ONE Championship will return to the Middle East in March 2024, with the announcement of ONE 166 on Thursday ending months of speculation.
The Asian MMA promotion has been hit with rumors about dissatisfaction from Middle Eastern investors of late. Qatar, in particular, is a financial backer of ONE Holdings, the group behind ONE Championship, having chipped in $50 million just a couple of years ago.
That makes Qatar an obvious destination as the promotion attempts to shore up the relationship. ONE 166: Qatar will take place on March 1, 2024 at the Lusail Sports Arena with a full five title fights planned for the eent.
News of the Qatari show was announced by promotion officials on Thursday.
“I’m thrilled to announce ONE Championship’s return to the Middle East with one of our biggest events ever,” promotion chair Chatri Sityodtong stated in Thursday’s press release. “We’re building a spectacular card that is stacked from top to bottom, which will feature World Championship fights across all of our martial arts disciplines. We can’t wait to put on a show for the greatest fans on earth and would like to thank Qatar Tourism, Media City Qatar and Ooredoo for teaming with us to make history.”
News of the title fights set to headline ONE 166 is expected to be announced in the coming weeks. However, the promotion did state that MMA, Muay Thai, Kickboxing, and Submission Grappling titles will all be on the line.
ONE Championship just recently announced its return to Tokyo, Japan.
