ONE CHAMPIONSHIP will stage its first event in Japan next year and it is coming in loaded with a fight card headlined by three world title fights.
Dubbed “ONE: A New Era” and set to take place on March 31 at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, the event will feature the world title clashes of reigning ONE Women’s Strawweight World Champion “The Panda” Xiong Jing Nan of China against ONE Women’s Atomweight World Champion “Unstoppable” Angela Lee of Singapore; Middleweight World Champion Aung La “The Burmese Python” N Sang of Myanmar against Ken Hasegawa of Japan; and Lightweight World Champion Eduard “Landslide” Folayang of the Philippines against Japanese legend Shinya “Tobikan Judan” Aoki.
In addition, newly signed ONE athletes Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson and Eddie “The Underground King” Alvarez are set to make their debut with the promotion.
Mr. Johnson’s opponent for his first ONE Championship bout will be Japan’s Yuya “Little Piranha” Wakamatsu while Mr. Alvarez will face top lightweight contender Timofey Nastyukhin of Russia.
Also on tap is the kickoff of the ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix, featuring a series of compelling bouts.
The scheduled fight of Mr. Folayang will mark the first time he is defending the lightweight gold after reclaiming it with an impressive unanimous decision victory over Singaporean Amir Khan last month.
It is also a rematch for Mr. Folayang against Mr. Aoki, who he beat in 2016 by way of technical knockout (knees and punches) in the third round to get first hold of the lightweight belt.
Both Messrs. Folayang and Aoki are currently riding three-fight winning streaks. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
