ONE Championship News

BJPENN.COM Staff - April 21, 2026

Ubaid Hussain and Panpadej NF Looksuan headline ONE Friday Fights 151 on Thursday, April 24, broadcasting live in Asia primetime from Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok. The nine-bout card spans Muay Thai, kickboxing, and MMA. Each competitor is chasing a US$100,000 contract and a spot on ONE’s global roster. Panpadej enters the main event on the back of a 25-fight unbeaten comeback run since the pandemic. Most recently he defended his spot at the top of the weekly series with a main event win over Apiwat Sor Somnuk. The 24-year-old Chiang Mai native turned to Muay Thai at 12. He did so after being bullied as a child and moved to Bangkok at 15 with a point to prove. He has been proving it ever since.

BJPENN.COM Staff - April 21, 2026

Ayaka “Zombie” Miura has spent years grinding toward a ONE World Title. On Wednesday, April 29, she gets her clearest shot yet at making that a reality. The 35-year-old submission specialist faces fellow Japanese fighter Chihiro Sawada in an atomweight MMA clash at ONE SAMURAI 1, live from Ariake Arena in Tokyo, with a title eliminator on the line. Miura arrives carrying a 16-5 record and a five-fight winning streak, four of those wins by submission. Her scheduled title shot against Denice Zamboanga at ONE 173 last November fell apart when Zamboanga withdrew through illness. Sawada enters this all-Japan collision with three straight wins over Macarena Aragon, Itsuki Hirata, and Natalie Salcedo — equally hungry and equally dangerous.

BJPENN.COM Staff - April 17, 2026

Itsuki “Android 18” Hirata is ready to remind the world who she is. The 26-year-old Japanese judoka faces Ritu “The Indian Tigress” Phogat in an atomweight MMA clash at ONE SAMURAI 1 on Wednesday, April 29, live from Ariake Arena in Tokyo. Hirata’s career has taken a winding road since her electrifying start in ONE Championship. She won six of her first seven bouts and announced herself as one of the division’s most dangerous grapplers.

BJPENN.COM Staff - April 17, 2026

Rodtang “The Iron Man” Jitmuangnon is heading back to Japan with a clear mission: capture the ONE Interim Flyweight Kickboxing World Title and deliver a performance worthy of the moment. His opponent, Takeru “Natural Born Krusher” Segawa, has announced that their rematch at ONE SAMURAI 1 on April 29 inside Ariake Arena in Tokyo will be the final bout of his career. The stage could not be bigger. Their first meeting at ONE 172 in March 2025 lasted just 80 seconds, with Rodtang ending the night via left hook. Takeru rebounded by stopping Denis Puric at ONE 173 in November, earning the right to this farewell appearance. That Takeru chose Rodtang as the opponent for his final night speaks to the depth of respect between these two elite strikers.

BJPENN.COM Staff - April 16, 2026

Reigning ONE Flyweight Submission Grappling World Champion Diogo “Baby Shark” Reis and former ONE Bantamweight Kickboxing World Champion Petchtanong Petchfergus headline a pair of new bouts confirmed for ONE Fight Night 43: Tang vs. Gasanov on Friday, May 15, broadcasting live in U.S. primetime from Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok. In submission grappling, Reis moves up a division to face Yuki Takahashi in a high-stakes technical matchup. The 24-year-old Brazilian two-time ADCC World Champion has been nothing short of dominant since arriving in ONE. He submitted Shoya Ishiguro on debut, then captured the ONE Flyweight Submission Grappling World Title in December by defeating Daiki Yonekura. A career record of 94-9 underscores the scale of the challenge Takahashi faces in his ONE debut.

BJPENN.COM Staff - April 15, 2026

Hiroki Akimoto will return to action in front of his home fans when he meets 20-year-old Taimu Hisai in a bantamweight kickboxing clash at ONE SAMURAI 1 on Wednesday, April 29, broadcasting live from Ariake Arena in Tokyo. The addition completes the card for ONE’s inaugural monthly event in Japan.

BJPENN.COM Staff - April 15, 2026

Avazbek “Ninzya” Kholmirzaev has served notice to the ONE flyweight MMA division. The 25-year-old Uzbek challenger will meet reigning ONE Flyweight MMA World Champion Yuya “Little Piranha” Wakamatsu in one of four title bouts at ONE SAMURAI 1, broadcasting live from Ariake Arena in Tokyo on April 29. Kholmirzaev’s ascent through the flyweight ranks has been relentless. Since arriving in ONE, he has racked up nine victories inside the promotion — eight of them by stoppage — and enters this fight riding a six-fight winning streak.

BJPENN.COM Staff - April 14, 2026

Dzhabir Dzhabrailov is 7-0, and every single win has come by finish inside the first round. The 21-year-old Team Amir fighter made it five consecutive first-round stoppages at ONE Fight Night 42 on April 10, dropping Chase “Mannimal” Mann with a thunderous left hook and finishing him with hammerfists at 2:31 of round one at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. It was not a clean performance from start to finish. Mann used his powerlifting-built strength to drag the fight toward the ground early, landed a short right hand that sent Dzhabrailov crashing down, and looked briefly in control. The Turkish fighter knew it was coming.

BJPENN.COM Staff - April 13, 2026

Sam-A Gaiyanghadao delivered one of the finest moments of his career. The 42-year-old legend stopped Elmehdi “The Sniper” El Jamari with a walk-off head kick at 2:43 of round two in their strawweight Muay Thai co-main event at ONE Fight Night 42 on April 10 at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. The fight was anything but clean. El Jamari’s heavy hands troubled Sam-A early, and the Moroccan dropped the Thai veteran with a clubbing shot in round two after absorbing two knockdowns himself.

BJPENN.COM Staff - April 13, 2026

ONE Championship has confirmed the main event for The Inner Circle on Friday, May 15. Reigning ONE Heavyweight MMA World Champion “Reug Reug” Oumar Kane will make his first title defense against former three-division king Anatoly “Sladkiy” Malykhin, streaming live from Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. Their first fight at ONE 169 in November 2024 was one of the most significant heavyweight bouts in ONE Championship history. Malykhin entered as the first three-division MMA World Champion in ONE history and had never lost a professional fight.

BJPENN.COM Staff - April 10, 2026

“The Kicking Machine” Superlek is back. The Thai striking legend has been added to The Inner Circle on Friday, May 15, where he faces Russian knockout artist Abdulla “Smash Boy” Dayakaev in a bantamweight Muay Thai showdown, streaming live from Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. Superlek carries a 139-31 professional record and 15-3 promotional mark into the fight. He is the only fighter to have defeated Rodtang Jitmuangnon in an all-striking bout inside ONE Championship, and his resume includes wins over Panpayak Jitmuangnon, Nabil Anane, Takeru Segawa, and Jonathan Haggerty.

BJPENN.COM Staff - April 10, 2026

Rungrawee “Legatron” Sitsongpeenong has spent eight months preparing for this moment. The 30-year-old Sitsongpeenong fighter challenges Regian “The Immortal” Eersel for the vacant ONE Lightweight Kickboxing World Title in the main event of The Inner Circle on Friday, April 10, streaming live from Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. The road back began with a loss to George Jarvis, followed by a composed bounce-back win over Youssef Assouik at ONE Fight Night 34 last August. That performance showed the evolution of a fighter who spent his time away from competition coaching Thailand’s National Pencak Silat Team at the SEA Games and embracing fatherhood. When ONE Championship called with an offer to fight Eersel for the vacant belt in early March, the reaction was immediate.

BJPENN.COM Staff - April 9, 2026

Gilbert Nakatani finally looks like the fighter he always believed he was. The 32-year-old Aragon Training Academy product makes his long-awaited breakthrough at ONE Fight Night 42 on Prime Video on April 10 when he steps into the ring against Joshua “Flyin Hawaiian” Perreira in flyweight MMA action, live in U.S. primetime from Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. His first two appearances in ONE ended in competitive decision losses to Yuya Wakamatsu and Jeremy Miado. They were both formidable opponents. But both bouts were impacted by health issues heading in.

BJPENN.COM Staff - April 8, 2026

Regian “The Immortal” Eersel has held the ONE Lightweight Kickboxing World Title six times. He won it first in 2019 — his first piece of gold in ONE Championship — and describes it as a belt with a special place in his career. On Friday, April 10, he gets his chance to reclaim it when he faces Rungrawee “Legatron” Sitsongpeenong in the main event of The Inner Circle, streaming live from Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

BJPENN.COM Staff - April 8, 2026

Black Panther and Diego Paez were supposed to fight in February. Both men had completed full camps, passed weight and hydration, and were minutes from their walkouts at ONE Fight Night 40 when illness forced the Thai striker to withdraw. Two months later, the unfinished business gets its resolution at ONE Fight Night 42 on Prime Video on April 10, live in U.S. primetime from Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

BJPENN.COM Staff - April 7, 2026

Dante Leon knows what falling short of a world title feels like. The Canadian grappling ace lost a decision to Tye Ruotolo at ONE Fight Night 31 in May and has been building his case for another crack at gold ever since. His next step comes at ONE Fight Night 42 on Prime Video on April 10 against Japanese grappler Kenta Iwamoto in welterweight submission grappling, live in U.S. primetime from Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. The two met before — Leon submitted Iwamoto in the third round at the 2023 AIGA Champions League under a different format: three five-minute rounds with points. ONE’s single 10-minute round is a fundamentally different challenge, and Leon is treating this as a clean slate. Iwamoto has continued to evolve since that loss, combining his judo base with relentless top pressure, and Leon is not walking in with any assumptions about how this one goes.

BJPENN.COM Staff - April 6, 2026

ONE Championship returns to Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand on Friday, April 10, with ONE Friday Fights 150. The middle event of a triple-header that also features The Inner Circle and ONE Fight Night 42. Nine bouts across Muay Thai, kickboxing, and MMA are on the card. A majority of athletes are chasing a US$100,000 contract and a spot on ONE’s global roster.

BJPENN.COM Staff - April 6, 2026

ONE Championship returns to Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand on Friday, April 10, with another exclusive card for members of The Inner Circle. Five bouts are on the card, headlined by a World Title fight that puts one of the most decorated fighters in ONE history against one of Thailand’s sharpest southpaws. Regian “The Immortal” Eersel faces Rungrawee “Legatron” Sitsongpeenong for the vacant ONE Lightweight Kickboxing World Title in the main event.