in any sense… (but) I'm grateful our numbers are already stronger than Bellator's and PFL's (Professional Fighters League), so that makes us the No. 2 player in North America (behind UFC).

"So let's see what happens with our discussions with TNT and our partners in the United States."

PFL's most recent event PFL 1, which aired last Friday, had an average viewership of 156,000 while Bellator's most recent show, Bellator 257 on April 16, reportedly had fewer than 150,000.

On One's ratings, Dr Seshan Ramaswami, associate professor of marketing education at the Singapore Management University, noted that the initial increase in audience is a good sign but also said that it was difficult to draw conclusions from the growth.

He added that a televised live fight series like One Championship should aim for a much higher American TV audience rating than what it has gotten so far.

"Promoting the personalities and life stories of the key contenders, some of whom may be unknown to American (audiences) will be key, as will be education on the rules of One Championship and how they are different from the UFC series," he said.

"Overall, it is a good start... and points to the potential for other (One) fight series to build an American audience."