ONE Championship News

Tom Taylor - November 8, 2018

On Friday night (Friday morning in North America), in the main event of ONE: HEART OF THE LION in Singapore, ONE Bantamweight World Champion Bibiano Fernandes will attempt to unify his undisputed title with the interim title currently owned by Kevin Belingon. As this challenge bears down, the dominant ONE Championship bantamweight king is dialed in on the task at hand.

Tom Taylor - November 8, 2018

Former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson is now a ONE Championship fighter, and it’s becoming clearer and clearer that he’s a perfect fit for the promotion. Mere weeks into his time as a ONE Championship fighter, he’s already being pushed by the full muscle of the promotion’s substantial marketing department. Given that he occasionally felt a little under-promoted by the UFC, he’s very excited about this. “It feels good,” Demetrious Johnson told BJPENN.COM in Singapore this week. “I think with the UFC, their model is different than ONE Championship’s is. They’re looking for the next big star and trying to push out that next pay-per-view. And that’s what the North American audience wants. They want to see confrontation.”

Tom Taylor - November 8, 2018

Earlier this week, ONE Championship featherweight contender Christian Lee hopped on a plane to Singapore to support his sister Angela in her ONE: HEART OF THE LION main event showdown with Xiong Jing Nan. Unfortunately, the ONE Women’s Atomweight World Champion was forced out of this main event battle with an injury while her brother was making his transpacific journey. Christian Lee was understandably quite disappointed to hear that his sister would not be able to compete in the ONE: HEART OF THE LION main event as planned. In a strange twist of fate, however, his sister’s bad break ultimately resulted in an interesting opportunity for him.

Drake Riggs - November 7, 2018

ONE Championship has been making all sorts of moves lately and they don’t appear to be stopping anytime soon. UFC lightweight/welterweight prospect ‘Super’ Sage Northcutt appears to potentially be next. Currently a free agent, the 11-2 Northcutt is visiting Singapore where he attended last night’s ONE: Heart of the Lion pre-fight press conference and then is also set to attend the event itself on Friday night.

Drake Riggs - November 7, 2018

The Singapore based MMA promotion ONE Championship is only just beginning with their continuation of big-name acquisitions as former UFC and Strikeforce champion Miesha Tate has joined their staff. ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong announced the addition of Tate late on Thursday night.

Tom Taylor - November 7, 2018

The end is nigh for the UFC flyweight division. Earlier this week, FloCombat reported that the promotion will soon be pulling the plug on its lightest mens’ division, and that many of the fighters on the promotion’s flyweight roster will not be given the chance to move up to the bantamweight division. Shortly thereafter, UFC flyweights such as Jose Torres, Jared Brooks and Justin Scoggins all reported that they have been released from their contracts.

BJPENN.COM Staff - November 7, 2018

Former PXC Welterweight Champion Zebaztian Kadestam knows he has to weather an early storm when he takes on the unbeaten Tyler McGuire for the vacant ONE Welterweight World Title in the main event of ONE: WARRIOR’S DREAM on 17 November at Stadium Istora in Jakarta, Indonesia. Kadestam, 28, is coming off a huge third round stoppage victory over Agilan Thani this past July. Nicknamed as “The Bandit”, the Swedish striker says he’s been training for the kind of style that McGuire brings to the table.

Tom Taylor - November 7, 2018

Former UFC champions Eddie Alvarez and Demetrious Johnson are far and away the biggest free agent signings ONE Championship has ever made. Both fighters have the potential to become dominant champions in their respective divisions, as well as lucrative stars for the promotion —much like Myanmar’s Aung La N Sang. Aung La N Sang, who currently holds the ONE Championship middleweight and light heavyweight belts, is one of the biggest and best established stars to emerge from the Singapore-based promotion.

Drake Riggs - November 7, 2018

ONE Championship’s biggest all-time acquisitions in former UFC champions Demetrious Johnson and Eddie Alvarez now know when their promotional debuts will take place. Interestingly enough, they won’t be coming in your basic format but instead, tournament style as ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong announced via Instagram.

Cole Shelton - November 6, 2018

Sage Northcutt, a current free agent and once highly touted prospect will be heading to Singapore to take in the festivities at ONE Championship: Heart of the Lion this Friday night. Along with Northcutt, former UFC and Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez and longtime UFC flyweight champion, Demetrious Johnson will also be attending the event.

Tom Taylor - November 6, 2018

Reigning ONE bantamweight champion Bibiano Fernandes and former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson are two of the biggest stars on the ONE Championship roster. That being said, we’ll never see the pair fight, as they’re long-time friends and training partners under Matt Hume at AMC Pankration in Kirkland, Washington. While Bibiano Fernandes and Demetrious Johnson will never share the ONE cage, it sounds like we will see a bit of friendly competition between them going forward. Speaking on the latest episode of BJPENN.COM Radio, Fernandes divulged that he plans to best Johnson’s record of 11-straight title defenses.

Tom Taylor - November 6, 2018

At ONE: HEART OF THE LION, which goes down on November 9 in Singapore, five-time EBI Grappling Champion Garry Tonon will look to improve to 3-0 in the mixed martial arts arena as he takes on South Korea’s Sung Jong Lee. Tonon, as always, has done his research heading in to this fight. And having reviewed Lee’s tape, he feels there’s a good chance the South Korean will actually try to drag the fight to the mat — something that many other fighters would likely to find unthinkable, given Tonon’s incredible submission ability. Lee has submitted three of his six opponents (all with heel hooks), and Tonon believes he might look to do the same in Singapore.