ONE Championship is to play Myanmar today with two Filipino mixed martial arts fighters part of the card.
Dubbed “ONE: Reign of Valor” and happening at the Thuwunna Indoor Stadium in Yangon, the event will feature strawweight Rene “D’Challenger” Catalan (5-2) and women’s atomweight Jomary Torres (4-2) as they try to book key wins.
Mr. Catalan is riding a five-fight winning streak and eyeing to add Japanese opponent and former ONE champion Yoshitaka Naito to his list of conquered.
“Definitely, this is the toughest and biggest match of my career. Naito is a former world champion, well-experienced and we all know how dangerous he is on the mat, but I’m confident with my skills and I will do whatever it takes to win and get my title shot,” said Mr. Catalan, 40, in the lead-up to Reign of Valor.
Ms. Torres, for her part, has lost her last two fights after opening her ONE career with four victories in a row.
She is facing Lin Heqin of China in a preliminary contest where she hopes to stop her slide.
Headlining ONE: Reign of Valor is the welterweight world title fight between champion Zebaztian “The Bandit” Kadestam and challenger Georgiy Kichigin of Kazakhstan.
Headlining the blockbuster event is knockout artist Zebaztian Kadestam as he defends his ONE Welterweight World Title against surging submission wizard Georgiy Kichigin. With World Title gold on the line, the stakes could not be higher in this classic clash of styles.
Kadestam put everyone on notice when he knocked out erstwhile-unbeaten American Tyler McGuire last November to be crowned as the ONE Welterweight World Champion.
His win over McGuire was Kadestam’s ninth knockout victory, making him one of the most fearsome competitors in the whole organization.
Kichigin, on the other hand, is a grappling wizard who is coming into ONE Championship on 14-match winning streak, with his last victory coming against another submission artist in Rousimar Palhares.
With two world-class talents bannering the card, there is no reason for Filipino martial arts fans to miss this event. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

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