ONE: “Kings of Destiny” will be the promotion’s tenth event in Manila and, as always in the Philippines, it’s a very strong card. The major attraction for local fans will be the opportunity to see Eduard Folayang defend his lightweight belt, but there’s also plenty of intrigue to be found in the other nine bouts.
There’s a potential strawweight title eliminator between Michelle Nicolini and Irina Mazepa while atomweight Gina Iniong, who holds a win over Mei Yamaguchi, makes her promotional debut. There’s also a first ONE FC fight for undefeated strawwweight Jeremy Miado but unfortunately none of these bouts are being streamed.
Undercard (not available on stream)
125 lbs.: Jeremy Miado (6-0) vs Robin Catalan (5-2)
125 lbs.: Michelle Nicolini (3-1) vs Irina Mazepa (2-0)
115 lbs.: Gina Iniong (4-2) vs Natalie Gonzalez Hills (1-4)
This means there will be seven fights available on the official stream. Here’s my preview of the first four:
145 lbs.: Chan Rothana vs Xie Bin
Chan Rothana (4-2) has fought five times for ONE Championship and his strength is clearly his striking. The same goes for Xie Bin (2-2) who has a Sanda style and was a bit unfortunate to drop a split decision to Casey Suire last year.
With Rothana having a background in Kun Khmer this promises to be a clash of stand up styles. Expect Bin to circle out and look to counter strike while the Cambodian will probably try and stand his ground and catch the Chinese teenager on the way in.
135 lbs.: Eugene Toquero vs Stefer Rahardian
Eugene Toquero (8-4) had Adriano Moraes in all sorts of trouble when they fought last year and very nearly finished the interim flyweight champion. He didn’t fare too well against up and coming Team Lakay prospect Danny Kingad last time out, getting submitted in the opening round.
Toquero has shown a willingness to use takedown orientated strategies in previous fights but his base is Muay Thai. Rahardian (4-0) has fought three times for ONE Championship but not one of those bouts has been televized, he’s a BJJ brown belt who is presumably more comfortable on the ground.
135 lbs.: Danny Kingad vs Muhammad Aiman
Danny Kingad (4-0) is the latest in a long line of talented flyweights to emerge from Team Lakay. He comes from a Wushu background but his two ONE Championship wins have been achieved with either a submission or ground and pound.
Muhammad Aiman (2-1) was the MIMMA Season 2 featherweight champion and holds a 7-1 amateur record with four of those wins coming by way of submission. He beat a BJJ black belt in his last fight which unfortunately wasn’t broadcast and will probably want to utilize his ground game here as Kingad seems to have a slight advantage in striking terms.
155 lbs.: Christian Lee vs Wan Jian Ping
Wan Jian Ping (3-2) was a late replacement for the injured Keanu Subba. He’s a southpaw with limited striking who likes to take opponents down and suffered a decision defeat to the relatively unknown Huo You Ga Bu in his only ONE Championship fight to date.
Christian Lee (6-1) should have too much for Ping everywhere. His striking looks extremely crisp and he has experience on the ground well beyond his 19 years. It would be a massive upset if the teenager didn’t win this one and a first round stoppage looks likely.
The ONE: “Kings of Destiny” card can be purchased for $9.99 USD from here.