The finale of the first season of Rich Franklin’s ONE Warrior Series, which took place Saturday, March 31 in Singapore, was recently concluded.
After an exciting evening filled with thrilling bouts showcasing promising young talents, three winners of ONE Championship contracts were announced. Rockie Bactol, Woonkyum Kim, and Daesong Park all received USD 100,000+ ONE Championship contracts as overall winners of the reality documentary series.
Nineteen-year-old Rockie Bactol, a Filipino martial arts prospect who lives and trains in Bangkok, first discovered martial arts to learn self-defense after experiencing childhood bullying.
At the Season 1 Finale of Rich Franklin’s ONE Warrior Series, Bactol turned in a spectacular performance, defeating opponent Mark Cuizon by first-round americana.
“This event just proved that scouting is not a perfect science. While Rockie Bactol and Woonkyum Kim were both prospects in which I see promise, we initially passed on Daesong Park in the tryout process, only for him to come back and blow us all away with his indomitable spirit,” shared Franklin. “Congratulations to all three for earning their contracts in our first event, as well as JD Hardwick, Shahid Siddiqui and Faizan Khan on earning their Warrior Bonuses.”
Also bagging the top prize were South Korean prospects Woonkyum Kim and Daesong Park.
In addition, athletes Shahid Siddiqui, JD Hardwick, and Faizan Khan each received a Warrior Bonus, a cash award of variable amount, for their incredible performances, displaying unbreakable will and perseverance through adversity.
“Our goal for ONE Warrior Series was to highlight Asia’s most promising young talent and to prove to the world that martial arts is more than just a sport in Asia, it’s a lifestyle,” added Jonathan Fong, Director and Co-Host of ONE Warrior Series. “I believe we achieved that and so much more with the great group of guys we were able to work with in the first season. We would like to thank and congratulate all the warriors who competed in the inaugural ONE Warrior Series event. We saw an amazing night of competition from hungry competitors vying for their spot on the global stage.”
Season 2 of Rich Franklin’s ONE Warrior Series will begin filming later this year.
“Our first season was an incredible success and was a terrific experience for myself and the entire ONE Warrior Series team. Looking forward to doing it all again in the coming months,” Franklin closed.
