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Never mind the UFC, we’re just focused on making our events better: ONE CEO Victor Cui

SINGAPORE - ONE Championship chief executive officer Victor Cui is unperturbed by the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s attempt to overshadow the ONE: Dynasty of Heroes event on May 26 by getting former world bantamweight champion Holly Holm to headline UFC Fight Night: Singapore on June 19.

ONE Championship CEO Victor Cui says his organisation is just focused on giving its fans a greater fan experience. Photo: AFP

ONE Championship CEO Victor Cui says his organisation is just focused on giving its fans a greater fan experience. Photo: AFP

SINGAPORE - ONE Championship chief executive officer Victor Cui is unperturbed by the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s attempt to overshadow the ONE: Dynasty of Heroes event on May 26 by getting former world bantamweight champion Holly Holm to headline UFC Fight Night: Singapore on June 19.

ONE: Dynasty of Heroes’ main event is Angela Lee’s world atomweight title defence against Brazilian Istela Nunes, while Holm will take on Bethe Correia in a non-title bout.

Both events will be held at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

UFC Fight Night: Singapore marks UFC’s return to Asia after a 19-month hiatus.It is the Las Vegas-based organisation’s latest crack at expanding its foothold in the birthplace of martial arts.

The MMA promoter has held shows in Asia from Tokyo to Manila previously, but analysts say the efforts have yielded mixed returns on their investment compared to record-breaking triumphs in North America

Meanwhile, Cui said he was not surprised by UFC’s attempt to return to Asia. He said in yesterday’s teleconference: “I am not surprised that the UFC are here – they already had an office in Asia for several years, long before ONE started.”

When asked what he thought about about UFC featuring Holly Holm in their main event, Cui said: “Every organisation will try to put on the best card to attract fans.

“We’ve always focused on what we know and what we believe in - telling the great stories of our athletes as well as the values of martial arts which includes honour, respect, hard work, humility and dedication – values that Asians admire.

“From the business standpoint, we need to always over-deliver, change and innovate to make sure our fan experience is greater. We have meet-and-greets, seminars and corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives.

“We focus on ourselves and taking care of our athletes, while the penultimate objective is to make it exciting for our fans.

He added that support for ONE events in Singapore has always been strong.

“I found that the support here has been outstanding – we have one of the most expensive sporting tickets in Asia. Our cage-side seats are around the S$2,000 range.

“We’ve also got our fans to understand that a ONE Championship night is all about entertainment. Our shows are red carpet events – much like the Academy Awards.”

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