For the past six years, ONE Championship has steadily grown from a promising upstart, to today, Asia's largest global sports media property. It now broadcasts its live events to a potential one billion viewers on any given night in over 128 countries around the world. Building a loyal and extremely passionate fan base, ONE consistently sells out large, iconic stadiums across major Asian cities.
A large part of its success is a result of the company's mantra of 'building local martial arts superheroes' -- discovering talent from the grassroots level in Asia, whom fans can relate to, and who inspire others to dream and achieve.
Martial arts however, is a full contact sport, and one that places athletes at risk of injury. A major part of ONE Championship's success, one that has not been talked about enough, is the promotion's prime focus on athlete safety. Indeed, the safety standards at ONE are second to none in the industry, and a lot of measures are taken to ensure athletes are always given the safest platform to showcase their talents.
The safety standards of ONE Championship, which is revolutionizing the professional martial arts industry in this field, are top notch according to renowned physician Dr. Warren Wang.
Wang is an experienced physician in the field of Emergency Medicine with over 10 years of knowledge and practice under his belt. He joined ONE Championship in 2015 as Vice President of Medical Services, but has been with the company since 2014 under a different capacity. A perfect fit, Wang has also been training in the art of Brazilian jiu-jitsu since 1996, so when it comes to martial arts, he certainly knows his expertise.
"Because we are dealing with athletes who compete in unarmed, hand-to-hand combat for a living, it is of utmost importance to make sure that they are more than a hundred percent fit and capable of the high-stress environment of the martial arts cage," said Dr. Wang.
ONE Championship goes to great lengths to ensure its athletes receive the absolute best in medical care.
"Our pre-event medical processes, although tedious, laborious, and sometimes costly, assures the safety of our athletes," said Dr. Wang. "We truly care about our athletes and that's why, even to the point that they themselves feel it is unnecessary, we require them to undergo these processes and checks.
According to Dr. Wang, ONE Championship's medical and safety protocols lead the pack in terms of time consumption and cost, with so much resources focused on making sure athletes are fit and ready to compete.
Tests include, but are not limited to, blood, eye, CT and complete physical examination in the athlete's home country, medical exams two days prior to an event to confirm athletes are fit to compete, neurocognitive exams to ensure there are no underlying neurological issues or post training concussions, brain CT scans to check for facial or intracranial fracture and hematomas, and ECG's to rule out abnormal and potentially life-threatening arrhythmias.
"Even after all these exams prior to the event, on the night of the event itself I personally take a quick look at all the athletes in the warm up area," said Dr. Wang. "Before their actual bouts, just moments prior to stepping into the cage, I walk to the pat down area and take a final look. We're that thorough."
Because event week is critical for the health and safety of athletes, ONE Championship doesn't skimp on costs when medical equipment is concerned. The organization will go to many great lengths to ensure that their athletes are well taken care of.
"Giving our athletes the peace of mind that they are competing on the safest platform in their sport allows them to truly bring out the best of their skills and abilities," Dr. Wang concluded. "That is why ONE Championship is not only the safest martial arts organization in the world, but also the most exciting."
Due to its various measures to ensure athlete safety, ONE Championship has built a unique and effective platform for martial artists to showcase the best of their combat abilities while ensuring that there is little to no risk that underlying injuries or conditions could put them in danger. Because of this, ONE Championship has enjoyed immense success, as athletes are more capable of going for all those highlight-reel finishes fans know and love.
