ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong fires up athletes with epic pre-fight speech behind closed doors

ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong was fired up going into a huge weekend for the promotion. With a double bill to close out the year in style in Manila, ONE on Prime Video 5 and ONE 164 produced events that showcased the best of ONE Championship.

Before both events got underway, Chatri Sityodtong delivered a speech to the competitors scheduled for both cards on the week of the events.

Watch ONE’s CEO motivate his fighters in a post by ONE Championship on Instagram:

Chatri was keen to praise the fighters for choosing ONE Championship as their home. As predicted, it was the world champions who stole all the headlines after both events wrapped up.

In his speech, Sityodtong spoke about the amount of champions that all compete under the ONE banner, and that’s what ONE on Prime Video 5 and ONE 164 were all about.

In the clip, Chatri prepared his roster for their respective fights by reminding them of all of their sacrifices and why they do this in the first place. That's their love of martial arts and competition.

Speaking to the likes of Reinier de Ridder, Anatoly Malykhin, Kade Ruotolo, Brandon Vera, Joshua Pacio and Jarred Brooks, his speech went out to a star-studded room full of high-level competitors.

It was Russia's Anatoly Malykhin who seized the moment and, just like Sityodtong had called for, delivered his best performance to date.

The interim heavyweight world champion became a double champion by breaking Reinier de Ridder’s incredible undefeated streak and taking his light heavyweight belt in the process.

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ONE on Prime Video 5: Who was given $50,000 bonuses from Chatri Sityodtong?

The fifth ONE on Prime Video event of the year delivered as expected, as did Chatri Sityodtong with his post-fight bonuses.

ONE on Prime Video 5: De Ridder vs Malykhin lived up to its expectations in the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila. As always, three $50,000 bonuses were given out to the three fighters that stole the show on Friday night.

Tye Ruotolo walked away with the first bonus of the night, making it back to back bonus-earning performances for the submission grappling specialist. The 19-year-old prodigy submitted Marat Gafurov after showcasing the many submission threats that he has in his arsenal.

Up next to steal the spotlight was Edson Marques, who silenced the Filipino crowd with his knockout over the legend Eduard Folayang. After reading his opponent and staying out of the way of his aggressive opening to the fight, Marques timed a counter perfectly in the second round to land a devastating right cross as his opponent overextended.

The third and final bonus from Chatri Sityodtong was unsurprisingly given to the winner of the main event. Anatoly Malykhin abruptly ended the dominant streak of Reinier de Ridder, becoming the first man to ever defeat him and doing it in style with a powerful knockout.

Taking the Dutchman's light heavyweight title in the process, the Russian is now a double champion and he made it look easy.