Chatri Sitiodtung, founder of the “One” tournament, which received great success in the world (One Company / The New Arab)
Solution Chatree SituditongFounder, Chairman and CEO of the “One” Special Tournament martial artswhich is considered one of the most successful and most watched competitions on the global level, was a guest on “The New Arab” in a lengthy interview, in which he talked about his struggle since childhood and his attachment to martial arts and their importance in life, and the values they give to humans.
Setoudtung touched on the partnership with the Qatar Investment Authority, as well as the “One” championship and its development in recent years, leading to its cooperation with Amazon, which proves that it is on the right track to remain at the top.
You have a famous saying that suffering makes us great later, how do you explain that? And why?
Because I feel that every one of us, every human on this planet, has hidden talents and advantages within us, and it takes adversity and hardship to come out. In the Middle East, for example, God gives you, and through suffering we discover our greatness, even if you look at a very simple concept, such as fasting Ramadan, you remain fasting until sunset for a whole month, and this is an example. When you suffer, you have empathy and tolerance for others, as well as more unity with people. So a simple example about Ramadan, that proves to be incredible, when I studied about it, it was a beautiful concept for me, and this really shows that suffering (he means patience for something) is our way to greatness, even if we don’t realize it.
What sparked the love of martial arts in yourself? Was there a specific incident in your childhood?
Yes, I grew up in Thailand, and it is known that Thailand is the birthplace of “Muay Thai”, and when I was nine years old I watched it on TV, and I immediately fell in love with this game, and I wanted to play it and my parents did not allow me to do so, until my age To 13 years before I was allowed. From the first day I fell in love with fighting games, it became my biggest passion in life.
How did the Asian financial crisis affect you, I mean your personality in particular, when everything around you collapsed?
This is why I believe that suffering is the way to our greatness in life for all of us. I believe that adversity is the mother of greatness. I grew up in a house with good conditions, later with the financial crisis we lost everything from the house to the car and then my father left us, then I moved from the new life, to We literally have nothing, not even a roof over our heads. When I was going through a period of suffering, I saw my mother crying, and this was very difficult, but when I look back now, I feel grateful for that time, because it taught me how to fight in life, I learned how to overcome my fears, how Focus on developing myselfAnd then I could do anything in my life, it also gave me more fire inside me.
Of course to this day, I have this great hunger (meaning love for work), because I come from poverty, at a time when I have a lot of sympathy and understanding for those people who struggle in the midst of hardships, and we all have trials and not just poverty, but some people are orphans and others in broken families, And some people don’t have a home or even love. It’s not just about money. We all experience various adversities in our lives, and we have to take advantage of the lessons we learned through those hardships, learn from failures and obstacles, and in the midst of that we will find our greatness.
Tell us a little bit about the number 4 in your life. What’s the story?
During that time I lived on $4 a day, when I was in America, I had one suitcase in it all my life stuff, I lived in the bedroom where my mother also lived with me in Harvard. I slept on the floor in a very small single room, I couldn’t afford the subway or the bus, I could only afford one meal a day.
So I was walking a lot everywhere, I had a spreadsheet with my entire daily spending data, everywhere. If I spent a dollar and 50 cents I would record it, and if I spent 35 cents I would record it too, my average was about 4 dollars, and if I spent less than that I was happy, I am just so grateful.
Some people use martial arts for fame, perhaps for money or other purposes. What does this sport mean to you?
The biggest misconception about martial arts is that it is about violence, it never is. Martial arts have been spread throughout Asia for thousands of years, and if you look at millions of parents all over the world, not just Asia, they send their children to martial arts lessons, in order for children to learn courage, respect and work ethic.
There are many beautiful values in martial arts, this is the true meaning of this sport, some people watch Bruce Lee films and think it is about violence, but it is not, it is about the basis of Asian society, Asian culture, this is part of our history as a continent. For me, martial arts is a great Asian cultural treasure, and we should continue to spread it, and spread the values of integrity, humility and respect, that’s what it means.
You are very loyal to the past, to your childhood, to the two teachers who were with you BeTwo, and Master Senanan, this is rare isn’t it?
I am a very philosophical person, I think daily deeply about life, the meaning of life. When I was a kid I always tried to think deeply about the meaning and purpose of everything. I realized that at the end of the day we will leave Earth, and the best way to use our time, for me, is the love we share with our loved ones with our family and friends, and the second thing is the impact we have on our country in the world. And somehow we should do our best to make the world a better place during our time on Earth through our efforts, those are the only two things that matter.
I am so grateful to have found my passion and purpose in life, martial arts I mean, although there is a misconception that it suggests violence, it is in fact about spreading the values of integrity, humility, honor, respect, courage, discipline and compassion, and for me that is what martial arts is all about The meaning of life is to share as much love as possible with people, and secondly to make a positive impact on the world if we can, communities, our countries, and hopefully the entire world.
I decided to leave Wall Street and head to Singapore, and that’s where the story of Wen began. Tell us about the steps of success and glory?
Yes, I spent almost 10 years on Wall Street, for me the biggest failure in life is success without happiness, that was my life when I was there, I was making a lot of money. To society I was someone who had it all, I had money, I had a position on the career front, I had my own hedge fund (a hedge fund), but on the inside I wasn’t happy, and I realized I had gone to the top of the wrong mountain.
And of course if you really like investing, companies and data analysis this is your real life, that would be great, but it wasn’t what I wanted. I think when I was about 36 I did really well with my hedge funds, and I celebrated, but I went down to the sushi restaurant near my office and sat there by myself, and I was just thinking about the meaning of it all, like why do I make so much money and what I do in my life? And I started talking about the concept of love and making an impact, I felt the biggest failure then, that’s why I said that success without happiness is the greatest failure in life, I didn’t sleep many nights after that, I decided to leave Wall Street and go to “One”, that is to do something I love , which of course had a huge impact in the martial arts world around the world, by spreading these amazing values, by unleashing those heroes, to inspire the world with hope, and this became my main goal in life.
What is the value of ONE joining the list of Prime Video programs on Amazon, along with the NBA and NFL?
Yes, it is a huge thing, because Amazon only participates in the best sports tournaments around the world, so that the well-known Nielsen market research company came about two months ago and ranked the “One” championship among the 5 most watched and participated sports around the world, and it is clear that Amazon did its duty, and it truly believes With WAN, we have a 5-year partnership, along with the best leagues in the world, such as the UEFA Champions League and the NFL.
So, it’s a huge honor, especially since Amazon has 200 million subscribers, and its NFL audience numbers seem bigger than Fox Spot’s in the US, and that gives you a sense of how powerful Amazon is there.
How was your visit to Doha, which is currently preparing to host the World Cup? What do you think of its sports infrastructure?
Well, the Qatar Investment Authority invested in One in December, and I am really grateful and I really appreciate the Qatar Investment Authority as well as the Government of Qatar. The Emir of Qatar (Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani) is a leader who has a vision and sees the future of his country. You know, especially after years of declining gas and oil, Qatar’s economy has to be built on finance (within business), media, technology and sports, and that’s something I really liked.
You know that Qatar competed with some of the largest countries in the world, and won the honor of organizing the World Cup, as well as the Asian Games, and if you look at what Qatar is now at the sporting level, it is at the forefront and leads many sports around the world. Yes I am really grateful for Qatar’s investment in One and their belief in that, it is a true partnership.
Will we see some fights in Qatar?
I’ve made many trips to the Middle East in the past three years, and as you know we’re in discussions with multiple parties in Qatar, but also across the region, and I can see martial arts growing strongly in the Middle East, where there are a lot of fans, and I think “” One has the right formula to spread hope that in turn inspires the values of integrity, humility, professionalism, and empathy.
When I look at Qatar, it has an incredible history, it also has kind, humble and most intelligent people, and I hope that I can share the greatest cultural treasure with Qatar, the heroes and the values as well, and remove the misconception that martial arts is about violence, it is about the values of integrity Honor and courage.
How can the agreement concluded between “One” and the Qatar Investment Authority develop the tournament in the future?
The Emir of Qatar, as I said before, has a vision for Qatari sports. Martial arts, according to Nielsen’s numbers, and evaluation of views, is the most popular sport among the millennial generation and “Generation Z”, and we are of course at the top among the top 5 sports in the world, and with the investment of the Qatar Investment Authority, we look forward to more and achieving great things with the government of Qatar, Once again they have a very important view of sport, and we believe that together we will be able to help create champions from the Middle East, who become superstars who inspire the world with hope and dreams.
What distinguishes Wen from others in this field? Especially since she has a large number of followers on social media platforms, I think she ranks second in terms of video views on Facebook behind the NBA?
The most important thing in WAN’s mission since day one has been to unleash superheroes in real life, to ignite the world with the power of hope and inspiration, so we have the world’s greatest heroes on this planet telling their stories of overcoming adversity, poverty or tragedy.
We celebrate their values of integrity, humility, respect and passion and aim to truly inspire the world through belief in hope and dreams, which is the number one thing for WON, celebrating the beautiful values of martial arts and storytelling that inspire the world.
A final message to martial arts fans, those who follow Wen’s fights, as well as those who struggle every day to survive, who is someone like you who knows how to fight and be patient to achieve success?
Martial arts is about becoming a better person every day, physically, mentally and spiritually, it’s not just about competition/fighting.
I’ve been practicing martial arts every day, I’ve been practicing Muay Thai for 37 years, and Jujutsu for about 12 years. I train every day because I love it, and because it gives me all these wonderful lessons about life, about perseverance, about work ethic and humility and honor and respect, and that is the importance of martial arts, in which we become warriors in life and pursue our dreams.
It’s not about always being a fighter, you can practice martial arts and dream of being a nurse, doctor, CEO, teacher or engineer, and you can use the valuable lessons of martial arts to achieve success in life.