Earlier today, ONE Championship announced a mega deal with Sky Sports broadcast and digital platforms in Britain and Ireland. The first event as part of the agreement is ONE Fight Night 18 on January 13th. The event takes place in Bangkok and is headlined by the flyweight kickboxing world champion, Superlek Kiamuu9 and Elias Mahmoudi.
Sky Sports and ONE Championship have today announced an exclusive partnership to air ONE events in the UK and Ireland 🙌
ONE is the world’s largest martial arts organization, showcasing fights in a range of martial arts including MMA, Muay Thai, Kickboxing and more 👊
The… pic.twitter.com/Cgn42j8csh
— Sky Sports (@SkySports) December 12, 2023
ONE president, Chatri Sityodtong commented on the deal stating:
“This deal marks an important milestone for the celebration of martial arts and the continued expansion of One Championship’s global footprint”.
Helen Falkus, Sky Sports director of multi sports discussed the partnership saying:
“We’re pleased to partner with One Championship to bring their full range of martial arts to Sky Sports for the first time. We hope to bring new fans to the world class competitive formats on our channels, as well as reach new audiences for Sky.”
This is a huge deal for both Sky Sports and ONE Championship. Sky Sports currently don’t show any mixed martial arts. The UFC is shown on TNT Sports (via Discovery + (formerly BT Sports)), PFL is shown on DAZN, but previously was shown on Channel 4 in the UK and Bellator had a deal with the BBC.
Expect an uptake in the number of eyes on the promotion going forwards from the UK. After a successful US debut, expect big things from ONE Championship.