Manny Pacquiao Buys Stake in MMA Promotion

Oscar De La Hoya invested his ring winnings in a boxing promotion. The man that retired him has put his money into mixed-martial arts.

Does Manny Pacquiao know where combat-sports world spins? 

Kevin Iole reports that Pac Man has invested in One Fighting Championship, a Singapore-based MMA promotion whose best-known competitor is probably undefeated welterweight Ben Askren. Like the defunct Pride and unlike the UFC, One FC permits soccer kicks and knees to the head on a downed opponent. Though the brand appears as a distant competitor to the UFC in the United States, it enjoys a foothold in the Asian market, which appeals to Pacquiao.

So, too, do the four-ounce MMA gloves. “You could see him calculating the difference from the boxing gloves to the MMA gloves,” One FC CEO Victor Cui told Iole of his encounters with Pac Man. “He said to me, ‘Man, someone could get hurt with the power of my punches if I could wear these.'”

Pacquiao, wearing 8-ounce gloves, takes on undefeated Chris Algieri in Macau on November 22.