ONE Fighting Championships Rise of Kings, 2 Title Fights and Bantamweight Tournament
By: Sensei Phillip Palmejar
Lightweight title fight:
Zorobabel Moreira vs. Kotetsu Boku
At 3-0 inside the One FC cage, Zorobabel “Zoro” Moreira has quickly become a force to be reckoned with in Asian MMA. Riding a 5 fight win streak, including a huge KO soccer kick win over Roger Huerta, the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu World Champion is looking to solidify his presence with a lightweight championship belt around his waist. Training out of Evolve MMA, one of the premier fight schools in Asia, the 6’1” BJJ black belt will have his hands full with reigning Shooto Lightweight World Champion, Kotetsu Boku. Boku will surely have the edge in experience in this match up as he sports a record of almost 30 professional fights. Fighting out of Japan and having the majority of his bouts coming by way decision in the Shooto organization, “No Face” Boku will most likely want to drag this fight into the deep waters of this five round championship bout. Easily the biggest fight of both fighters career, one of these men will walk out of the cage the inaugural One FC Lightweight World Champion.
Bantamweight title fight:
Soo Chul Kim vs. Leandro Issa
One FC decided to serve up a second helping of championship bouts this evening with a Bantamweight title fight rematch between the young, 20 year old Korean brawler Soo Chul Kim and BJJ black belt and World Champion Leandro Issa. In the first fight, Issa was able to utilize his superior grappling to grind out a hard fought decision win over Kim, unable to secure the fight finishing submission. However, coming off of back to back victories, Kim will be looking to even the score by keeping the bout standing and searching for the knock out win. With only one inch in height difference, size will have very little effect over the outcome. What will have a dramatic effect on the outcome of this fight is Issa’s seven fight win streak, five of which have come by submission. Look for this to be a fast paced and exciting bout that will crown the new One FC Bantamweight World Champion.
Super fight:
Shinya Aoki vs. Arnaud Lepont
If any Asian fighter needs no introduction, it is most definitely Shinya Aoki. The polarizing MMA figure and former DREAM Lightweight Champion destroys his opponents on the mat with his ultra-smooth and ridiculously flexible guard. Although he is from Japan, he spends his time training in the uber-popular Evolve MMA gym with the likes of Zoro Moreira, Issa and Eddie NG. With a 30-6 record and almost all losses coming at the hands of MMA superstars (i.e. Eddie Alvarez, Gilbert Melendez, Hayato Sakurai twice, Joachim Hansen), Aoki will have an extreme edge in experience and ring awareness. His opponent, French kickboxer Arnaud “The Game” Lepont, owns an impressive 9-1 record with a surprising seven submission wins. The flamboyant and exciting Lepont owns a win over Aoki’s stable mate, Brian Choi, and is therefore no stranger to their team and style. Although no title is on the line, these warriors have been awarded the main event status as the megastar Shinya Aoki makes his One FC debut. This should be no walk in the park for Aoki as Lepont is a serious up and comer and looking to get himself into contention for the ONE FC Lightweight Championship belt that is being awarded earlier in the evening.
Middleweight bout:
Melvin Manhoef vs. Ryo Kawamura
In barn burner of a middleweight match up, ONE FC has commissioned the always impressive and extremely intimidating fists of heavy handed Melvin Manhoef. Manhoef has fought for most of the large MMA organizations worldwide including Road FC, Strikeforce, Dream, K-1, It’s Showtime and now ONE FC. He hold a respectable record of 25-9 with most losses coming to big name MMA fighters such as Gegard Mousasi, Tim Kennedy (both under Strikeforce contract) and Yoshihiro Akiyama (UFC). He may just hold the heaviest hands in the entire middleweight division given that he is the only person in all of professional MMA who has straight up knocked out the iron chinned Mark Hunt, a feat that could not be duplicated by the likes of Alistair Overeem, Fedor Emelianenko, Mirko Cro-cop, Wanderlei Silva or Josh Barnett. On the other side of the ring from this travelled beast of a man is Ryo Kawamura. Ryo is a Japanese knock out machine. Rambo, as he’s known, sports a strong 15-6 record with 8 stoppages coming by way of KO/TKO. He is the current middleweight king on Pancrase and the former light heavyweight king of pancrase as well. The last loss on his record was just over two years ago as he comes into this bought with the confidence of a three fight win streak, the last two wins coming by knee and soccer kick knock outs. Regarded as “one of the most dangerous middleweight fighters Japan has ever produced,” this looks to be an exciting fight with both men looking for the KO.
Bantamweight Grand Prix
The main portion of ONE FC’s October 6th card will be stacked with bantamweight brawlers from across the globe. Just as Kim and Issa will be fighting for the title, they will have very little time to sit on their laurels and enjoy their win as the bantamweight tournament will likely shell out their next hungry opponent. The tournament brackets include the likes of UFC veteran Jens Pulver (26-17), who is moving down in weight after a disappointing ONE FC loss to undefeated Filipino prospect Eric Kelly (8-0) and Masakatsu Ueda (15-2), Bellator vet and former Shooto Featherweight Champion with three title defenses. Also is the bantamweight tournament is Russian prospect Yusup Saadulaev (9-1). Currently, “Maestro” as Yusup is known, has been destroying his competition with his powerful wrestling coupled with an impressive submission game garnering the bantamweight six submission finishes out of his nine total wins with only a single fight coming to decision. On tap for Maestro is the Filipino thrasher known as “The Silencer,” Kevin Belingon (9-2). Although coming in on a two fight losing streak in ONC FC, Belingon has tasted victory nine times in a row going undefeated for the first four years of his career. He is looking to get back on track by defeating the Russian super star in his way on the path to the bantamweight strap. Rounding out the bantamweight brackets are underdogs Min Jung Song (3-4) from Korea and Zhao Ya Fei (1-2) from China.
One FC Rise of Kings takes place on October 6th, 2012 from the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
RCM Main contact: [email protected]
RCM UK & Ireland contact: [email protected]
RCM Greece contact: [email protected]
RCM Radio contact: [email protected]
RCM MMA contact: [email protected]
RCM UK Advertising contact: [email protected]
RCM MMA Advertising contact: [email protected]
Add us to your circle on GOOGLE PLUS Real Combat Media
JOIN OUR BOXING & MMA DISCUSSION FORUMS : REAL COMBAT MEDIA FORUMS
COMMENTS
English