For part one of our preview click here.
ONE: “Fire & Fury” is set for the MOA Arena in Manila on Friday. The card will be headlined by a strawweight title fight between Joshua Pacio and Alex Silva while Filipino favorites Eduard Folayang and Danny Kingad are also in action.
Also representing the Philippines are Gina Iniong, Lito Adiwang and Jomary Torres. The card features just three ONE Super Series matchup but is stacked with MMA fights featuring local favorites.
Here’s my preview of the last five fights:
Kwon Won Il vs. Shoko Sato (Bantamweight)
Shoko Sato (34-16-3) has an unconventional karate based style. He has a square stance and holds his hands low but is on arguably the best run of his entire career and coming of a stoppage win over reigning bantamweight King of Pancrase Rafael Silva.
Kwon Won Il (8-2) was comprehensively outwrestled by Koyomi Matsushima and swiftly submitted by Masakazu Imanari. He has won his other three ONE Championship fights by first round stoppage but tends to come short against top tier opposition.
Muay Thai: Petchdam Petchyindeeacademy vs. Momotaro (Flyweight)
Petchdam Petchyindeeacademy is regarded as being the hardest kicker in the business. and when you are in the Muay Thai business that is quite the accolade. He was overwhelmed with punches by Ilias Ennahachi last time out and lost his kickboxing title but returns to a more familiar sport here.
Momotaro needed less than a minute to finish former Lumpinee champion Singtongnoi Por Telakun last year. Petchdam is over a decade younger than the Thai veteran but the Japanese fighter will suely look to test his chin early on.
Danny Kingad vs. Xie Wei (Flyweight)
Danny Kingad (13-2) has only been beaten by Demetrious Johnson and Adriano Moraes. The Filipino has benefited from some generous judging on a couple of occasions but his nine ONE Championship wins speak for themselves.
Xie Wei (5-2) has won five fights out of five on ONE Championship promoted events, all those wins coming inside the distance. He faces a huge step up against Kingad though.
Eduard Folayang vs. Pieter Buist (Lightweight)
Eduard Folayang (22-8) won’t have been jumping for joy when he found out who was replacing his original opponent Ahmed Mujtaba. The Filipino has devastating kicks and tremendous stamina but this is a much tougher fight than the one he was originally offered.
Pieter Buist (16-4) is one of the tallest fighters in the division and comes from a Muay Thai background. He is coming off two impressive ONE Championship wins and could cause a major upset here.
Joshua Pacio (C) vs. Alex Silva (For Strawweight Title)
Joshua Pacio (18-3) has a background in wushu and scored a devastating head kick KO in one of his recent title defences. But he is also a well rounded fighter who isn’t afraid to shoot for a takedown.
Alex Silva (9-4) has solid low kicks but the BJJ black belt is clearly more comfortable on the ground. He isn’t much of a wrestler though and this could come down to whether or not the Brazilian is able to dictate where the fight takes place.
The entire ONE: “Fire & Fury” fight card will be available to view live and free in some territories using the newly launched app which you can download here.