Chatri Trisiripisal, known by the ring names as Chatri Sityodtong and Yodchatri Sityodtong, is an entrepreneur and a martial artist from Thailand, best known as the Founder, Chairman and CEO of ONE Championship. Chatri Sityodtong was named Asia's 2nd Most Powerful Person in Sports by FOX Sports. He is also set to star on the upcoming Asian edition of The Apprentice reality TV series.
Family and education
Raised in Thailand, Sityodtong' is of half Japanese, half Thai ethnicity. His family lost its home and life savings due to bankruptcy. His father eventually abandoned the family and Sityodtong survived on one meal per day. He graduated with a B.A. in Economics from Tufts University, and obtained an MBA from Harvard Business School at Harvard University in 1999.
Martial arts
In 2019, Sityodtong was inducted into the Black BeltHall of Fame. Chatri started Muay Thai as a child under Kru Yodtong Senanan of Sityodtong Camp in Pattaya, Thailand. Kru Yodtong eventually gave Chatri the ring name, Yodchatri Sityodtong. A veteran of over 30 fights, Sityodtong's last professional Muay Thai fight was in 2008 in Thailand. He is a certified senior Muay Thai instructor under Kru Yodtong Senanan of the Sityodtong Camp in Pattaya, Thailand. Before his death, Kru Yodtong appointed Chatri Sityodtong as one of 4 conservators of Sityodtong Muay Thai in the world. Sityodtong started training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in approximately 2006, and has a Purple Belt under Renzo Gracie.
Early business career
Chatri Sityodtong started as an investment analyst at Fidelity Investments covering a variety of industries. He later launched Nextdoor Networks with Yau Soon Loo, a classmate at Harvard. Nextdoor Networks was a San Francisco based startup provider of e-commerce infrastructure. Sityodtong was a Managing Director at Maverick Capital, a US$12 billion hedge fund. Backed by Farallon Capital, Sityodtong later launched Izara Capital Management, a US$500 million New York hedge fund. After a decade on Wall Street, he retired.
Current business career
Sityodtong is the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of ONE Championship.According to several prominent media outlets such as Forbes, ONE Championship is Asia's largest global sports media property, Backed by Sequoia Capital and Temasek Holdings, ONE Championship has over US$275 million in total capital as of August 2018. He is the Founder and Chairman of Evolve University, an online university for martial arts. He is the Founder and Chairman of Evolve MMA, a chain of martial arts academies in Asia. In addition, Sityodtong is involved in several other companies in Asia. Chatri Sityodtong is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence and guest lecturer at INSEAD, one of the world's leading business schools.
