ONE Championship Secures ESPN Broadcast Deal in Australia & New Zealand
- ONE Championship has secured a significant expansion of its reach in Australia and New Zealand through a new multi-year broadcast agreement with ESPN.
- ESPN’s coverage encompasses a broad spectrum of ONE Championship’s offerings, including its flagship numbered events, monthly ONE Fight Night shows, and the weekly ONE Friday Fights series.
- The partnership provides ESPN with a substantial addition to its combat sports portfolio, complementing its existing coverage.
ONE Championship has secured a significant expansion of its reach in Australia and New Zealand through a new multi-year broadcast agreement with ESPN. The deal, announced today, , will see all ONE Championship events aired exclusively on ESPN’s platforms in the two countries, with the exception of select pay-per-view events.
ESPN’s coverage encompasses a broad spectrum of ONE Championship’s offerings, including its flagship numbered events, monthly ONE Fight Night shows, and the weekly ONE Friday Fights series. These events showcase a diverse range of martial arts disciplines – MMA, Muay Thai, submission grappling, and kickboxing – featuring a global roster of over 80 countries.
The partnership provides ESPN with a substantial addition to its combat sports portfolio, complementing its existing coverage. For ONE Championship, it represents a crucial step in its ongoing international expansion strategy. The agreement replaces previous broadcast arrangements with Seven in Australia and Fite in New Zealand, both established in 2023.
The first event under the new agreement will be ONE Fight Night 40: Buntan vs Hemetsberger II, live from Bangkok’s Lumpinee Stadium on , at 1:00 PM AEDT. The event is headlined by a highly anticipated rematch between ONE Women’s Strawweight Kickboxing World Champion Jackie Buntan and ONE Women’s Strawweight Muay Thai World Champion Stella “Always Hungry” Hemetsberger. The co-main event will feature Shadow Singha Mawynn and Nico Carrillo battling for the ONE Interim Featherweight Muay Thai World Title.
Beyond the championship bouts, ONE Fight Night 40 will also showcase established and rising stars, including former ONE Flyweight MMA World Title challenger Danny “The King” Kingad, 19-year-old MMA prospect Adrian “The Phenom” Lee, Japanese fighter Shozo Isojima, and IBJJF World Champions Fabricio “Hokage” Andrey and Joao Mendes.
The deal extends ESPN’s reach for ONE Championship events across multiple platforms in Australia, including Disney+, Foxtel, Kayo Sports, and Fetch TV. In New Zealand, coverage will be available on Disney+ and Sky New Zealand, which recently renewed its carriage agreement with ESPN.
This move aligns with ONE Championship’s broader strategy of leveraging digital platforms and strategic partnerships to build its global fanbase. Last year, ONE Championship’s Chief Operating Officer, John Scheler, emphasized the promotion’s focus on international expansion, particularly capitalizing on the digital landscape to connect with fans worldwide through social media.
ONE Championship maintains a robust social media presence, posting frequently across platforms like X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and YouTube. This strategy extends beyond event promotion to include fight highlights, fighter profiles, behind-the-scenes content, and general updates. The organization currently boasts over 1 million followers on X, over 11 million on Instagram, and over 11.2 million on YouTube.
Scheler noted the advantage of originating in Southeast Asia, a region with a younger, digitally native demographic accustomed to consuming content on mobile devices. This demographic’s expectations differ from those in markets like the United States, where viewership is traditionally tied to paid media rights. He also highlighted the importance of balancing fan engagement with monetization opportunities in different markets.
“It’s market-specific,” Scheler said. “We’re a company that’s driving towards profitability right now and taking a look at the best monetization opportunities across all of the markets in which we’re broadcast. But, at the same time, we realize we’re a growing property in many parts of the world and the best way to develop a fan base, especially in a newer, more nascent market, is to get your product out in front of as many people as possible.”
In a related development, UFC, a rival mixed martial arts promotion, has announced a new partnership with food and beverage start-up Foodstory. The collaboration, brokered by IMG’s licensing division, will result in the development of a line of nutritionist-backed, high-protein bars designed for UFC athletes and available for consumer purchase.
Research and development for the bars will be conducted at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas, utilizing functional ingredients tailored for performance nutrition. Duncan French, Senior Vice President of the UFC Performance Institute, emphasized the synergy between the Institute’s expertise and Foodstory’s product development capabilities.
“By bringing together the UFC Performance Institute’s experience working daily with the world’s best combat sport athletes and FoodStory’s ability to turn bold ideas into high-quality consumer products, we have a powerful combination,” French said. “Through close collaboration, we have developed a protein bar that reflects how athletes train, fuel, and recover, and we are making this available to general consumers.”