Fighting for a piece of the pie

Success of Guangzhou card spotlights growing popularity of combat sports

With China's expanding appetite for combat sports drawing global attention, Singapore-based martial arts promotion One Championship is punching well above its weight.

After a two-year hiatus, One Championship's return to Guangzhou proved a rousing success on Saturday at Tianhe Gymnasium, where 5,000 spectators oohed and ahhed at each punch, kick and knockdown during the 10-bout card, which featured five homegrown fighters.

Strong performances by Chinese athletes, such as Fu Changxin's relentless barrage of blows that helped him beat Kazakh Rustem Yensebayev via TKO in their catch weight bout and wrestler Peng Xuewen's pinpoint punches to drop Malaysia's Eddey Kalai in their strawweight clash, brought the capacity crowd to its feet in an electrifying atmosphere.

The show in Guangzhou was the seventh One Championship event on the Chinese mainland since its 2014 debut in Beijing, and the impressive turnout has boosted the promotion's confidence in making more inroads in China after a slow start.

"China is the market where we want to host the most events, but we are not in a rush," Victor Cui, the international CEO of One Championship, told China Daily before the Guangzhou event.

"For us, it's not just about the fights; it's about providing fans with a package of entertainment and improving our ability to reach more people beyond the stadium."

With an ambition to stage dozens of events here per year, One Championship had to compromise on its China expansion after several planned shows were canceled or postponed due to a lack of governmental backing and the immature market status.

The surge of combat sports in China has seen entry-level MMA training attract more and more fitness enthusiasts, but it's not yet strong enough to make the sport a formidable competitor against established pro endeavors like soccer and basketball in terms of elite development, fan following and media exposure.

"The roots of martial arts run deep in Chinese culture and tradition, but MMA as a pro sport is quite new here. The public perception of it remains weak," said Tan Jianxiang, a sports industry professor at South China Normal University.

However, the growing demand for fitness coupled with the governmental push to elevate the sports industry indicates a bright future for MMA to punch its way into the Chinese mainstream, said Cui.

"I'm a big believer in the China growth story. If you want to develop a world-class sports business you have to be here," said Cui, who has been living and working in Shanghai since the company opened its China office in 2016.

The organization will finalize a broadcast deal with China Central Television after the ongoing FIFA World Cup to showcase its cards on the national stage after airing them regionally on SMG and Tencent's digital platform, Cui added.

One Championship's 24-event year-long series is now broadcast to 1.7 billion potential viewers across 138 countries, mostly in Southeast Asia.

As another pillar of its localization in China, One has signed about 100 Chinese athletes to multi-fight contracts through a scouting system supported by local combat sports clubs and sports bureaus.

Saturday's strawweight winner Peng, a One debutant with five more fights remaining on his contract, said the foray of foreign-based MMA promotions into China is encouraging homegrown fighters to extend their careers after retirement from the State-run system.

"There are definitely more opportunities for us to realize our personal value as martial artists," said the 22-year-old wrestling specialist.

Although unwilling to reveal the financial terms of his contract, Peng is very proud that he's now living a much better life thanks to pay-per-fight bonuses and revenue from running a MMA club in his native city of Zhongshan in Guangdong province.

Some other MMA promotions, such as the US-based Ultimate Fighting Championship, stand-up fighting league Glory and domestic organization Kunlun Fight, have also joined the party, creating fierce competition for fan loyalty.

Two months after One's first Shanghai event at the Oriental Sports Center last September, UFC made its debut on the Chinese mainland in the same city with eight Chinese fighters on a strong card.

Over 15,000 fans swarmed to the bigger Mercedes-Benz Arena to cheer their homegrown stars.

RFC, a newcomer in China's burgeoning market, will also host a heavyweight showdown between local favorite Liu Wenbo and Brazil's former UFC star Antonio Silva at Beijing's National Olympic Stadium on Aug 11.

When asked if his organization is concerned about the competition posed by rival promotions, UFC Asia-Pacific vice-president Kevin Chang said the American group will focus on its own business.

"We don't think of it as a competition with other MMA promotions," said Chang. "One (Championship) and other regional and domestic promotions are part of a healthy MMA ecosystem."

Cui echoed Chang, stressing that the existence of other promotions at different levels is beneficial for everyone.

"You need those competitions, where local athletes compete and get better. We can't do it all by ourselves," he said. "When they are ready to strike out of China, then we are the right platform to come to."