ONE Championship News

Tom Taylor - October 18, 2018

Former UFC and Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez, who recently signed with Singapore’s ONE Championship, hasn’t had the chance to thoroughly examine the promotion’s lightweight division just yet. That being said, he expects to get very familiar with his peers in the division very soon. “No I’m not entirely familiar,” Eddie Alvarez said in response to BJPENN.COM on Wednesday’s ONE: Heart of the Lion media conference call. “Today when I’m on Twitter they put a poll out for possible opponents to fight. That was kind of the first time I understood who the top contenders there are.”

BJPENN.COM Staff - October 18, 2018

On Thursday, October 11 we saw Mark Fairtex Abelardo earn the $100,000 ONE Championship contract when he scored a TKO win over Shinechagtga Zoltsetseg at the ONE Warrior Series Season 3 show in Singapore. The bantamweight had already put together a memorable performance in his first appearance on the ONE Warrior Series stage. Those two wins were enough to secure him a roster spot and the lucrative contract.

Thomas Taylor - October 17, 2018

Former UFC and Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez appeared on ONE Championship’s Thursday evening media conference call, alongside ONE women’s atomweight champion Angela Lee, ONE women’s strawweight champion Xiong Jing Nan, ONE bantamweight champion Bibiano Fernandes, ONE interim bantamweight champion Kevin Belingon, and ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong. Among the highlights of this call was Eddie Alvarez’s announcement that he plans to stick to ONE Championship’s lightweight division (169 pounds), and that he will not be heading north to the promotion’s welterweight division (185 pounds). Because ONE Championship does not allow extreme weight cutting, this would seem to rule out a widely desired fight with the promotion’s ostensibly retired former welterweight champion Ben Askren.

Tom Taylor - October 16, 2018

ONE women’s atomweight champion Angela Lee is currently gearing up for a massive title fight with ONE strawweight champ Xiong Jing Nan. If Lee is able to win this mammoth showdown, she will become a two-division ONE champion. She’ll also reaffirm her status as one of the world’s best female fighters. Considering the amount of talented female fighters that are currently competing on the sport’s biggest stages, thats saying something.

Christopher Taylor - October 15, 2018

Former UFC and Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez has found a new home. “The Underground King” announced tonight that he has signed with ONE Championship. ONE Championship’s Chatri Sityodtong shared the following video adding the caption “Please join me in welcoming Eddie Alvarez to @ONEChampionship! I am super excited for our fans to witness Eddie’s high octane, explosive dynamite KO style. Stay tuned for more big news! @Ealvarezfight”

BJPENN.COM Staff - October 15, 2018

On October 26, from Thuwanna Indoor Stadium in Yangon, Myanmar, ONE Championship will present ONE: PURSUIT OF GREATNESS. Headlining the card is ONE middleweight and light heavyweight world champion Aung La N Sang, “The Burmese Python” will defend his 185-pound title against Lebanon’s Mohammad Karaki. Whenever Aung La performs in front of his countrymen in Myanmar, the atmosphere is electric. Expect the energy in the building to be amazing for this one as well. Karaki is 9-0 in his career as a professional. He’s finished all but one of his opponents. Karaki is making his promotional debut and he’s immediately being dropped into one of the most difficult situations to perform. Before he takes his first swipe at Aung La, he must first prove he can handle an atmosphere that will be rooting for the local legend to maintain his title.

BJPENN.COM Staff - October 14, 2018

Few martial artists captivate an entire country the way Aung La N Sang does whenever he competes in his native Myanmar. The country and the arena comes alive when the ONE Middleweight and Light Heavyweight World Champion comes to the ring, and as we’ve seen, he’s been unbeatable in this environment. At ONE: PURSUIT OF GREATNESS, Mohammad Karaki will be the latest to try and best Aung La in Myanmar. If he can emerge victoriously, he will be the new champion at 185 pounds. A total of six opponents have tried and failed to beat Aung La in The Land of the Golden Pagodas.

BJPENN.COM Staff - October 14, 2018

Shinya Aoki’s road back to the ONE Lightweight World Title might require him to defeat the opponent who took the very same belt from him via TKO two years ago. While Eduard Folayang still has work to do at ONE: CONQUEST OF CHAMPIONS in his homeland of the Philippines against Amir Khan, a second showdown with Aoki could be on deck. Folayang and Khan’s bout is for the now vacant lightweight title, but Aoki’s win guaranteed he’d receive the first shot at the newly crowned champion.

BJPENN.COM Staff - October 13, 2018

Srisaket Sor Rungvisai didn’t disappoint in his promotional debut and fourth defense of his WBC Super Flyweight title on Saturday night at the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand. Iran Diaz proved to be a game challenger, but Srisaket won almost every round on all three judges scorecards en-oute to a unanimous decision victory in his homeland. As you can see in some of the highlights below, Srisaket’s inability to stop Diaz wasn’t due to a lack of effort.

BJPENN.COM Staff - October 12, 2018

Last weekend, ONE Championship blazed a trail of excitement in Thailand’s bustling capital city of Bangkok when it held its ONE: KINGDOM OF HEROES event — the promotion’s biggest show to date at the Impact Arena. What ensued was a night of non-stop martial arts action, the likes of which ONE has become well known for. Going into the event, the Impact Arena flowed with a unique energy that immediately gave off the impression that it was undoubtedly a special night. When the statistics began to roll in, it was evidently clear that ONE: KINGDOM OF HEROES was indeed a huge success.

BJPENN.COM Staff - October 12, 2018

After a memorable night at ONE: KINGDOM OF HEROES in Bangkok, Thailand on October 6, it’s time to turn the proverbial page as we look ahead to the next ONE Championship event. We’re just about two weeks away from ONE: PURSUIT OF GREATNESS. The promotion heads back to Myanmar for this, another major show on the ONE Championship calendar. In case you’re unaware of the top draws on the card, here are five reasons to be excited about ONE: PURSUIT OF GREATNESS.

BJPENN.COM Staff - October 12, 2018

The job of a promotional matchmaker is a tough one. Matching comparable opponents who have the potential to generate an exciting bout–while also maintaining a level of fairness –is at times an unenviable task. The ONE Championship events scheduled for the rest of 2018 are packed with interesting matchups. As we look at the shifting dynamics in some weight classes, and mainstays of other divisions, the following five matches are bouts that should be at or near the top of a future show.

BJPENN.COM Staff - October 10, 2018

Vice President of Medical Services of ONE Championship, Dr. Warren Wang, M.D., is the man behind the scenes of the global Home of Martial Arts, where he puts his knowledge and expertise to good use by making martial arts contests safer for all athletes. An experienced doctor and physician in the field of Emergency Medicine, Wang has over a decade of knowledge and practice. He joined ONE Championship in 2015 but has been with the company in smaller capacities even prior.

BJPENN.COM Staff - October 10, 2018

Srisaket Sor Rungvisai did his best to finish Iran Diaz in the main event of ONE: KINGDOM OF HEROES on Saturday night in Bangkok, Thailand. However, the rugged challenger simply refused to wither and the champion had to settle for a unanimous-decision win as he retained his WBC Super Flyweight title. While Srisaket didn’t earn the stoppage victory, a good number of the martial artists in action on Saturday did manage to take matters out of the judge’s hands. Take a look at the five most memorable finishes from ONE: KINGDOM OF HEROES.

BJPENN.COM Staff - October 10, 2018

Shinya Aoki is far from finished. He proved that and then some on Saturday at the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand. The Japanese icon needed just 57 seconds to score an impressive submission win over Ev Ting. Aoki has long been known for his grappling prowess and he wasted no time showing Ting that he would lean on his area of expertise in pursuit of the win.

BJPENN.COM Staff - October 10, 2018

Srisaket Sor Rungvisai would have loved to punctuate his promotional debut with a KO victory over Iran Diaz in front of his countrymen on Saturday, but the challenger’s toughness made that outcome impossible. During the main event at the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand, Srisaket still retained his WBC Super Flyweight title, but he had to settle for a unanimous-decision victory in a lopsided battle that saw only one judge award Diaz a round. The bout main evented ONE: KINGDOM OF HEROES and kicked off what the boxer and promotion hope will be a long and fruitful relationship. Diaz had only a few moments of shine throughout the 12 rounds. He appeared to catch Srisaket off balance with a few counter shots. Srisaket even went to the mat, and perhaps should have been ruled down on at least one of the two occasions. He wasn’t, but even if he had been, the margin of victory was so large that it wouldn’t have changed the outcome.

BJPENN.COM Staff - October 8, 2018

Asia-based martial arts organization ONE Championship just announced through a press release that it has raised an additional US $166 million in the latest round of its funding. Led by major investor Sequoia Capital, who had already invested in the company in 2017, ONE Championship now has a total capital base exceeding US $250 million. Other investors who participated in the Series D funding round include Temasek, Greenoaks Capital, and other leading institutional investors. The equity investment further solidifies ONE’s dominant market leadership position in the sports media industry in Asia.

BJPENN.COM Staff - October 6, 2018

On Saturday, 6 October, ONE Championship heads back to the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand for what figures to be an eventful and diverse show of martial arts. WBC Super Flyweight champion and Thai legend Srisaket Sor Rungvisai will make his promotional debut as he defends his title against Iran “MagnifKO” Diaz in the main event of ONE: KINGDOM OF HEROES. It will mark the first time a boxing match has headlined a ONE Championship show. Also, ONE Super Series Atomweight Kickboxing champion Kai Ting Chuang will defend her title against Thailand’s own Stamp Fairtex. It should be a memorable night of action in Bangkok, but it won’t be the first noteworthy event ONE Championship has brought to the Impact Arena. The first ONE Championship event at the venue took place just two years ago, but it hasn’t taken a long time for the promotion and the city of Bangkok to create magic.