"We have a really high finishing rate" - Rich Franklin says ONE Championship's explosive nature will hook US audiences

ONE Championship Vice President Rich Franklin believes his promotion has one massive edge over all the other organizations in North America.

In an interview with Morning Kombat, Franklin said that ONE Championship’s finishing rate puts it above the promotions that operate primarily in the United States.

ONE Championship has an impending move into the North American market after it signed a multi-year deal with Prime Video. The deal with Amazon’s video streaming platform will see the sporting giant hold live events sometime in 2023.

Prime Video will also broadcast 12 live events per year in the United States and Canada. Discussing the deal, Rich Franklin said:

“We have a really high finishing rate, so when you look at the product and just from the competition standpoint, that’s an obvious and apparent difference. Then you get into the whole entertainment side of things, and that’s a whole different discussion.”

In the past three events that ONE Championship has held, there was a 57 percent finishing rate. Of those three cards, ONE: Lights Out had the highest finishing ratio, with nine of the 10 fights ending in a stoppage.

ONE Championship also emphasizes the grappling and striking arts with whole divisions dedicated to submission grappling, Muay Thai, and kickboxing.

Muay Thai fights are also fought wearing four-ounce MMA gloves, a significant change that has put an emphasis on the entertainment side of things. Franklin admitted that he was skeptical of having purely striking contests on the fight cards.

Franklin, nevertheless, had a change of heart.

“Our Muay Thai matches are done in the four-ounce MMA style gloves, which makes for interesting fights. And needless to say, after we had our first event I sat there and I was like, these are these really good fights and I don't want to admit it, but I was like, I actually liked that. So now I've gotten to the point where I really look forward to these things.”

Catch the full interview below:

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Rich Franklin is hyped up for ONE Championship’s impending American entry

The COVID-19 pandemic forced sporting events to slow down and ONE Championship was no exception. Borders, however, are slowly opening up and Rich Franklin said there’s no stopping the promotion from fully expanding into the West.

Franklin said he expects the organization to stage a fight card in the United States for every month in 2024.

“Next year will come into the US looking at probably somewhere between four and six shows on ground in the US. And then I would imagine in 2024, we will be looking at doing all 12 of their shows on ground in the US.”

We'll find out if Franklin's lofty American ambitions come to fruition for ONE Championship in the coming years.