Chatri Sityodtong

Family and education

Raised in Thailand, Sityodtong is of half-Thai, half-Japanese ethnicity. His family went through bankruptcy and his father eventually abandoned the family. At one point his family was homeless and Sityodtong "lived 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

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 Blue Belt under Renzo Gracie.

Chatri was named by MSN Sports as one of the top coaches in the sports world alongside Greg Jackson, Pep Guardiola, Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho, etc. He has trained, coached, or cornered top professional fighters such as former UFC Lightweight Champion Rafael dos Anjos, DREAM World Champion Shinya Aoki, former UFC Middleweight Champion Rich Franklin, UFC fighter Leandro Issa, UFC fighter Tarec Saffiedine, Bellator Champion Ben Askren, Muay Thai World Champion Yoddecha Sityodtong, WBA Boxing World Champion Yodsanan Sor Nanthachai at events such as the UFC, DREAM Fighting Championship, the Art of War Fighting Championship, and the Lumpinee Stadium Championship.

Early business career

Chatri Sityodtong spent three years as an investment analyst at Fidelity Investments covering a variety of industries. He later joined Bain and Company as a management consultant and then launched NextDoor Networks as co-founder and Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Strategy. Nextdoor Networks was a San Francisco based startup provider of e-commerce infrastructure. Chatri Sityodtong later became a Managing Director of JLF Asset Management, a US$1 billion hedge fund. Sityodtong also worked for a few years as a Managing Director at Maverick Capital, a US$12 billion hedge fund founded by Lee Ainslie III and billionaire Sam Wyly. Backed by Farallon Capital as his largest investor, Sityodtong later launched Izara Capital Management, a US$500 million New York hedge fund. After a decade on Wall Street, he retired as a hedge fund manager, and pursued other entrepreneurial ventures.

Current business career

A self-made multimillionaire entrepreneur, Sityodtong owns stakes in real estate, sports, retail, technology, and media. Sityodtong's businesses have been featured on CNN, ESPN, Star Sports, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, New York Times, Channel NewsAsia, Straits Times, Reuters, Fortune, Yahoo! Sports, MSN, Men's Health, Shape, China Post, Times of India, Jakarta Globe, and other media publications around the world.

Sityodtong is the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of ONE Championship, Asia's largest sports media property with a global broadcast to over 1 billion homes in 118+ countries. Backed by Sequoia Capital and Temasek Holdings, ONE Championship has over US$100 million in total capital as of July 21, 2017. Chatri Sityodtong is also the Chairman of Indiabulls Properties Investment Trust, a Singapore-listed real estate investment trust company with S$1.5 billion in net assets. Indiabulls Properties Investment Trust is a holding company for Indiabulls Properties and Indiabulls Real Estate. He is the Founder and Chairman of Evolve University, Asia's largest online university for martial arts. He is the Founder and Chairman of Evolve MMA, a chain of martial arts academies in Asia. Sityodtong also owns stakes in several companies in other industries.

Chatri Sityodtong is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence and guest lecturer at INSEAD, one of the world's leading business schools. Sityodtong is an advisor and mentor to the National University of Singapore Entrepreneurship Centre. He is also an advisor to the Singapore Management University Entrepreneurship Centre and is a regular guest speaker at SMU.

Companies

According to CNBC, ONE Championship is Asia's largest sports media property with a global broadcast to 1 billion homes across 118 countries. Backed by Sequoia Capital and Temasek Holdings, ONE Championship has over US$100 million in total capital as of July 21, 2017. Evolve MMA has been described by CNN as Asia's number one-ranked MMA-training organization. MMA Mania named Evolve MMA as the #1 MMA camp in Asia. Evolve MMA was voted the Best International MMA Gym in the world by the readers of leading MMA website, MiddleEasy. One of his newest startups, Evolve University, is the world's largest online university for martial arts. In addition, Sityodtong is involved in several other companies in Asia.

Motivational speaking

Sityodtong has also given motivational speeches at Fortune 500 companies such as Citigroup, Bloomberg, Fidelity Investments, etc. He has also been a featured speaker on TED.

Charity

Sityodtong serves on the Board of Directors of Project Sunshine, one of the largest volunteer organizations in the world for terminally-ill children with cancer, HIV, and other illnesses. Through one of his companies, Evolve MMA, he is also active with Boys Town Home, Singapore's home for orphans and troubled children. Sityodtong supports underprivileged children with Singapore Children's Society.

Awards and recognition