5 biggest differences between ONE Championship and other fight leagues

You can no longer deny One Championship's place among the major leagues in the fight business. Showcasing fights across Muay Thai, kickboxing, submission grappling, and MMA, the Asian promotion gained fame simply by how different it is from the pack.

Home to some of the most lethal athletes on the planet from different forms of combat, ONE Championship proudly brings martial arts home to Asia. On their official website, ONE declares:

Whether it is Karate, Muay Thai, Kung Fu, Judo, Kali, Shuai Jiao, Taekwondo, Sambo, Silat, or Aikido, martial arts has flourished in Asia for the last 5000 years. There is a homegrown martial art in almost every country in Asia that is revered and celebrated as a part of history and tradition.

Asia has always been synonymous with the mystique and prestige of martial arts, which ONE Championship celebrates in grand fashion.

The Singapore-based organization prides itself on finding the best professional fighters and the greatest martial artists in the world.

As a result, every ONE Championship event offers fights that produce excitement that casual and hardcore fans can appreciate. From the over-arching philosophy that motivates its business structure to its rulesets, ONE Championship has truly come into its own. Today, we list five major elements that make ONE Championship different from other fight leagues.

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#5. ONE Championship doesn't showcase only MMA

As previously mentioned, ONE Championship showcases fights across four different combat sports. From Muay Thai and kickboxing to MMA and submission grappling, the promotion satisfies fans of any major combat sport.

With the inception of ONE Super Series in 2018, ONE has recruited some of the greatest Muay Thai and kickboxing icons. This all-striking leg of the organization has produced heart-stopping moments, such as this stunning head kick KO by Superbon Banchamek over the legendary Giorgio 'The Doctor' Pretrosyan:

Also, ONE has signed superstars in the grappling world to showcase their talents on a global stage. Icons like Marcus 'Buchecha' Almeida, Garry 'The Lion Killer' Tonon, Shinya 'Tobikan Judan' Aoki, and most recently Andre Galvao and Gordon 'The King' Ryan' are all on ONE Championship's roster.

ONE Championship's ability to thrill fans with the diversity of styles it showcases at every event separates the promotion from everybody else.

#4. ONE Championship will feature special rules matches

ONE Championship recently ventured into the unknown by announcing its brand-new experiment: a special-rules match. The first bout was supposed to feature MMA great Demetrious 'Mighty Mouse' Johnson and current ONE flyweight Muay Thai champion Rodtang Jitmuangnon on December 5, 2021. However, the fight was postponed due to rising COVID-19 cases in Singapore and is expected to take place early next year.

The blockbuster fight, if and when it happens, will have a hybrid ruleset. Rounds 1 and 3 will be contested under Muay Thai rules, while rounds 2 and 4 will be under MMA rules. The sheer ambition of putting together a fight of this nature harkens to the glory days of former Asian MMA giant Pride FC.

The courage and willingness to showcase fights outside the norm makes ONE Championship a different breed from the rest.

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#3. ONE Championship follows Global Martial Arts Ruleset

According to the official website, ONE Championship uses what they call 'Global Martial Arts Rule Set for Competition,' which combines 'Best Practices from Asian and Non-Asian Rules.'

There are several differences from the more famous Unified Rules used by the UFC. However, what separates ONE Championship's ruleset the most is its permission to use two moves banned in the Unified Rules.

ONE Championship's MMA fights allow 12-to-6 elbows and knees on a grounded opponent's head. The Asian promotion also allows kicks to the head, but only when both fighters are grounded.

Such differences have become a thorn in the side of fighters coming to ONE Championship from other promotions. This year, former UFC champ Demetrious Johnson suffered his first KO loss due to a knee on the ground:

It can be argued that allowing these moves into MMA fights can add more excitement to the bout. The fighter on the bottom needs to actively defend themselves at all times. Banning these strikes also limits the opportunity of the fighter on top to really push home the advantage.

Though they banned elbows on the ground, the now-defunct Pride FC created some of the most memorable moments in MMA due to their implementation of the grounded knee strikes. It seems the legendary Japanese promotion has inspired ONE Championship.

#2. ONE Championship fights are judged differently

ONE Championship has tried its best to solve one of the long-standing problems in MMA, the judging criteria. Big organizations like the UFC and Bellator adopt the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts, which judges fights in a 10-Point Must System. This method of judging fights per round was adopted from boxing, which has used it for generations.

Pundits, fighters, and fans alike argue whether it is right to judge MMA fights using a system created for an entirely different sport. The argument usually arises following highly questionable decisions in MMA.

Check out what MMA legend Pat Miletich has to say about the controversial UFC 167 decision between Georges St-Pierre and Johny Hendricks:

In response to this issue, ONE Championship completely removed the round-per-round judging format. ONE's official website says:

In the event that a bout goes the distance, it will go to a judges’ decision. The three judges will score the bout in its entirety, not round-by-round. Judges will utilize the ONE judging criteria in descending order of importance to determine the winner of the bout.

Judging a fight in its entirety regardless of what happens in rounds makes a lot of sense. It favors the one who takes risks to win the fight than another with a safety-first approach.

ONE's judging criteria are as follows:

• Near KO or Submission
• Damage (Internal, Accumulated, Superficial)
• Striking combinations and cage generalship (Ground control, Superior positioning)
• Earned takedowns or takedown defense
• Aggression

If the St-Pierre vs. Hendricks fight were judged using ONE Championship's criteria, Hendricks would have been the UFC welterweight champion that night.

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#1. ONE Championship has abolished weight cutting

What truly separates ONE Championship from all other fight organizations is the care it shows for its fighters' well-being. ONE Championship seems to have found a solution to the dehydration-related injuries and weight-cutting dangers that have plagued the MMA world for years.

The Asian organization has created a new 'walking weight' system that prevents fighters from cutting too much weight for a fight. On the new revolutionary system, ONE Championship's official website states:

The new program, which is the first of its kind for combat sports, is focused on athlete safety by introducing 'walking-weight' competition via multiple weigh-ins and tests before and during fight week, including three hours before an event begins... An athlete’s 'walking-weight' will be determined by a robust system that will track his/her weight on a regular basis throughout the period that the athlete is contracted to ONE.

Not only will fighters be fighting healthy, they will also be mandated to perform at a weight that's optimal for their performance.

To learn more about ONE Championship's weight management program, visit their website here.