ONE: “Kingdom of Champions” is set for the Impact Arena in Bangkok this Friday night (May 27, 2016) and will be the first time that Asia’s biggest mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion has held an event in Thailand.
Fortunately for ONE Championship there are already plenty of local fighters on the roster including reigning strawweight champion Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke and all eyes will be on the Thai as he defends his belt against Yoshitaka Naito.
There is also a featherweight title fight with Marat Gafurov defending his strap against Japanese veteran Kazunori Yokota making this one of the best ONE Championship cards of the year. Here’s my preview of the first half of the card, weights listed are the fighter’s walking weights.
125 lbs.: Kev Hemmorlor vs Kritsada Konsrichai
This pits two veterans of top Thai promotion Full Metal Dojo together. Kritsada Konsrichai (3-2) won the organization’s bantamweight title but has subsequently dropped down to divisions and will be fighting for ONE Championship as a strawweight.
Kev Hemmorlor (0-1) was submitted in the opening round of his Full Metal Dojo (FMD) fight and will have his work cut out against an opponent who is a seasoned wrestler and trains under Bangkok based Ultimate Fighter (TUF) and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) veteran Tommy Hayden. Konsrichai a strong favorite here.
125 lbs.: Pongsiri Mitsatit vs Ye Thway Ne
Thailand already has one strawweight ONE champion and several more contenders are waiting in the wings. Leading the way is Pongsiri Mitsatit (6-0) who is a veteran of 100-plus Muay Thai fights and has been training MMA at Team Quest in Chiang Mai for several years.
He might not have quite the same Muay Thai credentials as Dejdamrong but at just 19 years of age Mitsatit has a head start on the reigning ONE strawweight champion. His opponent Ye Thway Ne hails from Myanmar and is making his debut. It would be a massive shock if he was to succeed in becoming the first fighter to defeat the teenager.
137 lbs.: Yodsanan Sityodtong vs Chrech Kosal
Anyone thinking that Yodsanan Sityodtong (1-1) had lost his speed and power at the age of 41 would be well advised to check out this recent training footage. His walking weight is also below 140 pounds which suggests he has always stayed in shape despite the lack of recent action in the ring or cage.
Yodsanan was a boxing world champion and has also been training Muay Thai since he was a child. He has some of the best striking credentials out of any fighter currently active in the MMA world and Cambodia’s Chrech Kosal (2-1) will need to have a very strong wrestling and grappling game to get anything out of this.
155 lbs.: Christian Lee vs Rocky Batol Batol
This fight was presumably booked for a future ONE Championship card but got moved forward after Anatpong Bunrad suffered a serious knee injury causing the cancellation of his fight with Eugene Toquero. Although Christian Lee (4-0) is still only 17 he already looks to be too good for anyone outside of the division’s elite.
Batol Batol (5-0) comes from a boxing background but is a well rounded stand up fighter who is dangerous with head kicks. He will be no match for Christian Lee (4-0) who will probably look to take this fight down in order to give the Filipino no chance of landing a lucky punch.
170lbs.: Shannon Wiratchai vs Kyal Linn Aung
Shannon Wiratchai (4-1-0-1) doesn’t fight frequently but is always fun to watch and has surprisingly good striking for a fighter with a background in Judo. He made his pro debut in 2011 and fought for ONE Championship a few months later so has much more MMA experience than his record suggests.
Kyal Linn Aung (1-0) went the distance on his ONE Championship debut in an extremely entertaining fight with another Burmese fighter. Myanmar’s a long way behind Thailand in MMA terms so Shannon is the strong favorite but this has the potential to be a fun fight.
ONE: “Kingdom of Champions’ is set for Impact Arena in Bangkok this Friday night (local time). it will be broadcast on various networks all over the world and can be purchased for $9.99 USD from www.oneppv.com.