World Champion Thai Fighters To Star At Major New Mixed Martial Arts Show

[webfact]

ONE Fighting Championship Press Release

World Champion Thai Fighters to Star at Major New Mixed Martial Arts Show

ONE Fighting Championship, Asia’s biggest mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion, held a press conference in Singapore this week to announce the signing of several Thai world champions.

Yodsanan Sityodtong, better known by his boxing name of Yodsanan 3k Battery, will be making his MMA debut for the promotion on September 3rd. The event will be held at the 12,000 capacity Singapore Indoor Stadium and broadcast to countries all over Asia, including Thailand.

Yodsanan, from Suphan Buri, is a legend in Thailand after a boxing career which saw him win 58 of his 62 professional fights and the WBA Super Featherweight title. He is now based at Evolve MMA in Singapore where he teaches boxing and trains mixed martial arts.

ONE Fighting Championship also announced that it would be hosting shows in cities all across Asia, including Bangkok, and Yodsanan is not the only Thai fighter who will be involved. Former world champions and Muay Thai legends Namsaknoi Yudthagarngamtorn, Anuwat Kaesamrit and Orono Wor Petchpun were also introduced to the crowd and will all be fighting on future shows.

Long term Thai resident Ole Laursen will be taking on top Filipino fighter Eduardd Folayang in the co main event on September 3rd. Laursen, who is originally from Denmark, is the owner of the Legacy Gym in Ubon Ratchatani and has won his last five MMA fights.

There is already enormous anticipation for ONE Fighting Championship’s inaugural event. VIP tickets sold out in under an hour after going on sale and news agencies from all over the world were in attendance at the press conference.

Yodsanan will be fighting experienced South Arican Daniel Mashamaite in a bantamweight contest. He is proud to be representing Thailand in a televised event which will have a potential viewing audience of 500 million people,

“I want everyone in Thailand to see me fight and I hope people will start to like MMA as well as Muay Thai and boxing. I've trained MMA for about five months and I can punch very hard so I am hoping to win this fight by knock out. I am also training with Namsaknoi, Anuwat Kaewsamrit and Orono Wor Petchpun who are my team mates at Evolve MMA in Singapore so there will be a lot of famous Thai fighters at ONE Fighting Championship,” he said.

Mixed martial arts (MMA) is the fastest growing sport on the planet. Matches are typically fought in a cage and fighters can win by knockout, technical knock out, decision or submission. MMA is unlike conventional boxing or Muay Thai in that a fight can take place either on the ground or standing up and fighters will attempt to use various chokes and holds to force their opponent to submit, either verbally or with a tap.

Headquartered in Singapore, ONE Fighting Championship™ is Asia's largest mixed martial arts organization. ONE Fighting Championship hosts the most prestigious mixed martial arts event in Asia and is the only Asian MMA organization with a pan-Asian media broadcast.

For more information visit: www.ONEFC.com or contact: info [at] onefc.com

-- 2011-07-18

[ozymandious]

Do we know what network will televise this in LOS? sound track?

[phillies]

I have huge respect for Muay Thai fighters but training for 5 months in Singapore with other Thai fighters is a joke. If they are serious about MMA they need to train in the UK or US with the coaches and UFC fighters. Otherwise you will see these guys submitted in the first round over and over again because of a lack of real ground experience.

[slapout]

The tough man contests as originally organized in the US/elsewhere were local talented street fighters who were after the paycheck for winning. Not too much different than the old bare knuckle fights of the 19th and early 20th century before and after the rules were relaxed.

The initial organizers were promoting a concept which has been around for several centuries, primary for the entertainment and/or paycheck. The events, as they continued, became a contest between local wannabee tough men, and the event followers, who were drawing show money from the organizers and a chance at the prize monies. In the past few years the name/advertisement has gone to cage fighting, last one standing, etc. The lack/minimum possibility of legal/monetary responsibility of the promoters would be a real factor in the market potential in some Asian countries.

[JamesGoyder]

I have huge respect for Muay Thai fighters but training for 5 months in Singapore with other Thai fighters is a joke. If they are serious about MMA they need to train in the UK or US with the coaches and UFC fighters. Otherwise you will see these guys submitted in the first round over and over again because of a lack of real ground experience.

You know Evolve MMA has got at least three three BJJ world champions?

[phillies]

I have huge respect for Muay Thai fighters but training for 5 months in Singapore with other Thai fighters is a joke. If they are serious about MMA they need to train in the UK or US with the coaches and UFC fighters. Otherwise you will see these guys submitted in the first round over and over again because of a lack of real ground experience.

You know Evolve MMA has got at least three three BJJ world champions?

Then I stand corrected, could be interesting...

[animatic]

I have huge respect for Muay Thai fighters but training for 5 months in Singapore with other Thai fighters is a joke. If they are serious about MMA they need to train in the UK or US with the coaches and UFC fighters. Otherwise you will see these guys submitted in the first round over and over again because of a lack of real ground experience.

Interesting that the American, UK and other Euro fighters go to Thailand to train Muay Thai too. If you are going to do MMA you need a full skill set, no one style will be enough, and that IS the point. Ju Jitsu is also very useful to as well as good boxing hands. The best fighters seem to have a Ju Jitsu or wrestling/grappling (Brazilian or Japanese), Muay Thai and Boxing backgrounds mixed together.

Edited July 18, 2011 by animatic

[JamesGoyder]

I have huge respect for Muay Thai fighters but training for 5 months in Singapore with other Thai fighters is a joke. If they are serious about MMA they need to train in the UK or US with the coaches and UFC fighters. Otherwise you will see these guys submitted in the first round over and over again because of a lack of real ground experience.

Interesting that the American, UK and other Euro fighters go to Thailand to train Muay Thai too. If you are going to do MMA you need a full skill set, no one style will be enough, and that IS the point. Ju Jitsu is also very useful to as well as good boxing hands. The best fighters seem to have a Ju Jitsu or wrestling/grappling (Brazilian or Japanese), Muay Thai and Boxing backgrounds mixed together.

A lot of elite MMA fighters have come to Thailand to train Muay Thai. Keny Florian was at Sitoydtong in Pattaya for a bit (i think), Alistair Overeem was at Golden Glory in Pattaya, Jake Shields, Brian Ebersole, Phil Baroni, Mike Swick, Elvis Sinosic and Roger Huerta have all trained at Tiger Muay Thai in Phuket. Huerta and Swick liked it so much they are building their own camp there.

All these guys probably came to do Muay Thai though, what Evolve has got that pretty much no-one in Asia has is a team of elite BJJ guys. A few places have got one or two black belts teaching but Evolve has got a whole team of them. Plus pretty much all their fighters are full time employees so all these guys do is train with the fight team and take a few classes themselves.

There have been a few famous fighters who have transitioned into MMA just to pick up the pay cheque and not really made any effort with the training, I'd put James Toney firmly in that category, but Yodsanen is serious about his MMA career and will have been working hard on his ground game.

[joe84330]

takes a massive amount of time to learn a proper submission skillset, transitions from one submission to another.

takes about 6 months to learn how to defend against all of them in an mma match.

[xkmasada]

Headquartered in Singapore, ONE Fighting Championship™ is Asia's largest mixed martial arts organization. ONE Fighting Championship hosts the most prestigious mixed martial arts event in Asia and is the only Asian MMA organization with a pan-Asian media broadcast.

Is it bigger than DREAM FC, which regularly packed 30,000 people into Saitama Super Arena, prior to the quake? Is it bigger than DEEP? Shooto Pro? Pancrase? Art of War MMA out of China?

Does it have international tournaments? Does it send its champions to fight in the UFC and Strikeforce?

I didn't think so...

[newtronbom]

The tough man contests as originally organized in the US/elsewhere were local talented street fighters who were after the paycheck for winning. Not too much different than the old bare knuckle fights of the 19th and early 20th century before and after the rules were relaxed.

The initial organizers were promoting a concept which has been around for several centuries, primary for the entertainment and/or paycheck. The events, as they continued, became a contest between local wannabee tough men, and the event followers, who were drawing show money from the organizers and a chance at the prize monies. In the past few years the name/advertisement has gone to cage fighting, last one standing, etc. The lack/minimum possibility of legal/monetary responsibility of the promoters would be a real factor in the market potential in some Asian countries.

Those "old fashioned" bare knuckle fights for the money, still happen all over Thailand at Fairs, shows, festivals and others. Not strictly allowed or sanctioned, they still attract many viewers and betting punters. I realize a few are just a show, but most are for real and I have seen many really good hard fights, where the "fighters" are just construction workers and such during the day - but nearly all with experience and training just the same - and who pit their strength and ability against each other for the fame and and extra baht in a ring. Dangerous maybe, but an exciting, adrenalin boosted tradition I hope we never lose!

[JamesGoyder]

Headquartered in Singapore, ONE Fighting Championship™ is Asia's largest mixed martial arts organization. ONE Fighting Championship hosts the most prestigious mixed martial arts event in Asia and is the only Asian MMA organization with a pan-Asian media broadcast.

Is it bigger than DREAM FC, which regularly packed 30,000 people into Saitama Super Arena, prior to the quake? Is it bigger than DEEP? Shooto Pro? Pancrase? Art of War MMA out of China?

Does it have international tournaments? Does it send its champions to fight in the UFC and Strikeforce?

I didn't think so...

In answer to your first question, Yes, it's bigger than dream because it is broadcast on domestic tv, (Dream isn't) and is broadcast to a total of 24 Asian countries (Dream isn't). You will be able to watch One FC in THailand, you can't watch dream here.

For the same reasons it is clearly bigger than Shooto or Pancrase and Art of War doesn't exist anymore.

Does it send it's champions to fight in the UFC or Strikeforce? Well obviously not on account of the first show not having taken place and there not being any champions yet.

[animatic]

I have huge respect for Muay Thai fighters but training for 5 months in Singapore with other Thai fighters is a joke. If they are serious about MMA they need to train in the UK or US with the coaches and UFC fighters. Otherwise you will see these guys submitted in the first round over and over again because of a lack of real ground experience.

Interesting that the American, UK and other Euro fighters go to Thailand to train Muay Thai too. If you are going to do MMA you need a full skill set, no one style will be enough, and that IS the point. Ju Jitsu is also very useful to as well as good boxing hands. The best fighters seem to have a Ju Jitsu or wrestling/grappling (Brazilian or Japanese), Muay Thai and Boxing backgrounds mixed together.

A lot of elite MMA fighters have come to Thailand to train Muay Thai. Keny Florian was at Sitoydtong in Pattaya for a bit (i think), Alistair Overeem was at Golden Glory in Pattaya, Jake Shields, Brian Ebersole, Phil Baroni, Mike Swick, Elvis Sinosic and Roger Huerta have all trained at Tiger Muay Thai in Phuket. Huerta and Swick liked it so much they are building their own camp there.

All these guys probably came to do Muay Thai though, what Evolve has got that pretty much no-one in Asia has is a team of elite BJJ guys. A few places have got one or two black belts teaching but Evolve has got a whole team of them. Plus pretty much all their fighters are full time employees so all these guys do is train with the fight team and take a few classes themselves.

There have been a few famous fighters who have transitioned into MMA just to pick up the pay cheque and not really made any effort with the training, I'd put James Toney firmly in that category, but Yodsanen is serious about his MMA career and will have been working hard on his ground game.

Toney was definitely a bit of an embarrassment....

Kenny Florian,Jake Shields, Brian Ebersole and Phil Baroni, Mike Swick show great use of Muay Thai in their MMA work.

[rfukata]

good luck to the Thai fighters.<div>I've never ever seen a Thai amateur olympiad wrestler, Judoist, Jyujitsuitst, sambo, unlike the Russians, Japanese, Brazilians, US,Canadians and the Euro fighters (sorry if</div><div>I missed a few others). Without knowledge of ground techniques one will have a very difficult time to conquer the bout, virtually losing by submission or a ground attack.</div><div>It'll be interesting to see how well of fighters the Thai's are going to be.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div>

[tailspin]

I think the Thais may do okay in Asia, but will have trouble overseas(just like their boxers), due to diet, independent refereeing/judging etc

Also the muay thai war of attrition mentality of "when in doubt, pound it out" will not work well in MMA as they will get easily beaten by more technical fighters, who have practised for many years.

I personally can't stand MMA as it has too many rules, although it tries to sell itself as the "real deal"...Example, a knee drop to the head of someone on the ground ends the contest, but in MMA not allowed.......yawnnnnn. It is also a business so it is in the organizations interest to promote fights as dangerous and vicious, but they then make sure that there are no truly fierce encounters since the fighters are a meal ticket for UFC etc. I can't believe people like this crap. I hope someone invents a new sport soon or finds a jurisdiction which allows true anything goes fights....

Edited July 19, 2011 by tailspin

[xkmasada]

Headquartered in Singapore, ONE Fighting Championship™ is Asia's largest mixed martial arts organization. ONE Fighting Championship hosts the most prestigious mixed martial arts event in Asia and is the only Asian MMA organization with a pan-Asian media broadcast.

Is it bigger than DREAM FC, which regularly packed 30,000 people into Saitama Super Arena, prior to the quake? Is it bigger than DEEP? Shooto Pro? Pancrase? Art of War MMA out of China?

Does it have international tournaments? Does it send its champions to fight in the UFC and Strikeforce?

I didn't think so...

In answer to your first question, Yes, it's bigger than dream because it is broadcast on domestic tv, (Dream isn't) and is broadcast to a total of 24 Asian countries (Dream isn't). You will be able to watch One FC in THailand, you can't watch dream here.

For the same reasons it is clearly bigger than Shooto or Pancrase and Art of War doesn't exist anymore.

Does it send it's champions to fight in the UFC or Strikeforce? Well obviously not on account of the first show not having taken place and there not being any champions yet.

Wait, so a promotion that hasn't even had its first show claims to be the largest and most prestigious promotion in Asia? Fail.

If One FC were a Thai political party, it would be dissolved for outright lying

DREAM FC was broadcast on TBS in Japan and HDNet in the US, which are the two largest markets for MMA worldwide. Dynamite 2009 had nearly 30 million viewers for the main event. Shooto, Pancrase, and DEEP fighters have gone on to become UFC and PRIDE/DREAM champions. If One FC actually wants to boast about its numbers or prestige, it'll have to match that.

[MUYTHAI]

Headquartered in Singapore, ONE Fighting Championship™ is Asia's largest mixed martial arts organization. ONE Fighting Championship hosts the most prestigious mixed martial arts event in Asia and is the only Asian MMA organization with a pan-Asian media broadcast.

Is it bigger than DREAM FC, which regularly packed 30,000 people into Saitama Super Arena, prior to the quake? Is it bigger than DEEP? Shooto Pro? Pancrase? Art of War MMA out of China?

Does it have international tournaments? Does it send its champions to fight in the UFC and Strikeforce?

I didn't think so...

You forgot Pride Fighting Championship which sometimes packed 60,000 people into a stadium per event in Japan...amoung many other events around the world. Oh...how I miss Pride and Pancrase! Pride FC was much better than UFC is now.