One Of My Greatest Days As A CEO

Today marks one of my proudest moments since starting ONE Championship. As the CEO of Asia’s largest global sports media property, I think deeply about my responsibility to the world and about ONE Championship’s impact on society across our global footprint of 136 countries.

I am thrilled to announce that ONE Championship has joined forces with Global Citizen to end extreme poverty by 2030 and to battle inequality and injustice throughout the world. Global Citizen is the world’s largest NGO focused on global social movements to solve our planet’s biggest problems. To date, Global Citizen has helped to mobilize over US$35 billion for causes such as poverty, inequality, education, health, and sanitation, helping over 1.3 billion people in the process. Together, ONE Championship and Global Citizen will be a monumental force of positive change for the poor, the disadvantaged, and the ill-treated across the globe. We will be a beacon of hope, strength, and aid to millions of people who need it most. Thank you to the awesome folks at ICONIQ – Divesh Makan, Mike Anders, and Rajeev Natarajan – for making everything possible. Thank you to the heroes of ONE Championship who ignite the world with hope, strength, dreams, and inspiration. Thank you to Hugh Evans, Wei Soo, Mick Sheldrick, and the rest of Team Global Citizen for your friendship, faith, and belief. I can’t wait to do extraordinary things together to make this world a better place.

People often ask me why I donate so much of my time, money, and resources to various charities and non-profit organizations such as Global Citizen, Boys Town Home, Children’s Cancer Foundation, Singapore Children’s Society, and others. The short answer is that I have not forgotten my past. My days of surviving in poverty and watching my mother suffer after my father abandoned us will forever lie indelibly etched in my soul. I am fully aware that my life could have turned out very differently if I had not been blessed with a mother who believed in me and if I did not have the power of martial arts to help me conquer adversity in life. My mother gave me love, hope, and belief. Martial arts gave me a warrior spirit, courage, and discipline. My late Muay Thai teacher, Kru Yodtong Senanan, not only taught his students how to fight in the ring, but he taught us how to live outside of it. It is the circle of life to lift everyone around you on your journey. And in the words of one of my favorite singers Bob Marley, “In this great future, you can’t forget your past.”

ONE Championship is a celebration of Asia’s greatest cultural treasure, and its deep-rooted Asian values of integrity, humility, honor, respect, discipline, courage, and compassion. Through the beauty of martial arts and the power of storytelling, ONE Championship unleashes real-life superheroes who celebrate values, ignite dreams, inspire nations, and change the world.

I have lived a blessed life. Through my suffering in poverty, I learned what no textbook can teach. Through my freedom in wealth, I learned what no amount of money can buy. At the end of the day, we all leave this Earth. Nothing remains, except for the impact we make on our loved ones, our communities, and our world. If you are not fighting for something bigger than yourself, then you are dying for nothing.

Join me in the fight for a better world >>> https://goo.gl/zwFgXt

We are ONE.

Chatri Sityodtong is a self-made entrepreneur and lifelong martial artist from Thailand. His rags-to-riches life story has inspired millions around the world on BBC News, CNN, Financial Times, Bloomberg TV, CNBC, Channel NewsAsia, and other major media. He is the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of ONE Championship, Asia’s largest global sports media property in history with a global broadcast to over 1.7 billion potential viewers across 136 countries around the world. Forbes most recently selected Sityodtong as one of Asia’s next generation tycoons. He was also named “Asia’s King of Martial Arts” by the Financial Times and the “3rd Most Powerful Person in Sports in Asia” by FOX Sports. He is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at INSEAD, Europe’s top business school. Sityodtong holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from Tufts University.