Imagine if UFC CEO, Dana White, celebrated himself during a UFC event. Well, you can head on over to ONE Championship and see the equivalent of that.
The Cayman Islands-based promotion returned to the United States for ONE 168 in Denver, Colorado this past weekend (Fri., Sept. 6, 2024). The event was ONE’s first stateside since ONE Fight Night 10 in May 2023. Therefore, it was a big night for celebrations and announcements.
Along with mixed martial arts (MMA) all-time great and ONE 135-pound Flyweight champion, Demetrious Johnson, announcing his retirement on the night, ONE Founder, Chatri “Sityodtong” Trisiripisal, also took some of the spotlight. During one of his usual hype segments with ONE commentator, Mitch Chilson, Sityodtong was “surprised” by legendary grappler, Renzo Gracie, who randomly awarded Sityodtong with his Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) black belt. The video of the moment can be seen in the embedded player above.
Sityodtong, 53, had plenty to say in reflection below.
Master Renzo Gracie gave me the biggest surprise this past weekend, promoting me to black belt on the ONE 168 live global broadcast. Without a doubt, earning a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has long been one of my biggest dreams in life.
The journey from white belt to black belt ranks among the hardest things I have ever done in my life, especially given my crazy workload and hectic travel as a CEO. I have wanted to give up more times than I can count. I have gone home discouraged more times than I care to admit. I have been submitted more times than I can remember. Yet, my love for jiu-jitsu has somehow always found a way to conquer all. I kept returning to the mats, even through setbacks, injuries, excuses, breaks, and illnesses. The old saying that, “A black belt is just a white belt who never quit,” is 100% true.
I started jiu-jitsu in 2005 in the legendary blue basement of the Renzo Gracie Academy when I was still living in New York City. I received my blue belt in 2007, my purple belt in 2019, my brown belt in 2021, and now my black belt in 2024. During my days as a purple belt and a brown belt, I trained obsessively 5-6x a week wherever I was in the world. I usually just hopped into advanced group classes, be it at EVOLVE in Singapore, Renzo Gracie Academy in New York, Arete BJJ in Bangkok, Carpe Diem in Tokyo, Roger Gracie Academy in London, etc. Everyone knows that Muay Thai has been my greatest passion in life for the last 40 years, but what people don’t know is that Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has been my greatest obsession.
This journey would not have been possible without the incredible masters and professors who have helped me along the way:
Renzo Gracie Leo Vieira Alex Silva Thales Nakassu Martin Hartono Mikey Musumeci Teco Shinzato Leandro Brodinho Gamal Hassan El Amin Valdir Rodrigues Eduardo Rigatto Novaes Guli Kozama Rodrigo Marello Almiro Barros Achilleus Ralli Roger Gracie Rafael Gordinho Lima
Without each of you, I would not be here today. Each of you gave me a piece of your game and shared your love of the gentle art with me. You beat me up and made me suffer, but I am eternally grateful for all of the lessons on and off the mats. I would also like to give a shoutout to all of the jiu-jitsu students at EVOLVE in Singapore, Arete BJJ in Bangkok, Carpe Diem in Tokyo, Roger Gracie Academy in London, and of course, Renzo Gracie Academy in New York.
I would also like to give a special shoutout of gratitude to Thales Nakassu for kicking my ass almost every day as a brown belt. I could never have made it to black belt without your teachings and beatings. You played a huge role in getting me to this level. Thank you for everything, Thales!
Thank you all for making me a better martial artist and a better human being. Martial arts is what I love. Martial arts is who I am.
In our suffering, we discover our greatness. OSS!!!
ONE returns to the U.S. with ONE 169 in Atlanta, Georgia in two months (Nov. 8, 2024). ONE events have primarily taken place in Bangkok, Thailand since the start of 2023.
Canelo Alvarez and Edgar Berlanga will clash Saturday night | Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images
The Canelo Alvarez vs. Edgar Berlanga fight card has three title fights set to take place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night, including Alvarez putting up his WBC, WBA, WBO, and Ring Magazine super middleweight titles on the line in the main event against Berlanga.
Canelo Alvarez (61-2-2) has won four straight fights and competes for the second time this year. He defeated Jaime Munguia via unanimous decision this past May.
Edgar Berlanga (22-0) knocked out Padraig McCrory in the sixth round this past February in his only appearance of 2024.
Also on the main card, Erislandy Lara defends his WBA world middleweight title against Danny Garcia in the co-main event, plus Caleb Plant and Trevor McCumby square off for the WBA interim super middleweight title.
The Canelo Alvarez vs. Edgar Berlanga fight card is as follows:
Main Card (PPV.com at 8 p.m. ET)
Canelo Alvarez vs. Edgar Berlanga for Alvarez’s WBC, WBA, WBO, Ring Magazine titles
Erislandy Lara vs. Danny Garcia for Lara’s WBA world middleweight title
Caleb Plant vs. Trevor McCumby for WBA interim super middleweight title
Rolando Romero vs. Manuel Jaimes (super lightweight)
Khabib Nurmagomedov’s coach, Javier Mendez, recently expressed that Belal Muhammad has earned the right to dictate his own terms now that he has claimed the UFC welterweight championship. “Remember the Name” made waves by toppling 170-pound champion Leon Edwards with a commanding unanimous decision victory at UFC 304 this past July in Manchester. The highly […]
Continue Reading Khabib Nurmagomedov’s Coach: ‘King’ Belal Muhammad Turned The Tables On UFC at MMA News.
Demetrious Johnson | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
UFC Vegas 97 is in the books and it’s full steam ahead to UFC 306 AKA Noche UFC redux.
This past Saturday, Sean Brady scored the biggest win of his career, taking a unanimous decision over Gilbert Burns to put himself in the thick of the title hunt at 170 pounds. That wasn’t the biggest news of the week though as all-time great Demetrious Johnson stole the headlines by announcing his retirement from MMA.
We got questions on all of it this week so let’s dive right in.
Demetrious Johnson
If science tells us #chickenscantbegoats can a Mouse be a Goat?
— Blingatti (@blingatti) September 8, 2024
“If science tells us #chickenscantbegoats can a Mouse be a GOAT?”
The biggest news of the previous week was that Demetrious Johnson officially retired from MMA this past weekend, and while we’ve already talked a bit about his legacy and place in the sport, now is as good a time as any to dive a little deeper.
Simply put, Demetrious Johnson is one of six male fighters who have a credible case for the title of Greatest of All Time. I understand that things like the GOAT debate are inherently subjective, but by reasonable standards, the list is DJ, Jose Aldo, Georges St-Pierre, Anderson Silva, Jon Jones, Fedor Emelianenko. They are the only fighters who truly dominated their divisions for years on end with numerous title defenses (you will not find a bigger Khabib Nurmagomedov fan than I am, but his time at the top was cut short and so he’s left out in this particular conversation).
Now as far as the GOAT conversation goes, I don’t really care who you rank No. 1. So long as it’s one of those six, you’re not wrong because you can nitpick problems with any of their résumés. On any given day I might change my mind and prioritize one or the other, because once you get into this pantheon of talent, it’s all splitting hairs. But the important part is that he’s one of the six, which is incredibly exclusive company (more men have walked on the moon!).
On top of that, “Mighty Mouse” has a record which I don’t believe will be broken in our lifetimes: 11 UFC title defenses is categorically insane (he should actually share this record with Anderson Silva, but Silva’s fight against Travis Lutter didn’t count as a defense since Lutter missed weight) and in the current era of the UFC where every fighter is obsessed with champ-champ status, it’s exceedingly unlikely someone puts in the work to hold a belt for six or seven years without getting distracted. Alexander Volkanovski, Kamaru Usman, and Israel Adesanya are all-time greats. Each of them have five title defenses. DJ doubled them up. It’s insane.
And on top of all of this, Johnson is one of the few men in that GOAT pantheon that has no real controversy. He’s a great guy who never had any issues outside the cage. Anderson popped for performance-enhancing drugs, Fedor never fought in the UFC, Jon Jones, well, do I even need to go into all that?
Demetrious Johnson is one of the best fighters I’ve ever seen, and while I’m sad to see him walk away, I’m glad he’s doing it on his terms. The UFC Hall of Fame awaits.
Alternate Universe
Had DJ remained in the UFC and not been traded, do you think he would have regained the belt?
— Samuel Tromans (@SamuelJTromans) September 9, 2024
“Had DJ remained in the UFC and not been traded, do you think he would have regained the belt?”
When DJ retired last weekend, after I was done thinking about his greatest moments, the very next thought that struck me was how unfulfilling the end of his career was for me as a fan.
Johnson was one half of, to this point, the only trade in UFC history when Dana White shipped Mighty Mouse to ONE Championship in exchange for Ben Askren. It was a big deal at the time, and ultimately, a trade I think all parties were happy with. DJ seemed to like ONE, got to do more things than just fight MMA, and got paid handsomely; ONE got to promote having the best fighter in the world; and the UFC got Askren, who made headlines, drew interest, and ultimately elevated Jorge Masvidal to a superstar. That’s a win-win-win.
But though everyone made out well in the trade, I can’t help but think that we as fans lost a heck of a lot. Aside from his trilogy with Adriano Moraes, DJ’s fights in ONE simply weren’t that compelling. The odd mixed-rules fight with Rodtang was silly, and the rest were forgettable. In fact the only reason the Moraes series was fun was because Moraes pulled off the upset the first time around.
Compare that with the likely events should Johnson not have been traded. A trilogy fight with Henry Cejudo is first up, and I personally thought DJ won the second fight as well. It’s 50/50 that he just immediately reclaims the title and if that happens, maybe Cejudo never moves up to bantamweight. Maybe DJ finally does?
Or if Johnson doesn’t go up to 135, instead we get to seem him fight against the new generation of flyweights that came along after he left and Cejudo retired. You’re telling me you wouldn’t have loved to see Mighty Mouse vs. Deiveson Figueiredo or Brandon Moreno, or Alexandre Pantoja? All of those fights could have happened and would have been fun as hell. And frankly, I still liked DJ’s chances in any of them.
So yes, I think he would have reclaimed the title, and I’m a bit sad we didn’t get to see his final act take place in the UFC.
UFC Vegas 97
What does a Sean Brady vs. Ian Machado Garry fight look like, and are you interested in that next?
— Nick Baldwin (@NickBaldwinMMA) September 8, 2024
“What does a Sean Brady vs. Ian Machado Garry fight look like, and are you interested in that next?”
Pivoting back to the stuff in fight world, Brady outworked Burns for a solid unanimous decision win in the main event this past weekend and now the pride of Philadelphia is back in the title hunt in earnest. Following his win, Brady called for either a top-5 opponent, or a matchup with Ian Machado Garry, saying they share a manager and it should be easy to make happen. I’m not so sure about that.
While Brady is obviously excellent and deserves a shot at a big name, I’m very unconvinced that’s happening. The fight would technically be fighting up for Garry, but the undefeated prospect seems to have his eyes on bigger game and with his name, he can command that. I think Garry is going to get either Usman or Colby Covington, and possibly even Leon Edwards (though a Masvidal matchup makes the most sense there).
On top of that, Brady’s recent loss to now-champion Belal Muhammad still takes some of the shine off fighting him, and most of the guys above him don’t seem likely to accept a fight. The one exception to this is Jack Della Maddalena who also recently defeated Burns, though by the skin of his teeth, so that is a fight that may be possible, and if I had to guess, it’s the one I’d bet happens.
But if the Brady vs. Garry fight does come to pass, of course I’d be interested. We’re talking about two supremely talented fighters. I’m not sure Garry wins a title, but I’m absolutely certain he challenges for one in his career. He’s young and talented and getting better every time out. Brady is a tier below, but with the right breaks he could get a title shot, and at welterweight anyone can have a good night and become champion. Heck, the current champion and the guy he beat were, at one point, entirely dismissed by the fan base. Maybe Brady is the next in line to pick up that mantle? I have my doubts, but I’ve been wrong plenty of times before.
And for the sake of being thorough, I favor Garry in the matchup. Brady gets a little better every time out but his striking still leaves a lot to be desired. Garry has a huge advantage on the feet and is capable enough to not let Brady run away with things via his grappling.
UFC 306
What if UFC 306/Noche UFC isn’t ‘the greatest event in human history’ and/or it isn’t ‘the most worst event in the UNIVERSE’ and it’s just a mide event…
— Rob Thomas (@FollowRobThomas) September 8, 2024
“What if UFC 306/Noche UFC isn’t ‘the greatest event in human history’ and/or it isn’t ‘the most worst event in the UNIVERSE’ and it’s just a mid event?”
As we round the corner and head into the home stretch for Noche UFC, there is a fair amount of optimism surrounding how great the event is going to be. But here’s the thing, if you promise “the greatest live sporting event of all-time,” you’d better freaking deliver. Will it? I have no idea, and apparently neither does Dana White.
My best guess is that this Saturday’s event will actually disappoint the vast majority of fans. From talking to people who have been at Sphere for various shows, it is undeniably cool, and so the lucky few who could pony up thousands of dollars to attend UFC 306, I suspect they will have a great time. But for the millions watching at home on ESPN+? I don’t really see how that live experience will translate through a television screen.
And if so? It won’t matter. The UFC is too big to fail at this point. If UFC 306 under delivers on its broadcast experience, fans won’t care, especially if the fights are good. You’re getting two title fights and one of the biggest stars in the sport defending a belt. It’s a rock solid card and so it’ll all blow over quickly.
Thanks for reading, and thank you for everyone who sent in tweets (Xs?)! Do you have any burning questions about things at least somewhat related to combat sports? Then you’re in luck, because you can send your tweets to me, @JedKMeshew, and I will answer my favorite ones! Doesn’t matter if they’re topical or insane, just so long as they are good. Thanks again, and see y’all next week.
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