Advertisement

ONE FC’s CEO Victor Cui: Pure Genius, Pure Filipino

Almost all big businesses began with a simple idea.

Take the case of what was then known as The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (A&P), for instance. John Hartford, the son of George Huntington Hartford who began the business in the mid 1850s noticed how people went through several stops to get their consumables; to the baker to purchase bread, then walk to the butcher to buy meat then go to another store to get other things. Hartford came up with the idea of putting all these little businesses under one roof—one big roof. The idea was so innovative—and lucrative—that he decided to give it a name. So in 1936, the first “Supermarket” was opened in Braddock, Pennsylvania. A&P went on to become the biggest supermarket chain in history.

When the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) first entered mainstream consciousness in 1993, it also began as a novelty which very many people—including fight aficionados themselves—did not receive well. Today, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), the sport the UFC helped make famous, is now THE fastest growing sport in the world and since September 2011, Asian audiences had its fair share of big MMA events on an international scale--with an upscale flavor--thanks to the success of ONE FC, which holds a 90% market share of MMA in the region.

ALSO READ: Behind the scenes with the Loyola Meralco Sparks in Singapore

Not very many people know though, that ONE FC is the brainchild of Filipino entrepreneur Victor Cui from Canada, who—like John Hartford before him—had a brilliant idea that just changed the game, to the benefit of us all.

“When I first decided to put up my first event, I immediately targeted the Singapore Indoor Stadium, which has a seating capacity of twelve thousand,” Cui, ONE FC’s founder, Chairman and CEO detailed during a recent interview with Yahoo! Sports Philippines at the plush Midas Hotel in Pasay City. “The first reaction I got was: ‘Victor, you’re crazy.’ Everyone told me to look for another venue coz that place has never been filled up for a sporting event. Even my closest friends—even my wife—told me to choose a smaller venue so I can have a modest success and go from there.

“Well, that’s exactly why I wanted to do it (the first ONE FC event to be at the Singapore Indoor Stadium) precisely because it had never been done before.”

The first ONE FC event entitled “Champion vs. Champion” and top-billed former UFC stalwarts Phil Baroni and Yoshiyuki Yoshida along with Filipino superstar Eduard Folayang exceeded all expectations and since then the ONE FC has been the biggest MMA draw in Asia. It did fill the stadium, and the ONE FC made an instant imprint in the Asian MMA scene.

ALSO READ: The "Bomberinas" debut: the birth of a new national women's volleyball team?

But walking into the room, one would never think that this soft-spoken man with one of the most genuine smiles would immediately be identified as the man who continually changes the face of MMA in Asia. Yet, he is; quite an achievement for this former sports media practitioner and employee of one of the biggest televsion sports networks in the region, ESPN/Star Sports.

“My former job at ESPN (Asia) gave me a unique perspective on how to make the brand successful,” explains the 41-year-old, a Canadian whose parents hail from Cebu in the Philippines. “I was in the Sports Media department and one of my primary tasks was to watch all the sports—and I mean all the sports—and find out which ones would sell and which won’t, and let me tell you, I have watched sports like futsal, to arm wrestling to cheerdancing and what not. My research concluded that the sport that would sell in Asia is definitely MMA.”

Victor knows about developing sports for television. He was the catalyst behind the first Asian X-Games in China, as well as the Guinness 9-Ball Tour and Martial Combat; an undertaking that laid the groundwork for his company, ONE FC. Through all those projects, Victor has helped create heroes that inspire not only individuals, but nations.

“When the network got sold to the idea of having MMA on air, they told me to look for a sponsor for it and eventually we hooked up with Resorts World Singapore and did Martial Combat,” he recalls. “When we finally put it on air, I was immediately aware that the business-model used for the events needed a lot of tweaking—to say the least. I addressed that with ONE FC.”

The mandate of ONE FC is simple, according to Victor: “Champion (versus) champion, let’s put them together and then I wanna cheer for someone. That’s the way it’s always been. ONE FC does that, but then we also bring that ‘Las Vegas feel’ into what we’re doing, so it becomes this big spectacle where there’s a red-carpet event and it’s glitzy. It’s about bringing great fights to the audience and at the same time making it the must-attend event of the night.”

ALSO READ: A case for the low top basketball shoe

Victor also made an excellent point on why Asia has embraced MMA with a passion: “The foundation of Martial Arts started in Asia,” he exclaims. “When you think of martial arts, you immediately say ‘Bruce Lee’ or ‘Jackie Chan’ or ‘Jet Li’. You don’t think of martial arts and say ‘Chuck Norris’, you immediately know that martial arts was born in Asia and the people in United States have been intrigued by ‘Asian’ martial arts since before and have always been emulating it. That’s the advantage of building the market here because it’s innate to us.”

The upcoming event “ONE FC: Rise to Power” will be the biggest endeavour of the company yet, but Victor is a big believer of the Philippine market and expects no less than a sellout—which has probably happened already.

“The Philippine MMA audience is so developed that all we have to do is say we’re here and they will watch,” Victor gleams. “They understand MMA. They know what kind of spectacle they will be seeing and we will make sure we deliver the goods on Friday (May 31, 8:00PM at the MOA Arena in Pasay City).”

RELATED: True North: Team Lakay set to dominate ONE FC 9 "Rise To Power"

Five Filipino fighters see action in the fight card including world featherweight champion Honorio Banario from Benguet who is staking his crown against Japanese challenger Koji Oishi. Baroni also returns to the Philippines after his debut in the country and successful conquest of Brazilian opponent Rodrigo Ribeiro last August in ONE FC “Pride of the Nation” at the Araneta Coliseum. All eyes, however, will be on Folayang as he goes up against Iranian hotshot Kamal Shalorus in a bid to get back on track after being derailed in his last match against American Lowen Tynanes—who is also in the fight card against a different opponent.

“The fight between Eduard (Folayang) and Kamal (Shalorus) is going to be interesting,” Victor confides. “I would definitely pay to see that one go down.”

It’s all about having a brilliant idea, creating a great business-model and giving the consumers (the fans) their money’s worth. That’s the mantra of Victor Cui and ONE FC. It’s still hard to fathom that ONE FC is less than two years old, but at the rate it’s going, it will become this enormous animal in the very near future—if not already.

RELATED: ONE FC MMA: Honorio Banario travels long road to title defense

"There are billions of people here in Asia. We want as many of them to experience MMA and sports entertainment at a high level. That’s what ONE FC is about," he professes.

I don’t think anyone will argue with Victor on that. I know I won't.

Follow Noel Zarate on Twitter (@NoelZarate)