By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter
THE 100th event of ONE Championship set for Tokyo, Japan, on Oct. 13 is shaping up to be a truly a marquee one with the offering divided into two quality parts.
Announced early this week by no less than ONE chairman and chief executive officer Chatri Sityodtong, “ONE: Century,” happening at the historic Ryogoku Kokugikan, will feature 22 match-ups, split into two shows of 11 fights.
The matches will feature five Filipinos, two of which are fighting for world titles and one for a grand prix belt.
Part 1 of Century will be headlined by the atomweight world championship fight between reigning champion Angela “The Unstoppable” Lee and challenger and women’s strawweight champ “The Panda” Xiong Jing Nan of China.
Co-main events are the world grand prix finals in the flyweight and lightweight divisions.
Flyweight will have mixed martial arts legend Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson against Filipino fighter Danny “The King” Kingad.
The two booked a spot in the finals with victories in the semifinals held here in Manila early this month.
In the lightweight division, meanwhile, it will between Eddie “The Underground King” Alvarez of the United States and Saygid “Dagi” Guseyn Arslanaliev of Turkey.
Supporting Part 1 of Century are eight top-notch preliminary fights, including that of Team Lakay strawweight Lito “Thunder Kid” Adiwang against Japanese Senzo Ikeda.
Mr. Adiwang is newly signed with ONE after topping the promotion’s “Warrior Series 7” event in Singapore on Aug. 6.
Part 1 of Century in the scheduled in the morning and will be broadcast on TNT in the United States.
PART 2
The second fold of the historic ONE Tokyo event, meanwhile, which will air live across 140-plus countries in the evening, is bannered by the light heavyweight clash of champion Aung La “The Burmese Python” N Sang of Myanmar against ONE heavyweight champion Brandon “The Truth” Vera of the Philippines.
Mr. Vera last fought in November last year where he successfully defended his title.
Under the N Sang-Vera battle are three world-class co-main events led by the world bantamweight championship fight between reigning champion Bibiano “The Flash” Fernandes of Brazil and former champ Kevin “The Silencer” Belingon of the Philippines.
This marks the fourth time that Messrs. Fernandes and Belingon will face each other for the belt. Their last encounter in March, also in Tokyo, ended in the disqualification of the Filipino fighter, then the bantamweight champion, over what were deemed as illegal strikes on the back of the head of the Brazilian, handing the belt to the latter anew.
The flyweight muay thai world championship fight between champion Rodtang Jitmuangnon of Thailand and Walter Goncalves of Brazil as well as the featherweight kickboxing world grand prix championship final between Italy’s Giorgio Petrosyan and France’s Samy Sana are the two other co-main events.
Filipino Honorio “The Rock” Banario is part of the main card, fighting Japanese legend and former ONE lightweight champion Shinya Aoki.
Also included in Part 2 of Century are champion versus champion fights from MMA organizations Shooto and Pancrase.
ONE Championship has steadily grown in stature and reach since opening shop in 2011. It is now widely acknowledged as the biggest sports media property in Asia.
