ONE Championship News

Drake Riggs - November 7, 2018

ONE Championship’s biggest all-time acquisitions in former UFC champions Demetrious Johnson and Eddie Alvarez now know when their promotional debuts will take place. Interestingly enough, they won’t be coming in your basic format but instead, tournament style as ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong announced via Instagram.

Cole Shelton - November 6, 2018

Sage Northcutt, a current free agent and once highly touted prospect will be heading to Singapore to take in the festivities at ONE Championship: Heart of the Lion this Friday night. Along with Northcutt, former UFC and Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez and longtime UFC flyweight champion, Demetrious Johnson will also be attending the event.

Tom Taylor - November 6, 2018

Reigning ONE bantamweight champion Bibiano Fernandes and former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson are two of the biggest stars on the ONE Championship roster. That being said, we’ll never see the pair fight, as they’re long-time friends and training partners under Matt Hume at AMC Pankration in Kirkland, Washington. While Bibiano Fernandes and Demetrious Johnson will never share the ONE cage, it sounds like we will see a bit of friendly competition between them going forward. Speaking on the latest episode of BJPENN.COM Radio, Fernandes divulged that he plans to best Johnson’s record of 11-straight title defenses.

Tom Taylor - November 6, 2018

At ONE: HEART OF THE LION, which goes down on November 9 in Singapore, five-time EBI Grappling Champion Garry Tonon will look to improve to 3-0 in the mixed martial arts arena as he takes on South Korea’s Sung Jong Lee. Tonon, as always, has done his research heading in to this fight. And having reviewed Lee’s tape, he feels there’s a good chance the South Korean will actually try to drag the fight to the mat — something that many other fighters would likely to find unthinkable, given Tonon’s incredible submission ability. Lee has submitted three of his six opponents (all with heel hooks), and Tonon believes he might look to do the same in Singapore.

BJPENN.COM Staff - November 5, 2018

Singapore’s Tiffany ‘No Chill’ Teo (7-1) makes her highly-anticipated return to action on Friday, November 9 at ONE: HEART OF THE LION. Teo will face off against Brazilian jiu-jitsu legend Michelle Nicolini in a strawweight bout that could have significant title implications going forward. Both women are without question two of the best athletes competing in ONE Championship’s women’s strawweight division. A victory for either Teo or Nicolini would go a long way in helping the winner build their case for a future crack at the title.

Tom Taylor - November 4, 2018

ONE Championship heavyweight kingpin Brandon Vera is once again set to defend his title. The Filipino-American striking specialist will do so on November 23 in Manila, The Philippines, where he will battle Cage Warriors heavyweight champion Mauro “The Hammer” Cerilli. Given the skill of his upcoming opponent, Brandon Vera knows that victory is not a certainty. What he is certain of, however, is that the bout will be thrilling, and that it could end at any second. For that reason, he urges his fans to save their bathroom breaks for after the fight.

BJPENN.COM Staff - November 2, 2018

ONE Women’s Atomweight World Champion “Unstoppable” Angela Lee believes that having the hometown advantage will play a huge factor when she tries to become the first two-division women’s world champion in history this November. Lee is scheduled to challenge ONE Women’s Strawweight World Champion “The Panda” Xiong Jing Nan for the strawweight strap in the main event of ONE: HEART OF THE LION at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on 9 November.

BJPENN.COM Staff - November 1, 2018

Both Eddie Alvarez and Demetrious Johnson, former UFC champions, announced that they have joined ONE Championship within two weeks of each other. The news obviously ran up many headlines. The Johnson for Ben Askren trade in particular was the biggest acquisition in history for the Asia-based promotion. Alvarez, 34, has won world championships in the biggest mixed martial arts promotions in the world, and has made it clear that he’s intent on capturing a third major title.

BJPENN.COM Staff - October 31, 2018

Rising Singaporean lightweight star Amir Khan has declared his intent to challenge ONE Championship newcomer Eddie Alvarez. As Khan gears up for his lightweight title showdown against Filipino Eduard Folayang at ONE: CONQUEST OF CHAMPIONS at Manila’s Mall of Asia Arena next month, he signalled his interest in meeting Alvarez early next year.

Tom Taylor - October 31, 2018

After defending the UFC flyweight title a record-breaking 11-straight times, Demetrious Johnson absolutely deserved an immediate rematch with Henry Cejudo, who ended his title reign with a split decision victory at UFC 227 in August. Instead of pursuing this rematch, however, Demetrious Johnson and his team negotiated a move to Singapore’s ONE Championship.

BJPENN.COM Staff - October 31, 2018

Team Lakay’s Kevin “The Silencer” Belingon (19-5) sees no problem if reigning ONE Bantamweight World Champion Bibiano “The Flash” Fernandes (22-3) takes the action to the mat in their highly-anticipated rematch on 9 November. The two men are slated to lock horns in the co-main event of ONE: HEART OF THE LION, which takes place at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Tom Taylor - October 30, 2018

Former ONE Championship welterweight titleholder Ben Askren is now headed to the UFC — though the promotion has not officially announced his arrival just yet. Askren’s long-awaited migration to the Octagon was made possible by a history-making trade between ONE and the UFC that saw the UFC cough up its former flyweight champ Demetrious Johnson in exchange for the former ONE welterweight king.

Tom Taylor - October 29, 2018

As you’ve probably heard, it’s now official. Former UFC flyweight champion and bona fide MMA legend Demetrious Johnson is now a ONE Championship athlete. That’s thanks to a history-making trade between ONE and the UFC that saw the UFC cough up Johnson in exchange for ONE’s former welterweight champion Ben Askren. Speaking on a media conference call on Sunday, an elated Demetrious Johnson explained how this out-of-left-field trade came to fruition.

Tom Taylor - October 29, 2018

Former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson is now a ONE Championship athlete. That means that he can look forward to MMA bouts with top ONE Championship flyweights such as Geje Eustaquio, Adriano Moraes, Kairat Akhmetov and Danny Kingad, and perhaps even scraps with top ONE bantamweights down the road. Of course, that is not where Demetrious Johnson’s options as a ONE Championship athlete end.

BJPENN.COM Staff - October 29, 2018

ONE Championship’s Singapore events always seem to produce something special. It could be because Singapore is where the promotion started on its journey to becoming one of the world’s largest martial arts organizations back in 2011, or perhaps it’s the always enthusiastic Singaporean crowd that spur the athletes on to reach new heights.

Tom Taylor - October 29, 2018

These days, it seems like trash talk is part of the buildup to almost every major UFC fight. Pre-fight press conferences, media conference calls and interviews are increasingly filled with virulent mudslinging, while incidents like Conor McGregor‘s infamous bus rampage and the UFC 229 post-fight brawl seem to be making headlines with greater frequency. For fighters who aren’t fond of this kind of drama, this can be a little problematic.

Tom Taylor - October 26, 2018

On Friday night (Friday morning in North America) ONE Championship returned to beautiful Yangon, Myanmar’s Thuwunna Indoor Stadium with the action-packed ONE: Pursuit of Greatness card. Like most of ONE Championship’s recent stops in Myanmar, this one was topped by an Aung La N Sang appearance, as the ONE middleweight and light heavyweight title defended his middleweight belt against Lebanon’s Mohammad Karaki.

BJPENN.COM Staff - October 26, 2018

Former two-weight ONE world champion Martin Nguyen has thrown down the challenge to Eddie Alvarez, declaring he will put his ONE Featherweight World Title on the line. As Alvarez made the game-changing move to ONE Championship — having been offered a lucrative deal by ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong — Australian Nguyen was quick to raise his hand.