ESPN today announced a multi-year agreement with ONE Championship (ONE), the world’s largest martial arts organisation, which will make ONE events available exclusively via ESPN in Australia and New Zealand.
ESPN will air all ONE events live, excluding select pay-per-view events, across its most widely distributed sports network spanning Disney+, Foxtel, Kayo Sports, Fetch TV, and Sky NZ.
Those broadcasts will include flagship ONE numbered events, monthly ONE Fight Night shows, and the weekly ONE Friday Fights event series. ONE features action across multiple martial arts disciplines, including MMA, Muay Thai, submission grappling, and kickboxing, showcasing the organisation’s global roster of elite fighters from more than 80 countries.
ESPN’s coverage will begin with ONE Fight Night 40: Buntan vs Hemetsberger II, live from Bangkok’s iconic Lumpinee Stadium on Saturday, February 14, at 1:00 PM AEDT.
The main event will feature ONE Women’s Strawweight Kickboxing World Champion Jackie Buntan defending her gold against ONE Women’s Strawweight Muay Thai World Champion Stella “Always Hungry” Hemetsberger in a highly anticipated rematch. Also, the co-main event will feature a battle for the ONE Interim Featherweight Muay Thai World Title between top contenders Shadow Singha Mawynn and “King of the North” Nico Carrillo.
ONE Fight Night 40 will also showcase former ONE Flyweight MMA World Title challenger Danny “The King” Kingad, 19-year-old MMA star Adrian “The Phenom” Lee, Japanese wrecking ball Shozo Isojima, and IBJJF World Champions Fabricio “Hokage” Andrey and Joao Mendes, among others.
*Information acquired via media release from ONE Championship*