ONE Championship has been making big moves lately, and they just outdid themselves. Recently, ONE singed former UFC and Bellator MMA lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez to a contract. They followed up by pulling off a historic trade with the UFC for Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson. Recently, ONE announced the signing of former UFC star “Super” Sage Northcutt.
Now, per a report from ESPN’s Ariel Helwani, ONE has inked a broadcast deal with Turner Sports. The deal is for three years and will go into effect on January 1st. 24 events are included in the deal, set to air on TNT beginning in 2019. In addition to airing on TNT, the events will also air on Turner’s digital platforms such as B/R Live.
An official announcement on the partnership should be coming in the next few days. The first televised event will go down from Jakarta, Indonesia on January 19th. In addition to their Alvarez, Johnson, and broadcast deal signings, ONE also signed Yoshihiro Akiyama. Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate has also signed on as the promotion’s vice president.
ESPN also noted that the promotional debuts for Northcutt and Johnson are slated for February 22nd in Singapore and March 31st in Tokyo, respectively. Alvarez is targetting his promotional debut for either date as well, but nothing is official quite yet.
What do you think about ONE airing on TNT as part of their broadcast deal with Turner Sports?
