For part one of our preview click here.
ONE: “Reign of Valor” is set for the Thuwunna Indoor Stadium in Yangon on Friday. The card is headlined by a welterweight title match but the one notable absentee is Aung La Nsang.
The middleweight and light heavyweight champion, who always headlines ONE Championship’s Yangon cards, has a title defense booked in Tokyo next month.
There is no Muay Thai allowed in Yangon but the card does feature several kickboxing bouts. Here’s my preview of the last seven fights:
145 lbs.: Tial Thang vs. Rin Saroth
Tial Thang makes his pro debut but has been training very seriously in the U.S. with Martin Nguyen and Aung La Nsang and has clearly been earmarked as the next big ONE Championship Burmese star.
He should have far too much for Rin Saroth (3-6) who is more experienced in professional MMA terms but won’t have had quite the same calibre of training camp.
155 lbs.: Petchmorrakot Wor Sangprapai vs. Kenta Yamada (Kickboxing)
Petchmorrakot Wor Sangprapai is good with his elbows and knees and strong in the clinch so the Thai fighter might not be too comfortable competing under kickboxing rules.
Kenta Yamada was the Krush <70kgs champion so is very comfortable competing under kickboxing rules and will see this as a great opportunity to score a win over a former Lumpinee champion.
145 lbs.: Toni Tauru vs. Gary Mangat
Toni Tauru (11-6-1) is a grappler with very limited stand up. He’s tall for a bantamweight was stopped with strikes in this venue by Bibiano Fernandes, a fighter who isn’t exactly known as a hard hitter.
Gary Mangat (13-2) is southpaw with a wide stance. he has decent takedown defense and will probably look to keep this standing and wear Tauru down with low kicks.
125 lbs.: Yoshitaka Naito vs. Rene Catalan
Yoshitaka Naito (13-2) is the former ONE strawweight champion and a grappling wizard whose main strength is quite clearly his wrestling and ground game. The Japanese fighter will not waste any time in trying for the takedown here.
By contrast Rene Catalan (5-2-0-1) is a multiple time Wushu world champion who has some devastating kicks but has adjusted to MMA very well. The 40 year old is riding a five fight winning streak but faces a step up against the former champion.
265 lbs.: Alain Ngalani vs. Mauro Cerilli
Alain Ngalani (4-4-0-1) likes a spinning strike and possesses huge power and sub par stamina, although he is coming off a split decision win.
Mauro Cerilli (12-3) is boxer / brawler but technically Ngalani is the superior striker and the Italian will have to have his wits about him if he doesn’t want to suffer a second successive quickfire KO loss.
155 lbs.: Phoe Thaw vs. Yohan Mulia Legowo
Phoe Thaw (6-1) comes from a lethwei background but has been training very seriously for this fight in booth Phuket and Yangon. He will have the advantage in the striking exchanges and will also have the crowd firmly behind him.
Yohan Mulia Legowo (8-7) has been grappling for nearly two decades and that is where his strength lies. Thaw must realise that a few months training at Tiger Muay Thai probably won’t compensate for the gulf in experience on the ground and the Burmese fighter needs to keep this standing.
185 lbs.: Zebaztian Kadestam (c) vs. Georgiy Kichigin (For Welterweight Title)
Before signing with ONE Championship Zebaztian Kadestam (11-4) was notorious for knocking opponents out with head kicks. He is a striking specialist and is also very dangerous with his elbows and knees.
Georgiy Kichigin (20-5) thinks he has beaten better fighters than Kadestam and the Kazakhstan-born welterweight has the record to prove it. He’s tall for a welterweight and has a decent jab but is definitely more of a wrestler/grappler than a striker.
It will be interesting to see whether Kadestam tries to walk Kichigin down or if the Swedish fighter prefers to maintain distance and try and strike from medium to long range. The challenger will definitely be looking to dive for a single leg or double leg at the earliest opportunity.
Kadestam has a win over seasoned Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) black belt Luis Santos on his record. But Kichigin is much more tenacious than the Brazilian and this will be a very tough test for the newly-crowned welterweight champion.
The entire ONE: “Reign of Valor” card will be available to view live and free in some territories using the newly launched app which you can download here. In the US it will be streamed on B/R Live.