ONE: “Ascent to Power” is booked for the Singapore Indoor Stadium on May 6, 2016 and at the top of the card are two title fights. Vitaly Bigdash defends his Middleweight strap against Alexei Butorin in the headliner while the co-main event sees Angela Lee and Mei Yamaguchi go head to head for the inaugural women’s Atomweight belt.
Bigdash (8-0) hails from Russia and beat previous champion Igor Svirid by second round stoppage due to strikes on his promotional debut last October. He’s got four submission wins and four TKO wins on his record but has never been to a decision.
His opponent is also an undefeated Russian who has never been the distance. Butorin (10-0) has nine TKO wins to his name and finished Leandro Ataides with strikes in the second round when he made his first appearance inside the ONE Championship cage last year.
The card also features ONE Championship’s first ever female title fight. Lee (5-0) has stopped all five of her opponents to date but faces a serious test against Yamaguchi (15-8-1) who is 14 years her senior and won the Deep-Jewels 105 lbs title in her most recent fight.
Two fighters who have already won and lost ONE Championship titles will go head to head when Kotetsu Boku (24-10-2) takes on Narantungalag Jadambaa (10-4). The former was the inaugural Lightweight champion while the later held the Featherweight belt until last year.
There’s also a middleweight fight which could well turn out to be a title eliminator. UFC and Strikeforce veteran Roger Gracie (7-2) returns to the cage after an 18 month absence to take on Michal Pasternak (11-0) who has been sidelined with injury since 2014.