During a recent episode of the Bruce Lee Podcast, Sityodtong narrated his journey of fostering a love for the sport, being a student of the game and building a Pan-Asian martial arts empire. Young Sityodtong fell in love with the art of eight limbs at the tender age of nine when his dad took him to iconic Lumpinee Stadium, the Mecca of muay thai. While he fondly reminisces the day as a valuable father-son bonding moment, the stirring impact of the vibrant atmosphere profoundly impacted Sityodtong, and he felt a magnetic pull that would shape the course of his life.
A few years before, Bruce Lee, a legendary martial artist and actor, rose to prominence, embodying the spirit, identity and essence of the sport. Sityodtong was deeply impacted by the 1973 classic “Enter the Dragon,” which shattered stereotypes and empowered Asians. His portrayal imbued generations with cultural pride. For Sityodtong, the combination of his first live martial arts experience and the impact of the movie led to a fervent embrace of the rich martial arts heritage in Asia.
“I know everything about him, I know everything, like literally the life story, to his philosophies, and so much of his wisdom… It's incorporated in who I am,” Sityodtong said.
“It's unbelievable how far ahead he was of his time as a martial artist, but also as a human being, as a philosopher. I don’t think mainstream fully appreciates that he was a very philosophical man.”
The ensuing period of his life was an uphill struggle. The Asian financial crisis in 1997 swept away the stability of his childhood and left behind the wreckage of poverty. Watching his mother suffer, eat one meal a day, and cry out of hopelessness ignited a fervent drive to conquer financial objectives. He did just that, building a thriving career for himself on Wall Street. At one point, around 2005, backed by Farallon Capital, he launched Izara Capital Management, a $500 million New York hedge fund. But as fate would have it, that wasn’t his true destiny.
Even after establishing financial stability, there was a sense of a gaping hole in his life. As it turned out, the thought of enthusiasm that lit up his eyes at the age of nine at Lumpinee would transform the core purpose of his being. He bid farewell to the lucrative life at Wall Street and set his sights on a grand vision—to unite the vast tapestry of Asia through the language of martial arts.
Sports culture in the United States and the financial part of it struck him like a thunderbolt. Sityodtong realized that the fervor of sports in the U.S. and Europe captured global attention, and their colossal valuations, totaling billions upon billions, spoke volumes about their significance. He noticed a space, and this was the void, the absence of a pan-Asian sporting spectacle, that ignited the flames of his ambition. Fast forward to the present, ONE Championship boasts strong ratings and brings live broadcast action of top-bill martial arts each Friday to over 150 countries around the world.
Throughout his journey, Lee's insights have deeply shaped his character, but one quote in particular sticks out; “Do not pray for an easy life; pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.” This message, and several other life lessons by Lee, has become a guiding light for Sityodtong, and he has clung to it when the weight of rejections and tribulations threatened to crush his spirit. Speaking about the influence of martial arts, he stated:
“Martial arts is truly the journey of the self, the inner self… You know? It's your own knowledge, it's your own skills, at the same time thousands of hours of training and hardship and failure and suffering. The martial arts practitioner inherits a warrior spirit to conquer adversity in life; inherits humility and honor, respect, and so many incredible values.”
The journey to global prominence was riddled with obstacles, rejections from investors, and daunting challenges of even landing prospective resources who refused to work at a fighting sports startup. The depth of the challenges pushed him to the brink of contemplating quitting. Despite the obstacles, the initial spark that ignited the journey fueled his determination to keep going. Sityodtong credits the meteoric rise of the organization to the optimal utilization of technology and digital space.
“I think the reason why all the sports probably took 70 to 100 years to build whereas it took us only 11 years is because of technology, you know. The world is so connected today that you can tell stories. You can put out crazy knockout videos. You can put out inspirational [videos], which we do.”
He also strongly believes that with the democratization of content, especially with Asian and regional content churning out massive numbers on large streaming platforms, the connectivity within the digital space has never been higher:
“We have a broadcast deal with Amazon Prime and we're on Amazon every month, but the point is that we actually have a huge fan base in America. That's the realization of the economy. Content things travel if it's good content… I mean, look at Netflix. One-third of Netflix, the top 30% of Netflix’s biggest hits comes from Korea. Who would think of that, you know? It's a drama, it's a Squid Game… When you and I grew up, Shannon, everything came out of Hollywood.”
The conversation then blossomed into a celebration of Lee's philosophy: A philosophy, according to Sityodtong, rooted in love, resilience and the relentless pursuit of excellence. The ONE Championship CEO drew parallels between Lee’s unyielding spirit and his own journey of rediscovery.
As the vibrant conversation unfolded, the CEO of ONE painted a vivid picture of the exciting projects bubbling beneath the surface.
“We have so many other amazing projects down the pipeline, whether it's a documentary on ONE, whether it's reality shows and so many other [types of] content that we're working on that I can't wait for the world to see.”
While speaking about the sense of accomplishment with the success of ONE, he eloquently articulated the Japanese concept of Ikigai, the intersection of passion and mission:
“I'm doing something I truly love. I'm truly helping the world by unleashing these incredible heroes, telling their stories and celebrating their values with every family around the world.”