ONE Championship looking to co-exist with UFC in the Philippines

Now that the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has finally arrived in Manila, their Asian counterpart ONE Championship is simply looking to co-exist with the organization in the Philippine market.

ONE Championship is the largest mixed martial arts organization in Asia while UFC is the world's premier MMA league.

"I would say co-exist [not compete] would be a better word," ONE Championship vice president Rich Franklin told GMA News Online.

"Quite honestly, one of the things I learned as an athlete is you really can't worry about what your competition does. We're coming here on the 24th (April), we're gonna put on a great show, I believe this is gonna be the most exciting show to date that the Philippines has seen."

UFC's arrival in the country has been a hot topic since its official announcement in January. For Franklin, a former UFC middleweight champion who still has one more fight left in his UFC contract, ONE's focus is not to compete with the UFC but to deliver one exciting show after the other.

"When we come back here later on this year we're gonna put on another amazing event," says Franklin.

"If you've been to previous events before then you know the caliber of events that we put on, you'll know the caliber of event that [April] 24 is going to be. So I'm not at all worried with that kind of stuff. Our product speaks for itself." - RAF, GMA News