With their return to Singapore, ONE Championship looks to restore its global roster.
ONE President Chatri Sityodtong said on Tuesday that the promotion is working alongside numerous governments to allow talent to participate in upcoming events.
“Even though borders are still closed across Asia, this will be the start of our international events,” said Sityodtong on a conference call with media.
The promotion is scheduled to hold “Reign of Dynasties” on Friday from the Singapore Indoor Stadium, adopting a similar “bubble” format for athletes that other professional sports have used.
“We created a bubble with the hotel and transportation from the airport … There are very strict protocols we have implemented,” said Sityodtong, also noting that testing for COVID-19 will be done frequently.
Flagship events from the promotion have been back since late July, as ONE has held events from the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand.
While the events have run frequently in Thailand, travel restrictions in the area caused the talent pool to be heavily limited.
Friday’s event sees a wide array of fighters coming from different countries within the Asian and Oceanic regions.
The promotion has an event scheduled for October 30th as well, with a list of fighters hailing from the United States to the Netherlands to Australia. The location for that event has not been revealed yet.
While ONE is working to allow talent in, the uncertainty of COVID-19 is definitely understood by them.
“Some [countries] have had a significant drop in COVID[-19] cases, some have seen a spike. Borders remain closed across the entire continent for the most part,” said Sityodtong.
Despite the unpredictable nature of the future, the promotion is already brewing ideas for what could come.
Along with mentioning that ONE is already working on their 2021 schedule, Sityodtong shared the idea of hosting an atomweight tournament in January. The plan would be for the winner to face Angela Lee, who announced pregnancy recently and plans to return in October of 2021.
