“It's always about growing our platform” - Chatri Sityodtong aims to elevate submission grappling to a greater audience 

ONE Championship and its courageous CEO and Chairman, Chatri Sityodtong, have been trying to brazenly elevate the sport of submission grappling to a new level. Just over a week ago, at ONE on Prime Video 2, a submission grappling world title was minted by the Singaporean combat sports promotion for the first time.

The inaugural ONE flyweight submission grappling world title, won by Mikey Musumeci, is the first world title of its kind outside major Jiujitsu/grappling organizations. This is a huge step forward as ONE will showcase its grappling world champions alongside its MMA and kickboxing world champions, further sending the sport of jiu-jitsu to the mainstream.

In an interview with SCMP MMA, Chatri Sityodtong spoke about how ONE Championship is sending submission grappling to the next level. The legendary Thai entrepreneur said:

"ONE is the world's largest martial arts organization. We have, obviously, Muay Thai and kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and submission grappling. We even did boxing before, as you guys know, world title fights, we've done Lethwei before. And for me, it's always about growing our platform, the number of countries that we are broadcasting in around the world, and the number of events around the world that we're doing."

It's an undeniable truth that MMA, aside from boxing, is the largest, most-watched combat sport today. With ONE submission grappling being showcased alongside MMA and broadcast around the world, it will surely reach a new level of exposure.

Watch Chatri Sityodtong's interview here:

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Chatri Sityodtong teases a possible standalone ONE submission grappling event

One of the more interesting things Chatri Sityodtong mentioned in the interview is the possibility of a standalone ONE submission grappling event. Meaning, an entire fight card made up of purely submission grappling matches.

Sityodtong said:

"There are tons of opportunities for a standalone grappling event...I think it was four years ago that we launched ONE Super Series or maybe five years ago, we had plans that it would be number one in the world right to the striking. And it happened within 12 months. We became the number one striking league in the world in terms of just the level of talent, world championship striking for Muay Thai and for kickboxing. And I fully expect to see that with grappling."

This is definitely a massive step as ONE will become a legitimate submission grappling promoter alongside IBJJF, ADCC and WNO. The fact alone that Chatri Sityodtong is thinking about it means there's a huge chance of it happening - just look at what they did with ONE Super Series. Exciting times await ONE Championship.