Dagi Arslanaliev: “I think ONE could have a great run in the Middle East”
Singapore based combat sports promotion ONE Championship recently announced the formation of a strategic long-term global partnership with Media City Qatar. ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong was at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha last week where he announced that Group ONE Holdings (ONE) and Media City Qatar signed a Memorandum of Understanding (“MoU”) to develop a strategic long-term partnership, collaborating in the production and development of a wide range of global content in Qatar across multiple media sectors, including original programming, studio shows, and esports, that will strengthen Qatar’s growing media ecosystem.
In the history of ONE, the promotion had never held a fight card in the Middle East (except for partners-based ROAD to ONE shows), but that could be changing.
Turkish lightweight Dagi Arsalanaliev was excited to hear of the partnership because he himself is on the cusp of earning a ONE title shot.
“ONE does amazing shows – the quality is great, and I think the promotion and events like that will be received very well,” Arsalanaliev said of the possibility of the promotion doing a show in the Middle East. “This region and especially Turkey has some great talent when it comes to combat sports. It has great kickboxers, great wrestlers. The talent pool is deep.”
“I think ONE could have a great run in the Middle East. Most of all, I want ONE to come to Turkey and start organizing big-scale events there. I would like to show my fans some action, make them happy, and show some great fights. It’s a big country that offers many opportunities. If there was an event in Istanbul, I am sure I could sell out the whole stadium.”
In his 11 professional MMA fights, Arsalanaliev has fought 10 of them under the ONE banner. He has recorded eight victories and two losses with the promotion and is coming off a third-round finish of Timofey Nastyukhin in December.
