The largest global sports media property in Asian history, ONE Championship (ONE), has just announced the first six bouts scheduled for ONE: A NEW ERA, which is set to take place Sunday, 31 March at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan.
Reigning ONE Women’s Strawweight World Champion “The Panda” Xiong Jing Nan of China will defend her title against ONE Women’s Atomweight World Champion “Unstoppable” Angela Lee of Singapore. ONE Middleweight World Champion Aung La “The Burmese Python” N Sang of Myanmar will defend his title against Ken Hasegawa of Japan. ONE Lightweight World Champion Eduard “Landslide” Folayang will defend his title against Shinya “Tobikan Judan” Aoki of Japan.
Tickets for ONE: A NEW ERA go on sale 20 December at 6PM JST and is available on LINE Ticket at https://ticket.line.me/sp/ONEChampionship, Kyodo Tokyo, Ticket Pia, Lawson Ticket, and E-plus from 27 January 2019.
Also seeing action on the card are new ONE Championship athletes Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson and Eddie “The Underground King” Alvarez. In addition, ONE Championship will officially kick off the ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix with a series of compelling bouts.
Reigning ONE Women’s Strawweight World Champion “The Panda” Xiong Jing Nan and ONE Women’s Atomweight World Champion “Unstoppable” Angela Lee have been on a collision course ever since the Chinese hero entered the organization in December 2017.
The two martial artists sit at the top of their weight classes, and each has dominated their respective divisions. However, with Lee moving up in weight to challenge Xiong for the strawweight crown, the Singaporean has the chance to become the first two-division women’s World Champion in ONE Championship history. It certainly will not be easy, as “The Panda” represents the toughest challenge in Lee’s career.
Reigning ONE Middleweight and Light Heavyweight World Champion Aung La “The Burmese Python” N Sang is the most iconic sports superstar to hail from Myanmar.
His first encounter with Japan’s Ken Hasegawa in June 2018 was a five-round thriller of epic proportions, one which Aung La N Sang won in the final moments of the heated battle. The match is considered the “Greatest Bout In ONE Championship History” and was also awarded “Bout Of The Year” honors at the 2018 Global Martial Arts Awards for its nonstop action and dramatic finish. Aung La N Sang and Hasegawa will meet once again at ONE: A NEW ERA in a highly-anticipated rematch that is sure to produce fireworks.
Reigning ONE Lightweight World Champion Eduard “Landslide” Folayang of the Philippines is set to face Japanese martial arts legend and former World Champion Shinya “Tobikan Judan” Aoki in a long-awaited rematch.
In November 2016, Folayang captured the title from Aoki via third-round TKO, but surrendered the belt to Martin Nguyen a year later. This past November, the Filipino reclaimed the crown with a dominant five-round unanimous decision over Singaporean knockout artist Amir Khan. Meanwhile, Aoki is riding a three-bout win streak, having finished Rasul Yakhyaev and Ev Ting by submission, and stopping Shannon Wiratchai by TKO. These three wins have elevated the Japanese icon to another shot at the ONE Lightweight World Title, as well as a chance to defeat his former conqueror.
In addition to the three aforementioned bouts, multiple-time World Champions Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson and Eddie “The Underground King” Alvarez are scheduled to make their first appearances inside the ONE Championship cage.
Alvarez joined ONE Championship in October, taking his stellar career back to Asia where he first made a name for himself. A multiple-time lightweight World Champion, Alvarez seeks to become a ONE World Champion but will have to go through a bevy of top lightweight contenders in order to achieve his goal. In his first outing for the promotion, Alvarez will face top lightweight contender Timofey Nastyukhin of Russia.
Johnson, meanwhile, is widely considered the pound-for-pound best mixed martial artist in the history of the sport. He joined ONE Championship in late October and, alongside Alvarez, appeared in Singapore the following week for the Global Martial Arts Summit, Global Martial Arts Awards, and ONE: HEART OF THE LION. Johnson’s opponent for his first ONE Championship bout will be Japan’s Yuya “Little Piranha” Wakamatsu.
The ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix will commence at ONE: A NEW ERA. Initial bouts for the tournament will also be announced at a later date.
Also on the card is a ONE Super Series showdown between Muay Thai legend Yodsanklai IWE Fairtex and Dutch World Champion kickboxer Andy Souwer.
Yodsanklai is coming off a stunning performance in Kuala Lumpur at ONE: DESTINY OF CHAMPIONS. The martial arts veteran finished opponent Luis Regis with three rapid-fire uppercuts that drew a chorus of cheers from the crowd. Souwer, on the other hand, is one of the most internationally-renowned striking superstars ever to emerge from the Netherlands and is a two-time K1 World MAX World Champion and It’s Showtime 70MAX World Champion.