ONE Fighting Championship is determined to continue making a big splash in international mixed martial arts.
A day after announcing the lineup for its August card featuring former UFC champions Tim Sylvia, Andrei Arlovski and Jens Pulver, the Singapore-based promotion has announced a historic event for Asian MMA.
ONE FC: Rise of Kings, set to take place at the 12,000-seat Singapore Indoor Stadium, will be the continent’s first MMA event to feature three championship fights. The belts that will be put on the line and the competitors have yet to be finalized.
The show, schedule to be the sixth for the organization which launched in July 2011, will also be headlined by a lightweight fight between Dream champion Shinya Aoki and French MMA champion Arnaud (The Game) Lepont.
“With the largest pool of the top MMA talent in Asia, I have decided that the time is perfect to introduce three ONE FC world titles,” said CEO Victor Cui, who is a Canadian businessman. “This card is going to be epic and fans can expect to see some incredible fights.”
Aoki, who has beaten the likes of Tatsuya Kawajiri, Marcus Aurelio and Rich Clementi, holds a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and judo, which has earned him a reputation as one of the best submission specialists in the sport of MMA. The "Grandmaster of Flying Submissions" is currently the No. 1 lightweight fighter in Asia.
Lepont publicly challenged Aoki after his impressive victory over Brian Choi at ONE FC: Destiny of Warriors in June. Having lived and trained in many different parts of Asia, Lepont (10-1) has finally found his home on the largest stage in Asian MMA. Holding a purple belt in BJJ, the Frenchman has nine wins by submission and also possesses knockout power. Notorious for being brash, he says his mentality during the fight is to attack relentlessly in order to rip his opponent apart.
The card will also feature the return of Melvin Manhoef to the ONE FC cage, as well as rising star Zorobabel Moreira and Singapore’s first pro-MMA fighter Radeem Rahman.
Aoki is also scheduled to fight on this month’s Pride of a Nation card on August 31 in Philippines with an opponent still to be named.
