Rich Franklin says ONE Championship is working toward its first event in the US in 2023

ONE Championship Vice President Rich Franklin confirmed that the Singapore-based promotion is working towards its first major event in the US in 2023.

Rich ‘Ace’ Franklin, a consensus MMA legend and Hall of Famer, told Boardroom that the organization as a whole will certainly be expanding to new territory. Not only will events be held in Singapore, but hopefully across the United States in the new year.

Naturally, for a massive martial arts business to thrive, expanding its operations is key for the growing organization.

Franklin spoke to Boardroom TV and said:

"The US is a priority market for us, obviously.”

He further added:

"We won’t be on the ground in the US this year, but as a company, we understand that if we want to be successful in the US, that’s not a business model that produces the end outcome that we want, so we’ll have to do shows here. We’re looking at 2023 at this point in time for being on the ground.”

Apparently, that was the intention a couple years earlier, but because of the pandemic and COVID-19 protocols set in place in Singapore, plans had to be put on pause. With restrictions lifted, the organization is thrilled to set their business model into full motion for MMA fans all across the United States.

The organization has certainly made progress this year. It’s reported that ONE Championship is currently broadcast in more than 150 countries around the world, and with the new multi-year partnership, Canada and the United States will finally have the opportunity to tune into Singapore’s martial arts event on primetime TV.

The first out of five major events to be broadcast live this year is ONE on Prime Video 1: Moraes vs Johnson II. The star-studded card will be broadcast live from Singapore on Friday, August 26 on US primetime via Prime Video.

With so much in the works at this point in time, Rich Franklin told fans to anticipate a ONE Championship event to be hosted on American soil as early as next year. For the next five months, however, North American fans can catch ONE’s ‘rock-star’ performances each month on Amazon Prime Video.

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Rich Franklin talks historic significance of multi-year partnership at press conference

ONE Vice President Rich Franklin spoke about the historic multi-year partnership at ONE Championship and Amazon Prime Video press conference last Wednesday. Franklin has worked with the organization for the past 8 years and cannot help but be in awe of its evolution.

In his speech, he said:

"When I was working for one championship, I’ve been doing my part to help this organization grow. When we were there in Singapore originally we were not the first MMA organization that was in Asia, but as time went on we became the dominant organization in Asia.”

Rich Franklin has seen the fruits of their labor come together under one roof with the new partnership with Amazon Prime Video.

Watch the full official press conference below: