ONE Championship News

Drake Riggs - January 23, 2019

At UFC Brooklyn this past Saturday night, Henry Cejudo potentially saved the UFC flyweight division by starching UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw in just 32-seconds. To win the belt, Cejudo dethroned the greatest champion in UFC history, Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson.

BJPENN.COM Staff - January 23, 2019

Eduard “Landslide” Folayang is the two-time and current ONE Lightweight World Champion. The Filipino warrior has had to overcome unthinkable poverty and tragedy to ascend to his current level. His story is one of the most triumphant you’ll find in the sports world. Folayang was born in Baguio City, in the Philippines where his family was impoverished. Folayang was one of nine children, but five of his siblings passed away from illnesses. Access to proper health care could have remedied the dire situations, but it wasn’t available. Folayang’s father worked as a laborer and part-time farmer. His mother worked at a laundromat. Though neither of Folayang’s parents learned to read or write, they made sure their children didn’t grow up with the same limitations. “My parents sacrificed a lot to bring us to school,” Folayang said. “Sometimes, they even borrowed money just for us to pay our tuition fees. In their daily lives, they didn’t focus on just one job; they found extra work that they could do so that it would compensate for the needs that we had.” Folayang’s parents were eyeing a career in law enforcement for him, but he chose martial arts instead. After accepting a scholarship for wushu, partly to lessen the financial burden on his parents, Folayang’s career in martial arts was on its way. He won 11 major medals as a member of the Philippine Wushu team. In 2007 at the age of 23, Folayang turned pro as a mixed martial artist. He started his career on a five-bout win streak. All but one of the victories came via first-round stoppage, and two of them took less than a minute. Just as he was flying high, Folayang faced a young, up-and-coming martial artist named Jon Tuck in 2009.

Tom Taylor - January 19, 2019

On Saturday night in Jakarta, Indonesia (Saturday morning in North America), ONE Championship made i’s long-awaited return with the exciting ONE: Eternal Glory card. In the main event, Japan’s Yosuke Saruta scored a close but impressive defeat of Team Lakay‘s Joshua Pacio, capturing the ONE strawweight belt in the process.

Tom Taylor - January 16, 2019

By now, you’ve probably encountered the 10 year challenge dozens and dozens of times on your social media accounts. This craze, which encourages people to share a picture of themselves from 10 years ago and a picture of themselves from this year, side by side, has swept the Internet. Even MMA stars like Conor McGregor have gotten in on the fun. Here are some MMA fighters who have done the 10 year challenge over the last few days.

Tom Taylor - January 15, 2019

On March 31, Asian martial arts powerhouse ONE Championship will make its anticipated debut in Tokyo, Japan with the stacked ONE: A New Era card. When Japanese fans tune in to watch this exciting ONE Championship card on local television, they’ll be greeted by a familiar voice — that of Japanese MMA legend Genki Sudo.

BJPENN.COM Staff - January 14, 2019

Zebaztian Kadestam is a 28-year-old martial artist from Sweden, and he’s the ONE Welterweight World Champion. Over the course of his MMA career, Kadestam has compiled an 11-4 record with nine victories coming by KO and another by submission. When “The Bandit” comes to the cage, he is looking to steal away his opponent’s consciousness. Kadestam is just the third man in history to hold the ONE Welterweight World Title. The other two are Nobutatsu Suzuki and Ben Askren. Kadestam began his reign in November 2018 at ONE: Warrior’s Dream when he scored a fifth-round KO victory over Tyler McGuire to capture the strap that was vacated when Askren was traded to the UFC for Demetrious Johnson. Kadestam’s stamina and constant pressure wore down McGuire, and as the latter retreated following a fifth-round exchange, Kadestam caught him with a power shot that dropped him.

BJPENN.COM Staff - January 11, 2019

Reigning ONE Strawweight World Champion Joshua “The Passion” Pacio is not deterred by the sudden change of opponent he has to face in his first title defense. A highly-anticipated rematch against Hayato Suzuki was supposed to take place at ONE: Eternal Glory to be held at Istora Senayan, Jakarta on 19 January.

BJPENN.COM Staff - January 11, 2019

If 2018 was momentous for ONE Championship, 2019 is shaping up to be even bigger. There are already a series of significant events planned through till March that are likely to capture the attention of the combat sports world. January 19 – ONE: ETERNAL GLORY

Tom Taylor - January 10, 2019

Long before Eddie Alvarez established himself as one of the world’s best fighters, he worked long, hard days pouring concrete. When he finally got the opportunity to become a full-time fighter, he assumed that his life was going to get easier — that the early mornings and long days of physical labor were over.

Mike Straus - January 10, 2019

In recent years the sport of jiu-jitsu has exploded in popularity and right at the forefront of the movement is Garry Tonon. A grappler by trade, Tonon recently dove head first into MMA, going 3-0 under the ONE Championship banner. Having competed in countless grappling and BJJ tournaments “The Lion Killer”, as he is known, believes we are just now starting to see the true essence of jiu-jitsu.

Tom Taylor - January 10, 2019

The four quarterfinal bouts of the ONE Lightweight World Grand Prix are now set. This tournament will feature eight of the promotion’s best lightweights in Eddie Alvarez, Timofey Nastyukhin, Saygid “Dagi” Guseyn Arslanaliev, Ev Ting, Amir Khan, Ariel Sexton, Lowen Tynanes and Honorio Banario. These eight fighters will be competing for a shot at the ONE Lightweight title, which will next be on the line at ONE: A New Era on March 31 in Tokyo, Japan, when the champion Eduard Folayang defends his title against Shinya Aoki.

BJPENN.COM Staff - January 9, 2019

In an instant, 12 months of pain had evaporated. With his hand raised and the belt wrapped around his waist, 16,000 screaming fans erupted. Eduard Folayang felt tingles down his spine. “Of course, I wanted to cry but the tears didn’t come out,” reflected Folayang, who became the first man in ONE Championship history to claim the lightweight world title for the second time when he defeated Singapore’s Amir Khan at ONE: Conquest of Champions in late November.

BJPENN.COM Staff - January 8, 2019

At just 20 years of age, Christian Lee owns a compendium of impressive performances. He has proven time and again why he is one of the top contenders for the ONE Championship featherweight title. In his most recent match last November at ONE: Heart of the Lion, Lee was able to secure a scintillating finish over Japanese veteran Kazuki Tokudome just a little over the first three minutes of the bout. He unleashed a barrage of elbows and punches on the former Pancrase Lightweight Champion before the referee intervened and stopped the match.

Tom Taylor - January 7, 2019

Russia’s Timofey Nastyukhin (12-4, 6 KOS, 4 Subs) has been competing in combat sports for a long time. He began training in Pankration when he was just a child, and wound up winning a European championship in the sport at a young age. Buoyed by his success in Pankration, he then transitioned into MMA at 18 years old, and after a seven-fight win streak — all stoppages — he was invited to ONE Championship, where he debuted with a jaw-dropping, flying knee knockout of current lightweight champion Eduard Folayang.

BJPENN.COM Staff - January 6, 2019

Brandon “The Truth” Vera is the reigning ONE Heavyweight World Champion. The 41-year-old Filipino is one of five Filipino champions under the promotion’s banner. While Vera is a champion today, he has had to endure some significant hardships on his way to his current spot. Overcoming Adversity

BJPENN.COM Staff - January 5, 2019

On 16 February, a ONE Super Series Muay Thai Bantamweight World Champion will be crowned. ONE Championship recently announced that Muay Thai legend Nong-O Gaiyanghadao of Thailand will take on Han Zi Hao of China for the ONE Super Series strap. The bout serves as the main event of ONE: Clash of Legends, set for 16 February at the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand.

BJPENN.COM Staff - January 4, 2019

Reigning ONE flyweight king Geje Eustaquio is preparing to end his long-standing rivalry with former champion Adriano “Mikinho” Moraes. Each man has a win over the other, and the two are now scheduled to face off in one of the most anticipated rubber matches in ONE Championship history.  They will collide for a third time in the main event of ONE: Hero’s Ascent, to be held at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines on January 25. The bout will be for Eustaquio’s flyweight strap. 

BJPENN.COM Staff - January 4, 2019

The highly-anticipated ONE Lightweight World Grand Prix will be underway beginning January 25 at ONE Championship’s anticipated return to Manila. It was announced earlier by the promotion that Team Lakay veteran Honorio “The Rock” Banario will be taking on undefeated American Lowen Tynanes of Hawaii in the quarterfinal. Two months later, former UFC lightweight champion Eddie “The Underground King” Alvarez takes his first swipe at the tournament against Russia’s Timofey Nastyukhin at ONE’s first event in Tokyo on March 31.