“Let’s reshuffle the deck” – Chatri Sityodtong bares why the ONE lightweight rankings were temporarily removed

ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong recently said that they have decided to temporarily take down the rankings in the stacked lightweight mixed martial arts division to have some clarity in it.

However, he was quick to say that it will be restored in a couple of weeks once they figure out how to go about it moving forward.

Chatri Sityodtong shared this in a recent interview with the South China Morning Post, highlighting how a lot of things were happening in the lightweight class behind the scenes, so moves had to be made.

The ONE executive said:

“There have been some fighters [in the division] who are refusing to fight. They are holding out and Christian obviously has taken time off because of his sister’s passing.

“So there were a lot of things. It was like, ‘Look, let’s reshuffle the deck.'”

Christian Lee is the reigning ONE lightweight MMA world champion. He is also the concurrent welterweight king. ‘The Warrior’ is currently on a self-imposed break in deference to the untimely passing of his younger sister and fellow ONE fighter Victoria, who took her own life at the age of 18 last December.

The 27-year-old double ONE world champion, however, made his intention known to return to competing early next year.

Other notable fighters in the division are former champion Ok Rae Yoon, Dagi Arslanaliev, Saygid Izagakhmaev, Halil Amir, Sage Northcutt, and Shinya Aoki.

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Chatri Sityodtong reveals explosive offerings in 2024

Chatri Sityodtong said ONE Championship is gearing up to take its live offerings to more destinations in 2024, including return trips to Japan and Singapore, as well as more on-ground shows in the United States.

The ONE executive shared their plans in a recent interview with CNBC, underscoring that part of their plan next year is to allow more people to experience ONE’s brand of martial arts action.

Chatri Sityodtong said:

“We used to do this very huge stadium events, those are 20, we will continue those cadences, and I just announced on social media that we're going back to Japan, we're going to Qatar, and obviously come back to Singapore, but you'll see the schedule, and the U.S. event by the way, you'll see more events there in 2024.”

Check out what he had to say below:

This year, ONE events were mostly held at the historic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, from its traditional base of Singapore Indoor Stadium.

The organization, however, made its way to the U.S. back in May, holding a sold-out on-ground event, ONE Fight Night 10 on Prime Video, in Colorado.