One Championship: Rich Franklin reflects on moulding Asia’s rising tribe of MMA Warriors

Rich Franklin’s life inside the cage was drawing to a close when he first ventured out to Asia. The experience would alter the course of his career – and his life.

“I really didn’t know much about the place at all,” says Franklin, of that first trip to the region back in 2011. “I was invited out to Singapore to host a seminar at Evolve MMA and was simply blown away by the talent, and by the potential. In fact it was that first trip that opened the door to the job I have today.”

That would be as One Championship vice-president, as well CEO and host of the One Warrior Series (OWS) that last month aired its 10th event but has seriously clicked into the gear over the past 12 months, providing a pathway into MMA for some of the most exciting talent the region has to offer.

Think Thai multi-discipline stand-out Stamp Fairtex, whose at 4-0 in MMA and whose destiny seems set towards a shot at the atomweight title currently held by Angela “Unstoppable” Lee (10-2). Think emerging strawweight talent Lito “Thunder Kid” Adiwang (11-2), so impressive in dismantling Thailand’s Pongsiri “The Smiling Assassin” Mitsatit (10-5) last time out and – like Stamp – seemingly set for a collision at some stage with incumbent (Team Lakay pal) Joshua “The Passion” Pacio (17-3).

Adiwang’s latest win came at Fire & Fury, held in Manila on January 31, just as the coronavirus started its global spread and rumours about the possibility of the world pretty much coming to a halt were first emerging. Of course, those rumours have since been confirmed and MMA – like pretty much everything in the sporting world – is pretty much on hold.

So the opportunity is here to reflect on how far the sport has come. Quickly. The 45-year-old Franklin has enjoyed a cage-side seat to it all, hosting a series that was first aired back in 2018.

“Not only is the local population of athletes growing but the population of expats is growing as they see the opportunities out here,” says Franklin, speaking from his Singapore base. “I got a sense of that when I first came out here, and the more I saw as my own career came to a close the more I wanted to be involved.”

Franklin’s first trip to Evolve came as twilight crept over a Hall of Fame career with the UFC that included a middleweight title and saw his fighting days finish with a record of 29-7, and a string of highlight reel bouts with the likes of Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva (35-14-1, one no contest) and Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell (21-9).

Franklin was always the thinking man’s fighter, at his very best one step ahead in terms of the thought process inside the steel and – as it turned out – always looking to his future outside the fight game as well. At Evolve he had met with its founder and One boss Chatri Sityodtong, they’d hit it off – and they’d talk about ways to expand the footprint of martial arts across Asia, and the world.

“I spent part of a few fight camps at Evolve towards the end and looking back I guess I was already looking to where by future might be,” says Franklin. “The more I looked into Asia and looked around the region, the more gyms I saw opening up. The seminar at Evolve was how I got my start on this side of the planet. Then when I retired I decided to make a career out of returning to these destination training places.”

As the OWS has expanded in terms of the number of fighters it has featured so has its reach in terms of the content it provides viewers. So we have the training, and on to the bouts that help decide the fighter’s futures. But, increasingly, Franklin and his fighters get out and about, to explore cultures and destinations.

“We’re having more fun now digging a little deeper into stories about where we are going and what you can do and I think that has helped in terms of the sport, and its growth,” says Franklin. “Training and martial arts has become more of a lifestyle choice and certainly a travel choice and we’ve been tapping into that.”

The experience has also added to Franklin’s knowledge about travel in general, and what has becoming increasingly evident in the current world climate. No matter what you do when you travel, you have to rest – and spend plenty of time recovering.

“Travel can just wear you down and you don’t even know that it’s happening,” says Franklin.

“If you look at some of our shows, you can see our energy levels are down so rest becomes so important. You can get caught up in the daily stuff and not even realise you’re getting tired and how affected by the travel you are.”

But the show always comes back to the athletes and their often remarkable origin stories.

“We have several coming through,” says Franklin. “One of those is Lito Adiwang. He’s such a great guy, too. Just a good-hearted person and when you look at people you want to succeed it couldn’t happen to anyone better.

“We have this guy called Ali Motamed [a bantamweight who’s at 7-4], who was training at Tiger Muay Thai in Phuket. He’s from Iran and he’s just this tough as nails guy who always puts on a good show. He’s somebody who like Lito is just good to watch as well.

“We have some really good athletes coming up within this organisation. You know in five years from now people will look at the One roster and they’ll notice how many of these top fighters got their start in the OWS. Already we have seen massive improvement in the talent levels, and that’s starting to be the case all over Asia.”