Jakarta. Jakarta will host four fighting bouts sponsored by Singapore-based mixed martial arts promoter ONE Championship in 2018, compared to just two events this year.

ONE Championship, the largest mixed martial arts promoter in Asia, held its latest event in Indonesia on Saturday, when Kazakhstan's Kairat Akhmetov won by split decision over Filipino Geje Eustaquio in the main bout. 

Jakarta will host ONE Champioonship events in January, May, September and December of 2018.

"Indonesia is one of the biggest markets in the world for martial arts and we've seen an increase in demand there. Also it has a massive fan base and recent partnership that lured us," ONE Championship vice president for public relations and communications Loren Mack told the Jakarta Globe on Friday (22/09).

"Where the demand is, we're going to continue to increase our events," he added.

Apart from events previously held in major Asian cities, ONE Championship will also introduced inaugural events in new markets, such as South Korea and Japan, in the coming year.

"We are thrilled to announce our incredible 2018 calendar of events for ONE Championship. We will continue to showcase the absolute best in martial arts, delivered by our homegrown martial arts superheroes," the organization's chief executive and chairman Chatri Sityodtong said.

In a report published in July, ONE Championship stated that it has seen a meteoric rise in social media coverage, statistics and viewership, with over 600 million individual views as of earlier this year.