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| "The Panda" Xiong Jing Nan knocked out Singapore's Angela Lee in their first encounter at ONE: A New Era defending her women's strawweight world title. (Image Source: ONE Championship) |
Following its successful staging of A New Era last May, Asia's largest mixed
martial arts (MMA) organization ONE Championship is set to make its return to the
Ryogoku Kogukikan in Tokyo, Japan for its historic 100th event which will be named
ONE: Century. As announced by ONE chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong on social
media, Century will feature three excitingly thrilling and anticipated World Championship
fights as well as other interesting bouts to boot.
These fights include the rematch between Singapore's
"Unstoppable" Angela Lee and "The Panda" Xiong Jing Nan of
China for the promotion's women's atomweight title, ONE World Heavyweight
Champion Brandon "The Truth" Vera versus Myanmar's shining star Aung La
N Sang for the ONE light heavyweight title, and another rematch between ONE
bantamweight champion Bibiano Fernandes defending his title against Team
Lakay's Kevin Belingon. ONE: Century will also feature the finals of the ONE World
Grand Prix tournaments in three different divisions as well as a series of
bouts headlined by the best fighters from two of Japan's finest combat sports
promotions, Shooto and Pancrase, competing against each other where the winner
of each bout will take home a cash prize of US$50,000.
Singapore's first world champion Angela Lee is gunning to set her
sights on getting back at The Panda after suffering her first loss over Nan in her
attempt to become a two-division women's world champion in ONE's first event in Japan dubbed A New Era held last May 31st via knockout which was recently followed by
her second loss at ONE: Masters of Destiny while Xiong Jing Nan puts on a
sensational performance since joining ONE Championship and eventually made
China proud by becoming its first world champion. Aung La N Sang (25-10, 1 NC) positioned
himself as one of the biggest homegrown stars in ONE Championship today and has
captured the middleweight and light heavyweight bouts along the way. N Sang's first
defense of his light heavyweight belt will be a tough one considering that his opponent
is no less than Brandon "The Truth" Vera (16-7 (1)) who has been the
ONE World Heavyweight Champion since December 2015.
On the other hand, ONE world bantamweight champion Bibiano Fernandes (23-4)
will meet former world champion Kevin Belingon (20-6) for the fourth time. Fernandes
reclaimed the title in the early part of 2019 via disqualification after losing
it to Belingon in their second meeting in 2018. It is rare to see fighters to
face each other in more than just two consecutive fights, but will the
Fernandes-Belingon series go the distance after ONE: Century? Well, this is
beyond what we can expect from the home of mixed martial arts in the world's largest
and most populated continent considering that it has come a long way since its
inception in 2011.
ONE Championship: Century will take place at the Ryogoku Kogukikan in
Tokyo, Japan on October 13, 2019 and is set to be broadcasted in over 130
million countries worldwide via social media and its television partners including
TV Tokyo, TNT and ABS-CBN S+A among others. In addition, ONE Championship will hold
the inaugural World Martial Arts Week which will kick off with the ONE Martial
Arts Fan Festival prior to the promotion's historic 100th event. For more ONE
Championship news and updates, visit its official website www.onefc.com and follow @ONEChampionship on social media.
