Competition: One Defending Honour
Date: 11 November, Friday
Time: 7:30pm SGT/5pm IST/11:30am GMT (onwards)
Venue: Singapore Indoor Stadium
TV Coverage: In Singapore, there is pay-per-view service of the fights.
Live Streaming will be available on One Championship's official website.
Live Updates will be available on One Championship's Twitter page.
Overview
Singapore Indoor Stadium is gearing up for One Championship's Defending Honour which will feature nine Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fights on 11 November.
The much-awaited main event will see Filipino superstar Eduard Folayang take on ONE Lightweight World Champion Shinya Aoki.
Folayang, the Filipino star (16-5) is known for his aggressive striking game while Aoki (39-6) is known for his grappling skills and is a submission master. It will be a clash of contrasting styles between the two fighters in a five-round battle on Friday.
Aoki, the Japanese legend who last lost a match in the category in Asia in 2008, will surely try to target Folayang with his grappling skills. However, the Filipino lightweight star has vastly improved his ability on the mat after rigorous training in the United States.
Philippines will celebrate Folayang if he can topple the champion fighter in Aoki. However, it will not be easy for the Filipino, given the Japanese fighter's experience.
However, the wushu expert believes he can emerge victorious against his senior opponent and inspire his countrymen.
"As an athlete, I want to inspire the youth to not waste their lives on doing drugs but to find the purpose of their existence," Folayang said, as quoted by One Championship's official website.
The co-main event is as big as the main event at the Defending Honour, in which Narantungalag Jadamba challenges Marat Gafurov for the ONE Featherweight World Championship. The Mongolian almost pulled off a victory the last time he took on the Russian in 2015.
However, Gafurov used his grappling skills to maximum effect against Jadamba to secure a win in the fourth round. The rematch between them is among the highly-anticipated fights on Friday.
Also in action are Singapore's promising youngsters Amir Khan (5-2) and Benedict Ang. While the former takes on another Filipino boxer Donayre Vaughn (8-5), the latter will face a strong Pakistani opponent in Mujtaba Ahmed (5-0).
Both Khan and Ang, who are part of the Evolve Fight Team, will have the home support when they take on promising opponents on Friday.
Singapore fighter Tiffany Teo, who has an impressive 3-0 record, will make her ONE Championship debut when she takes on Walaa Abbas (2-3) of Egypt.
Fight Card
- Shinya Aoki vs. Eduard Folayang - Lightweight World Championship
- Marat Gafurov vs. N. Jadambaa - Featherweight World Championship
- Amir Khan vs. Vaughn Donayre - Lightweight
- Benedict Ang vs. Ahmed Mujtaba - Featherweight
- Walaa Abas vs. Tiffany Teo - Flyweight
- Nastyukhin vs. Kotetsu Boku - Featherweight
- Michelle Nicolini vs. Mona Samir - Strawweight
- Muhamad Haidar vs. Nico Soernarte - Flyweight
- Roger Huerta vs. Adrian Pang - Lightweight
