Photo: ONE Championship
A Newbie’s Guide to ONE Championship
One Championship will be making its broadcast debut on Amazon’s Prime Video service in August. The ONE 161 event that will be leading the charge on the platform is the rematch between ONE flyweight champion, Adriano Moraes and former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson in a mixed martial arts bout. The modern MMA fan generally watches only the UFC, but ONE Championship’s brand of mixed martial arts competition is a whole new ball game, and their cards truly mix competitive martial arts.
The casual fan that’s used to a bunch of MMA fights might be unfamiliar with what ONE Championship brings to the table so MyMMANews is looking to make a guide that will help answer some questions if you tune in to the event on August 26.
It’s not just MMA
One Championship doesn’t just wash, rinse and repeat what everyone else does in MMA. For example, half of the eight bouts listed for ONE 161 are Muay Thai matches. Two of those Muay Thai bouts are flyweight Grand Prix bouts and one of them is a bantamweight title fight between current champ Nong-O Gaiyanghadao vs. Liam Harrison. So, if you watch events with someone that says, “I don’t like all the huggin’ on the ground,” they may prefer ONE Championship over what they’ve been watching.
Did Someone Say Submission Only Grappling?
While none are currently listed for ONE 161, usually among Muay Thai/Kickboxing and MMA bouts, a few submission-only grappling events are added to ONE Championship cards. They also sometimes let the competitors compete in both MMA and grappling under the ONE Championship banner. Garry Tonnon is one of those that have already done both and middleweight/ light heavyweight MMA champion, Reinier De Ridder recently competed in a grappling match against Andre Galvao. They recently appointed multiple-time Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Champion, Pan American Champion, and ADCC World Champion, Leo Vieira as their Vice President of Grappling.
More Weight Classes
Most mixed martial arts promotions have the same weight classes; strawweight, flyweight, bantamweight, featherweight, lightweight, welterweight, Middleweight, light-heavyweight, and heavyweight (nine total). However, ONE Championships also has an Atomweight class which they say is between 47.7 and 52.2 kilograms. That’s roughly 105-115 pounds and you can see the breakdown of their classes on the ONE Championship website. Outside of Invicta FC, they seem to be the only big promotion that has the extra weight class.
The range in weight might also raise some questions. That’s because ONE Championship prefers their athletes don’t dehydrate themselves to make weight, they prefer they be hydrated and fit to compete. On their site, they say they have a system that “ensures athletes are fully hydrated, fit, and healthy ahead of their bouts.
A Different Set of Rules
For MMA, ONE Championship uses the Global Martial Arts Rule Set For Competition. It’s different from what the UFC uses, which are the Unified Rules of MMA and New Unified Rules that vary from state to state. However one of the main differences between the Global Rules for MMA versus the Unified Rules that new fans might notice is the use of strikes for downed opponents. ONE allows 12-to-6 elbow strikes and knees to a grounded opponent’s head, which seemed to be a bit of controversy to fans unaware of when Johnson lost to Moraes at ONE on TNT back in April of 2021.
Well, that should be enough to get new fans ready to enjoy what ONE Championship is bringing to Amazon’s Prime Video service next month. Be sure and tune in to the press conference this Wednesday on their YouTube channel when they make the official announcement.
