ONE Championship announces another Grand Prix for 2019

Back in November, ONE Championship announced that it will be promoting exciting Grand Prix tournaments in its flyweight and lightweight divisions, featuring new signees Demetrious Johnson and Eddie Alvarez respectively.

On Thursday afternoon, the Singapore-based martial arts powerhouse announced plans for another epic Grand Prix in 2019.

This newly announced ONE Championship Grand Prix will unfurl as part of the ONE Super Series, which showcases the best in striking martial arts like Muay Thai and kickboxing. It will occur in the featherweight division, under the kickboxing ruleset, and feature eight striking world champions.

ONE Championship President Chatri Sityodtong announced the news on Twitter.

I'm thrilled to announce the 2019 ONE Super Series Featherweight World Grand Prix with 8 of the greatest strikers on the planet! In this tournament, every single fight is World Champion vs World Champion. BOOM!!! #WeAreONE pic.twitter.com/QKZtUw7K2j

— Chatri Sityodtong (@yodchatri) December 27, 2018

“I’m thrilled to announce the 2019 ONE Super Series Featherweight World Grand Prix with 8 of the greatest strikers on the planet! In this tournament, every single fight is World Champion vs World Champion,” Sityodtong stated on Twitter. “BOOM!!!”

This epic Grand Prix will feature the following fighters.

• 8x champion Yodsanklai IWE Fairtex (33, Thailand)
• 4x champion Giorgio Petrosyan (33, Italy)
• 13x champion Andy Souwer (36, The Netherlands)
• 3x champion Samy Sana (30, France)
• 7x champion Dzhabar Askerov (32, Russia)
• 3x champion Smokin’ Jo Nattawut (26, Thailand)
• 5x champion Phetmorrakot Petchyindee Academy (25, Thailand)
• 3x champion Charlie Peters (27, United Kingdom).

At present, only one matchup has been officially announced for this exciting ONE Championship Grand Prix — a showdown between Yodsanklai IWE Fairtex and Andy Souwer. This fight will go down at ONE: A New Era in Tokyo, Japan on March 31. Stay tuned for more matchups as they emerge.

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 12/27/2018.