Singapore-based ONE Championship, Asia's largest global mixed martial arts (MMA) media firm (aka, Asia's answer to UFC), just hit a $1.2B valuation.

• It's backed by Sequoia Capital, GIC, Temasek, ICONIQ Capital and more.
• It was founded by ex-hedge fund manager Chatri Sityodong and ex-ESPN Star Sports senior exec Victor Cui.

How did it happen?  It just released $174M in shares, with 42% of these shares being convertible notes. (Rumor has it that ONE desperately needed cash.)

🔍 About the biz

ONE Championship broadcasts martial arts and combat sports like Muay Thai, kickboxing and karate in over 150 countries.

Live events. It hosted tournaments and a show called "Live: ONE Championship Mixed Martial Arts," which featured Asia's top MMA fighters battling it out.

• It has produced a total of 6 seasons of its live show.
• It hosts live events for MMA, Muay Thai and Kickboxing with their own weight divisions and champions.
• With COVID, it has pivoted to create clips and other media based on archived content.

Entertainment. With the pandemic putting a hold on large live martial arts matches, it has expanded to new content.

• It released an elimination show, The Apprentice, where candidates compete for a spot to work as ONE Championship's CEO apprentice for a year.

💪🏼 The fight goes on

While some have said that ONE may have difficulty going public, it is currently in talks to list in the US through a SPAC.

• The potential merger is with the $480M Nasdaq-listed Gores Holdings VII.