Miesha Tate Says ONE Will Not Change As US Expansion Looms

ONE Championship has been a champion of being consistent with their principles as a company and in the process, they have created a solid blueprint of showcasing their athletes as superheroes.

That blueprint was their gateway to break-in the major Asian markets and allowed them to succeed. Now they aim to emulate in North America for the company’s expansion.

Recently, one of its top executives, in the form of Miesha Tate, shared her thoughts (via MMA Fighting) about how the Singapore-based promotion effectively applies these principles.

“I love working for a value-based company. And to be honest, I sit back and I think about this, that if I wanted to have my own organisation for martial arts, this is how I would want it to be,” Tate stated.

“I would want it to inspire people to be the best versions of themselves, about creating local heroes, we don’t call our athletes fighters because they’re more than that. They’re professional athletes. And really, to so many people, they honestly are heroes. They’re iconic. They are what parents want their children to look up to and to strive to be like because they’re really great people.”

The former UFC Women’s Bantamweight champion was very particular about how ONE Championship differs from other organisation in terms of selling events, pointing out that trash talking and controversies have no place in their system.

“And we highlight those stories. It’s not about controversy, it’s not about trash talk or rivalries. It’s really about being the best athlete you can be and inspiring people to dream more and do more and be more in life. I think that’s just a really beautiful process, so I think for me being a part of something like that, I just feel like I’m able to do more good and give back in a more positive light.”

And in the wake of an expansion to the North American audience, Tate was firm about sticking to their set of values and not shifting to how other promotions have moulded their viewers throughout the years.

“We will never change the value base and the marketing base of the company, that’s what ONE Championship is founded on, and I think that would just be fraudulent. I think we’ll definitely stay the course,” a confident Tate announced.

“Here’s what I can say and I truly believe this. When I sat back and I thought about the way that MMA is marketed in the west and the way that martial arts is marketed here, when you have rivalries or people who are throwing dollies through bus windows and you have this extreme trash talk, people are flying out of cages into the audience, sure, is it good for ratings in that moment? Yes it is. But do people start to care more about that than the sport? I believe so. And I believe that when those things are not happening you see huge plummets in the ratings,” added Miesha.

Miesha wrapped up her thoughts by stating examples of how selling trash talk and controversies could only be beneficial in the short term success and not in the long run.

“When you see good athletes, Dustin Poiriers and fighters who are awesome, they’re great, nobody cares anymore about those. They want all the trash talk. Here’s what also happens, is that you have somebody who is marketed because they’re a fantastic trash talker and they do crazy things, that only works though while they’re winning. Because people can’t talk trash like that when they lose. So once they lose, it’s not really a sustainable way to do it, so how many people do you think you’re gonna really find that can talk that amount of trash, have that amount of ‘something shiny’ appeal—because I don’t think it’s sustainable as I said—it’s just, it works really, really well in the short term and it doesn’t work well in the long term.”


See also:


Tagged: , ,

Leave comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.