One Championship Ascent to Power held earlier this month in Singapore.
The fighting arena was packed. Roars of excitement from fans of Mixed Martial Arts were heard all over the place. At the Singapore Indoor Stadium where the recent One Championship Ascent to Power competition was about to kick off, the atmosphere was abuzz with the enthusiastic voice of the host followed by the screening of short videos introducing fighters. Then two brave men entered the ring and the battle began.
Despite the energy of the fights, they came to an end within a blink of an eye, mostly within the first round. Each contest consisted of three rounds, five minutes each.
Mixed Martial Arts, or MMA, was established over 20 years ago. In a nutshell, fighters can apply any kind of martial arts skills in the fight — from karate, Taekwondo, muay Thai, to Brazilian jiu-jitsu, to name a few. Muay Thai and jiu-jitsu are the two most effective skills applied as the basis for most MMA contenders.
In North America, MMA has become one of the fastest growing sports, with the Ultimate Fighting Championship the world’s and America’s largest MMA promotion company.
One Championship is one of the world’s and Asia’s leading MMA promotion companies, and fights are usually held in Asian countries, including Singapore. Now Thai fans will have a chance to witness live competition. For the first time in Thailand, One Championship flies to Bangkok and will be held on Friday at Impact Arena, Muang Thong Thani.
Highlights include a fight between Dechdamrong S. Amnuaychoke, the first Thai World MMA Champion versus Yoshitaka Naito, a Japanese fighter who has never lost. The event will also feature Bodyslam and Big Ass concert.
“In the past, not many people knew much about MMA,” said Chatri Sidyodtong, One Championship’s founder. “Martial arts is in our culture. One Championship brings all martial arts together and celebrates our history and tradition.
“Asia is the home of martial arts. I thought to myself that there are many Asian stars who are so well-known with martial arts in movies so why can’t we have the real fighters here.”
For MMA fighters, there are several essential factors needed to prepare for the combat including body strength, cardio fitness, high level of technique and a warrior spirit.
One of the most exciting fights during the recent “One Championship Ascent to Power” was One Championship’s first ever women’s competition, which was between 19-year-old Angela Lee from Singapore and 33-year-old Mei Yamaguchi from Japan. Lee also seemed to have an advantage over Yamaguchi in terms of height, where there was an 11cm difference. However, body size is not the most important aspect for this sport.
For all championship bouts, there are five rounds, still five minutes each. The competition between Lee and Yamaguchi took them to the last round, which was quite unusual.
“What both of them have is a warrior spirit where they don’t give up easily and keep on fighting,” said Chatri.
Kamol “Sukie” Sukosol, a well-known musician who is bringing the One Championship to Thailand, has revealed that for him, MMA’s charm is about surprise.
“Everyone thinks the bigger guy is always the best. But this martial art has proved that it doesn’t have to be that way,” said Kamol. “It’s all about technique. The more I get into it, I think it’s very exciting. You never know what’s going to happen. I think that’s the appeal of MMA.”
Kamol also added that he is quite certain that it won’t be a tough job to introduce Thais to the sport.
“I think MMA is similar to a concert because we’re putting on a show in terms of lighting and the sound system. It’s just a different product. In concerts, we put on singers but here we put on fighters. I believe people will be interested in it because the timing and everything is just right.”
As MMA is a fighting sport that can involve various branches of martial arts, one of the most common questions is: “Is this sport considered risky?”.
“It’s not dangerous at all compared to car racing or soccer,” commented Chatri. “This is because everyone in the fight has trained professionally. I think One Championship is not about fighting but it’s about celebrating the beauty of martial arts.”
Evolving martial arts
One Championship is definitely Chatri Sityodtong’s main work. But that’s not his only sport business. The 45-year-old Thai-Japanese, formerly known as Chatri Trisiripisal, is also founder of Evolve MMA, a Singapore-based MMA gym.
Founded in 2009, Evolve MMA provides quality training facilities with classes of various martial arts such as muay Thai, jiu-jitsu, wrestling, submission grappling and self-defense — all taught by experienced instructors who have competed and won at the highest levels of competition in the world such as UFC, One Fighting Championship, DREAM, Pride FC, Bellator Fighting Championship and the Lumpinee Stadium Championship.
“I named my gym ‘Evolve’ because I want people to evolve into everything they can be in life. Our students learn martial arts and also courage, humility, discipline and the warrior spirit from the world champs who train them,” explained Chatri.
To run a martial arts gym is, for Chatri, not just to follow the global sports trend — it was his childhood dream since the age of 19. “I once wrote down a list of 10 dreams in my life. To run a gym that helps lift up the life quality of trainers was third on the list. A lot of times when fighters become world champion, after they finish competing, they become poor again. And I think that’s not fair when they give 100% to muay Thai.”
In the past, even though muay Thai was well-known, fighters were mostly limited to non-affluent people. Chatri was different. He was raised in a well-to-do family but was so fascinated with the sport that he willingly joined Sityodtong boxing camp in Pattaya himself. And that was where he earned his new last name.
“A lot of people looked down on me, he recalled. “Everyone thought it was strange for a rich kid to practice this sport. But I was just being true to my heart.”
At first, Chatri thought muay Thai was all about kicking and punching. But after 30 years of experience, he has discovered there is a lot more to it than that.
“Muay Thai and all martial arts is the way to live life — not about fighting. It gives you confidence, courage, discipline, self-defence skills, fitness and a warrior spirit.”
Chatri moved to America and that was when his life reached its nadir when his father went broke and left the rest of the family to survive on their own. Four dollars was the amount of daily money he could spend on food.
“I was about to give up so many times. I didn’t have any confidence. Then, I recalled my boxing teacher’s words. He said if you fall, you fight. If you’re scared, you fight. That’s why I’m here today.”
Now Chatri also helps people. After returning to Asia and founding his gym, he got his first muay Thai teacher to work with him and pay him a good salary. His fighter friends from Sityodtong camp are also with him now.
“For me to be happy is to do what I love but to make my life meaningful I have to help people and change the world for the better,” he said.
MMA fighters in training.
Chatri Sityodtong.
This source first appeared on Bangkok Post Lifestyle.