ONE Championship News

BJPENN.COM Staff - June 12, 2019

ONE Championship continues to establish itself in mainland China. The next event takes place in Shanghai on 15 June, called ONE: Legendary Quest, and there are five Chinese athletes scheduled to compete on the card. Those warriors will help to set the table for the co-main event, Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Agilan Thani, and the main event between ONE Atomweight Muay Thai World Champion Stamp Fairtex against 18-year-old world prodigy Alma Juniku. The match between Stamp and Juniku has a combined age of just 39, which is a record for a ONE Championship title bout.

BJPENN.COM Staff - June 10, 2019

There is always a ton on the line whenever athletes climb onto the canvas to do battle. Sometimes, depending on the athlete’s current situation, there is even more at stake than usual. On June 15, ONE Championship heads to Shanghai for ONE: Legendary Quest at the Baoshan Arena. The card is topped by an epic ONE Atomweight Muay Thai World Championship bout. The 21-year-old champion Stamp Fairtex of Thailand will defend her title against 18-year-old challenger Alma Juniku of Australia.

Tom Taylor - June 10, 2019

The next ONE Championship appearances of former UFC champs Eddie Alvarez and Demetrious Johnson are now official. Both men are set to return on August 2 at ONE: Dawn of Heroes in Manila, Philippines. Eddie Alvarez will make his return against two-time ONE lightweight champion Eduard Folayang. This booking, which looks like a 2019 Fight of the Year contender on paper, will mark Alvarez’s opportunity to rebound from a failed ONE debut opposite Timofey Nastyukhin, and Folayang’s chance to rebound from a title loss to Shinya Aoki.

BJPENN.COM Staff - June 10, 2019

Agilan Thani is seen as the shining light of the booming Malaysian mixed martial arts scene. But after hitting a rough patch, his upcoming bout — the co-main event at ONE: LEGENDARY QUEST on 15 June in Shanghai — is a must-win. After beating Amitesh Chaubey in March 2018, Thani has been on the losing end in his last two matchups, absorbing stoppage losses to current ONE Welterweight World Champion Zebaztian Kadestam and top contender Kiamrian Abbasov in 2018.

Tom Taylor - June 7, 2019

At ONE: Masters of Destiny, which is scheduled for July 12 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, ONE Atomweight World Champion Angela Lee will return to action opposite Brazilian jiu jitsu specialist Michelle Nicolini. The bout will occur in the strawweight division. Interestingly, Lee and Nicolini have met once before, on the grappling circuit. Brazil’s Nicolini won that contest by submission.

Tom Taylor - May 30, 2019

Earlier this month, Brazilian striking expert Cosmo Alexandre derailed the ONE Championship debut of Sage Northcutt with a jaw-dropping first-round knockout. For those unfamiliar with Alexandre’s body of work, this outcome came as a shock. Yet it’s just the kind of outcome the Brazilian destroyer had envisioned for himself.

Tom Taylor - May 29, 2019

Singapore-based martial arts organization ONE Championship has recently signed a host of high profile free agents, most notably Demetrious Johnson, Eddie Alvarez, and Sage Northcutt. Among Western fans, many of whom grew familiar with these fighters during their time in the UFC, the widespread expectation was that all three would all be extremely successful in ONE. This has not been the case.

Tom Taylor - May 27, 2019

Demetrious Johnson has already cemented himself one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time, but he’s not ready to rest on his laurels. After a record-setting reign as the UFC flyweight champion, he is now zeroing in on a new title in ONE Championship. Johnson’s road to ONE Championship gold leads through the perilous ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix. The former UFC champion has already advanced to the tournament’s second round, having submitted Yuya Wakamatsu in Tokyo in March, and he’s now looking ahead to a yet unscheduled semifinal showdown with former DEEP flyweight champion Tatsumitsu Wada.

Natasha Hooper - May 24, 2019

Sage Northcutt come up short in his ONE Championship debut last Friday in Singapore, losing by knockout to striking specialist Cosmo Alexandre in just 29 seconds. Like pretty much everybody else in the MMA community, UFC commentator Joe Rogan has seen the footage of this brutal knockout. Yesterday during an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast with Brendan Schaub, Rogan gave his take on the fight and the implications of such a tough loss

Drake Riggs - May 24, 2019

Following this past Friday’s fun ONE Championship: Enter the Dragon event, a certain headline came out earlier in the week that caught the attention of many of those in the MMA community… new ONE Vice President, Miesha Tate included. At the event in Singapore, former UFC prospect ‘Super’ Sage Northcutt made his promotional debut when he clashed with the seasoned kickboxer, Cosmo Alexandre. Unfortunately for Northcutt, things would play out completely opposite to how he expected them to.

Drake Riggs - May 23, 2019

This past Friday morning in America, ONE Championship: Enter the Dragon went down in Singapore. It was a super exciting event overall that saw plenty of surprising upsets unfold. However, ONE has since overturned one of those outcomes. Earlier this week, ONE CEO and Founder Chatri Sityodtong announced via Facebook that the ONE Super Series kickboxing featherweight world Grand Prix bout result between Petchmorakot Petchyindee and Giorgio Petrosyan would be overturned. The fight saw Petchyindee pull off the big upset victory by split decision.

Tom Taylor - May 23, 2019

Former UFC talent Sage Northcutt experienced a pretty brutal loss in his ONE Championship debut, suffering a 29-second knockout at the hands of kickboxing specialist Cosmo Alexandre. This tough setback left Northcutt with serious facial injuries that needed to be corrected over the course of a nine-hour surgery.