Asia-based martial arts media company ONE Championship will look to introduce its unique fight brand to U.S. viewers via an live Oct. 12 telecast on TNT, part of a three-year distribution deal between the two companies signed in January. 

As one of the largest martial arts organizations in the world, ONE Championship offers bouts across all martial arts disciplines such as Muay Thai, kickboxing, submission grappling and mixed martial arts.

“Our partnership with ONE Championship is off to a terrific start and we’re thrilled to showcase their historic 100th event with fans in the U.S,” said Tina Shah, executive vice president and general manager of Turner Sports, which offers ONE Championship content on its B/R Live streaming service. “As ONE Championship continues to expand its domestic reach, we’ll continue to work closely with them as we identify new opportunities to share this compelling content with a passionate, growing fan base.”

Heading up ONE Championship is founder, chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong. I recently spoke with Sityodtong about the ONE Championship brand and its move into the U.S., as well as his thoughts on the current combat sports marketplace.

Define the ONE Championship brand.

ONE Championship is Asia's largest global sports media property. In the Western Hemisphere the largest sports property is the NFL and is cherished by all Americans -- in the same way in the East, Martial arts is cherished by all of Asia. We have 550 world class martial artists on our roster, of which 140 are world champions across various disciplines. So whether it's mixed martial arts, kickboxing, Muay Thai, Kung Fu, karate etc., we have the largest roster of world champion martial artists on the planet of any organization. The formula for our success has been values, heroes, and story. We want to celebrate the values of integrity, humility, honor, respect, courage, discipline, and compassion, which are the bedrock values of martial arts but also the bedrock values of the best of humanity. Our genre might be martial arts but our platform is humanity, and anyone can watch our show and take away from our heroes.

Has the organization had a lot of exposure here in the U.S.?

We just started broadcasting on TNT and B/R Live. We have events every 10 days of the week on B/R Live across the continent of Asia and broadcast all over 140 countries. Our 100th show will be on Oct. 12th and broadcast live [at 11 p.m. (ET)] on TNT.

How many future One Championship live events will Turner Sports look to to televise?

I think I think it's going to start a big, big trend in which there will be more and more events televised live on TNT.

How do you expect to compete in a growing mixed martial arts genre in the US dominated by the UFC?

Actually there are tons of mixed martial arts organizations in the U.S., but I think there isn't one that has our formula. So we're 180 degrees opposite of whatever is in the Western world in terms of what MMA promotions are. I would say the vast majority of western promotions focus on the blood sports angle that includes controversy, anger and hatred -- anything you can do to create controversy and stoke the fires. That's a very different approach from us -- we don't have any of that. Our heroes are genuine role models for society, so it's a very different approach.

The UFC, however you define it, is very popular in the U.S. Do you feel that your approach to fighting and mixed martial arts will translate well for the U.S. viewer?

Yes -- I think it's going to be refreshing, very new and eye-opening. Watching the world's best martial arts compete, but yet at the same time watching them behave in such a respectable, honorable way will appeal to viewers. 

Cinemax has renewed its freshman drama series Warrior for a second season, the network said Wednesday.

The series, based on the writings of Bruce Lee, follows a martial arts prodigy who emigrates from China to San Francisco during the brutal Tong Wars of San Francisco’s Chinatown in the second half of the 19th century, according to the network.

"Bruce Lee's vision is alive and well," said Len Amato, president of HBO Films, Miniseries and Cinemax programming in a statement. "Warrior combines high-energy martial arts with wit and brains. We're thrilled to renew such a great show for a second season on Cinemax.” 

In 2011, website TMZ quoted Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White as saying that the burgeoning mixed martial arts outfit would never allow women fighters to fight in its famed octagon.

Fast forward to today, and arguably the organization’s most popular and well-known fighter is Ronda Rousey, a 28-yearold woman who has taken the UFC and sports media by storm since she burst on the scene in 2012. She has changed the face of MMA while helping the company pin down impressive performances both inside the octagon and within the overall media arena.

“Ronda Rousey is the most popular athlete UFC has ever had — her popularity both inside and outside of the octagon has increased UFC’s appeal exponentially,” UFC chairman and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta told Multichannel News.

A HIT EVEN AT 1:30 A.M.

One only has to look at last month’s UFC 193 pay-per-view event to see the broad appeal of Rousey. While she lost her Nov. 14 UFC women’s bantamweight title fight to Holly Holm in a huge upset, the buildup and anticipation of that event rivaled any in the 14 years of the Zuffa LLC-owned UFC era and helped the show deliver a reported more than 1 million PPV buys.

Even in defeat, Rousey is a ratings winner. FS1’s Nov. 15 UFC 193 post-fight show drew nearly 500,000 viewers for a 1:30 a.m. ET telecast — a network record for a UFC after-event show and more than the 330,000 viewers FS1 averaged on a total-day basis in October.

Industry observers said much of UFC’s current PPV and TV momentum can be attributed to Rousey, who has become as well-known outside the UFC through her numerous TV and movie appearances as she is inside the octagon for her winning prowess and devastating armbar submission hold.

“There are certain people who just have it,” Glenn Jacobs, senior coordinating producer for ESPN’s SportsCenter, said. “She appeals to a number of people on a number of different fan bases on several levels. She’s tremendously compelling, whether she’s in the ring fighting or appearing at a public event.”

Her knockout loss to Holm notwithstanding, Rousey — the recipient of Multichannel News’s female Athlete of the Year Award — has become arguably the most well-known woman athlete today. Over the last 12 months Rousey has become a media darling, appearing in everything from video games (UFC 2) to TV (WWE’s WrestleMania 31) to movies (Furious 7 and Entourage). She is set to star in MGM’s reboot of the 1989 movie drama Road House in the lead role made famous by the late Patrick Swayze.

“She has the skills, she has the looks and she has a way of presenting herself in front of a camera,” Bas Rutten, co-host of AXS TV’s weekly mixed-martial-arts news show Inside MMA, said. “Combine that with the skill to destroy opponents in the cage and you have a complete package.”

Her broad appeal is not lost on UFC. The organization featured Rousey fights as the main event in three of its 11 pay-per-view cards this year. Only UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier appeared in as many main events.

“Not only has she influenced fight fans, women and young girls around the world, she also transcends mainstream pop culture and brings in a new demographic of fans to watch our events and engage with our brand,” UFC’s Fertitta said.

Read about MCN's Male Athlete of the Year, Floyd Mayweather.

ESPN on Oct. 7 had Rousey host its 6 p.m. SportsCenter show — the first female athlete ever to do so. Jacobs said that Rousey’s SportsCenter appearance attracted an extremely high level of buzz across social-media platforms.

“Ronda is one of those people who rates — we’re not just asking anyone to come in and host SportsCenter,” ESPN’s Jacobs said. “We found Ronda Rousey content works across all of our platforms — on TV, on digital, and on social media — because she is so compelling and appeals to so many people.”

Indeed, on social media Rousey has punched up more than 2 million Twitter followers and more than 9.7 million likes on Facebook, more than popular current male UFC champions Cormier and Conor McGregor.

But it’s in the octagon where Rousey’s rise to stardom began. Rousey — who turned pro in 2011 after becoming the first U.S. woman to earn an Olympic medal in judo at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing — became a fighting sensation known for taking out her opponents in short order. She initially appeared as UFC’s first female fighter in 2013 and quickly won her initial bouts — five within the first round and two within 20 seconds — before her loss to Holm.

“Don’t all athletes who break into great celebrity start with winning?” Fox Sports president and chief operating officer Eric Shanks said. “It’s pretty undeniable that Ronda walked all over anyone that was in the weight class until her last fight. The incredible run that she had is the foundation for the celebrity that she is.”

ESPN’s Jacobs added that Rousey doesn’t get enough credit for her determination in breaking into what once was a male-dominated mixed martial arts sport.

“Ronda is the reason why there are women fighters in the UFC,” he said. “She’s essentially built women’s MMA in the UFC and I think she deserves a lot of credit for that.”

Even Holm gave Rousey props for propelling mixed martial arts and women’s fighting to unprecedented heights in an interview with TMZ Sports two days after her knockout win over the former champion.

“Ronda has been a very dominant champ and has taken the sport to new levels,” she told TMZ. “This fight wouldn’t have happened if she didn’t accomplish what she accomplished.”

Her domination in the octagon turned into ratings gold for the UFC and Fox Sports in 2015. Two of FS1’s four most watched UFC PPV preliminary telecasts of all time were for 2015 events in which Rousey was the PPV headliner, each averaging more than 1.3 million viewers, according to Fox.

Online, Rousey accounted for 12.5 million page views on FoxSports.com over the last four months. In addition, Rousey drove 59% of the site’s 21.4 million page views for UFC editorial in the six months leading up to the Nov. 14 Rousey-Holm fight.

“It’s even more impressive when you consider it was Dana who said women would never fight in the UFC,” Shanks said. “Now, their biggest star is a woman in a year that has been arguably been one of the greatest in women’s sports.”

Rousey’s tough background — she has been very open about being raised by a single mother after her father committed suicide — has helped make her popular among non-MMA fans, he added.

“When athletes do that it makes them more human because everyone has their struggles, and Ronda has the platform speak up about it and probably help a lot of other young women and girls through it,” Shanks said.

HOPING FOR A SEQUEL

Rousey would continue to rate with fans despite her recent loss, Shanks said. While it’s unclear if and when Rousey will return to the octagon, he said that sports fans love comeback stories and Rousey’s will be a compelling one that should ultimately win her more fans.

“It’s hard to wear the crown of invincibility … there were a lot of people who fell off the Ronda bandwagon after the loss,” Shanks said. “Unlike a lot of movies, sequels in MMA and combat sports usually outdraw the first edition, so this sequel undoubtedly will be bigger than the first. I think that will be a driving force with Ronda to get ready to become champion again.”

Added ESPN’s Jacobs: “People love a redemption story. Her story has changed: she used to be on a ‘she’s so dominant and can’t be touched’ track. Now she has the chance to be on the ‘coming back and facing adversity’ track — I still think that is a compelling track to be on.”

AMC looks to resurrect the martial-arts genre on television with its new drama series Into the Badlands.

The series tells the tale of a future society located in an area called the Badlands ruled by several powerful Barons. The Barons are protected by strong and ruthless fighters dubbed Clippers, who will do anything for their leaders.

The series doesn’t waste time establishing its martial-arts chops. Several minutes into the pilot, motorcycle-riding Sunny (Daniel Wu), a lethal Clipper who works for Quinn (Marton Csokas) — the most powerful Baron in the Badlands — rolls up on a field full of dead bodies chained together. After realizing that someone escaped the massacre, he searches for and finds the group of nomads responsible for the killing.

Outnumbered and overmatched, Sunny nevertheless makes quick work of killing everyone in the group in one of the most graphic, well-choreographed swordfight scenes you’ll see on a TV show.

Sunny discovers the nomads had been hiding a teenage boy, MK (Aramis Knight), and soon realizes that the teen has a dark past and secret powers that are desired by another Baron, The Widow (Emily Beecham), who is planning to test Quinn’s position as the leader in the Badlands.

After the action-packed martial arts scene, the series gets bogged down a bit by the establishment of a plotline involving the potentially explosive relationship between the ruling Barons and the development of several key characters, including Baron Quinn’s son, Ryder (Oliver Stark), who is itching to take over his fathers’ role as Baron; Quinn’s supportive wife, Lydia (Orla Brady); and Sunny’s pregnant love interest, Veil (Madeline Mantock).

The fight scenes are beautifully choreographed and are worth waiting for as the series finds its footing with regard to plot and character development.

Overall, Into the Badlands is worth a look-see, especially if you’re a fan of apocalyptic-themed plots, feuding warlords and great martial-arts action.