Tag: ‘One

VIDEO: Roberto Soldic, Last Man To Beat Dricus Du Plessis, Brutally Faceplants Opponent At 171: Qatar

Let it be known — Roberto “Robocop” Soldic is back. Prior to today’s event, it had remarkably been over three years since Soldic last had his hand raised. Following a defense of the KSW middleweight title in 2021, the Croatian power puncher signed with ONE Championship but went winless across his first two bouts. A […]

Let it be known — Roberto “Robocop” Soldic is back.

Prior to today’s event, it had remarkably been over three years since Soldic last had his hand raised. Following a defense of the KSW middleweight title in 2021, the Croatian power puncher signed with ONE Championship but went winless across his first two bouts.

A no contest against Murad Ramazanov was followed by a shock stoppage loss to Zebaztian Kadestam in 2023, derailing the hype behind the 30-year-old, who notably knocked out current UFC kingpin Dricus Du Plessis back in 2018.

But it’s safe to say that Soldic got that hype back and then some Thursday in Qatar, where he shared the cage with Dagi Arslanaliev as part of a loaded ONE 171 card inside Lusail Sports Arena.

The bout lasted less than two minutes courtesy of a violent finish from “Robocop,” who landed a thunderous left hand as Arslanaliev threw a kick to put the Turkish welterweight out cold.

While Arslanaliev was lifeless on the canvas, Soldic landed two brutal follow-up shots, the second of which came after the referee had already attempted to intervene.

The result has finally netted Soldic his first victory under the banner of ONE, Asia’s largest martial arts organization.

It remains to be seen what will come next for “Robocop,” especially with the promotion’s apparent move away from MMA competition in recent years, which has left many fighters sidelined and expressing discontent publicly.

ONE 171 Results & Highlights: Joshua Pacio TKOs Jarred Brooks

The stacked ONE 171 event took place on Thursday, and MMA News has you covered with all the action! ONE Championship was back in Qatar this week, where the Lusail Sports Arena played host to a number of intriguing battles across four different sports. Asia’s premier martial arts organization brought with it to the Middle […]

The stacked ONE 171 event took place on Thursday, and MMA News has you covered with all the action!

ONE Championship was back in Qatar this week, where the Lusail Sports Arena played host to a number of intriguing battles across four different sports.

Asia’s premier martial arts organization brought with it to the Middle East a deep lineup, filled with champions and plenty of prominent names in MMA, Muay Thai, kickboxing and submission grappling.

And there were championship stakes in the first of those sports that headlined ONE 171, with Filipino strawweight kingpin Joshua Pacio and American standout Jarred Brooks completing their trilogy by unifying the title.

While “The Monkey God” dethroned “The Passion” back in 2022, the rematch saw the belt return to Pacio after Brooks was disqualified for an illegal slam. Having since captured the interim strap with a first-round submission of Gustavo Balart last August, Brooks had his sights on regaining undisputed status.

But the American failed in that regard, with Pacio overcoming a strong start from his challenger to find the TKO finish late in the second frame.

Gold from a different sport was also be on the line in Qatar. After losing his Muay Thai strap in Denver last year, Jonathan Haggerty ensured he kept hold of his remaining title by defending the bantamweight kickboxing championship against Chinese challenger Wei Rui.

Elsewhere, former two-division KSW champion Roberto Soldi? made his long-awaited return, Kill Cliff FC standout Aung La N Sang added a 46th fight to his illustrious record, ex-bantamweight kingpin Bibiano Fernandes closed out his career with one last bout and submission grappling star Kade Ruotolo competed in MMA for the third time.

With today’s card complete, see below for the full results, followed by all the highlights.

ONE 171 Results & Highlights

Main Card:

  • Strawweight MMA Championship: Joshua Pacio (C) def. Jarred Brooks (IC) via TKO: R2, 4:22
  • Bantamweight Kickboxing Championship: Jonathan Haggerty (C) def. Wei Rui via unanimous decision
  • Welterweight MMA: Roberto Soldi? def. Dagi Arslanaliev via KO: R1, 1:55
  • Middleweight MMA: Shamil Erdogan def. Aung La N Sang via KO (head kick): R1, 0:28
  • Featherweight MMA: Shamil Gasanov def. Martin Nguyen via unanimous decision
  • Bantamweight MMA: Bibiano Fernandes def. Kevin Belingon via split decision
  • Heavyweight MMA: Kirill Grishenko def. Mauro Cerilli via KO (leg Kick): R1, 3:28
  • Bantamweight Muay Thai: Jake Peacock def. Shinji Suzuki via TKO: R3, 1:29
  • Atomweight MMA: Ayaka Miura def. Ritu Phogat via submission (kneebar): R1, 2:24
  • Lightweight MMA: Kade Ruotolo def. Nicolas Vigna via submission (arm-triangle choke): R1, 3:04

Preliminary Card:

  • Openweight Submission Grappling: Zayed Alkatheeri def. Mohammed Hilal Ahmad Abu Rumuh via submission (armbar): R1, 2:21
  • Lightweight MMA: Abdullo Khodzhaev def. Wilian Poles via TKO: R1, 4:56
  • Featherweight MMA: Hussein Salem def. Walter Cogliandro via KO: R1, 2:25

Hussein Salem Def. Walter Cogliandro

Abdullo Khodzhaev Def. Wilian Poles

Zayed Alkatheeri Def. Mohammed Hilal Ahmad Abu Rumuh

Kade Ruotolo Def. Nicolas Vigna

Jake Peacock Def. Shinji Suzuki

Kirill Grishenko Def. Mauro Cerilli

Bibiano Fernandes Def. Kevin Belingon

Shamil Gasanov Def. Martin Nguyen

Shamil Erdogan Def. Aung La N Sang

https://twitter.com/ONEChampionship/status/1892635685548655018

Roberto Soldi? Def. Dagi Arslanaliev

Jonathan Haggerty Def. Wei Rui

Joshua Pacio Def. Jarred Brooks

Former Title Challenger Serves ONE Championship With Legal Papers Over Alleged Breach Of Contract

Talk of discontent among the fighter ranks in ONE Championship continues to rise, and another athlete has now gone public with his complaints. Dmitry Menshikov has competed under the ONE Championship banner since June 2023. Following victories in organizations such as Glory, the Russian debuted in the Asian promotion at ONE Fight Night 11 in […]

Talk of discontent among the fighter ranks in ONE Championship continues to rise, and another athlete has now gone public with his complaints.

Dmitry Menshikov has competed under the ONE Championship banner since June 2023. Following victories in organizations such as Glory, the Russian debuted in the Asian promotion at ONE Fight Night 11 in Bangkok, Thailand.

He arrived straight into a title shot, challenging the lightweight Muay Thai rule of Regian Eersel. Menshikov’s first taste of ONE action was quick, with “The Immortal” landing a knockout blow in just 46 seconds.

Since then, the 27-year-old has won three straight, most recently stopping fellow former title challenger Sinsamut Klinmee at ONE Fight Night 22 last April. Though he’s been away from the ring for 10 months, that’s seemingly not without trying.

A press release via Menshikov and his manager this week revealed major frustration at his layoff. They claim that numerous requests to fight were ignored and met with silence by the ONE Championship matchmakers.

The Russian is now approaching his return at ONE Friday Fights 97 later this month, but that booking would appear to have come too little, too late. The 27-year-old has served the organization with legal papers citing an alleged failure to fulfil contractual obligations and outlined his plan to enter free agency following his upcoming bout.

“I had some great fights with ONE, but a single bout per year is not a sustainable calendar for a competitive athlete and is a clear breach of the understanding between the fighter and the organization when we entered into a promotional contract,” Menshikov said. “For this reason, I will be entering free agency after the upcoming February 14th bout.

“I find it strange that all my wins are by KO or TKO, yet ONE chose to rebook the fighters I KO’d rather than myself. Maybe they were cheaper, I don’t know. It’s hard to know anything that’s going on at ONE – our attempts throughout 2024 to reach the matchmakers were met by deafening silence,” Menshikov continued. “Several fighters have left recently because of being frustrated, like Sage Northcutt and Reinier de Ridder, and I think that’s the best solution for me as well. My contract only has a few months left on it anyway. At this point it’s probably easier for us all to go our separate ways.”

Dmitry Menshikov
Image: ONE Championship

The exact details of Menshikov’s ONE Championship contract and any potential breaches are unknown, but the kickboxing and Muay Thai fighter’s manager is seemingly confident about the claim.

“Clearly if you sign a fighter to an exclusive contract, the intention is not for him to compete just once a year,” Andrey Busygin said. “We struggled all year to get clear answers from ONE’s matchmakers. In fact most of the time we couldn’t get an answer at all.

“When 2024 ended with just a single bout, our legal team determined that ONE Championship had failed to perform its duties under the contract and informed ONE accordingly. We have taken this short-notice ONE bout on February 14th because Menshikov needs a fight, but after that he will be entering free agency and returning to a full competitive schedule.”

Menshikov marks the latest fighter to express displeasure at the current situation in ONE, which has largely centered around a perceived abandonment of mixed martial arts as a focus.

Both Reinier de Ridder and Sage Northcutt departed in 2024, with the former joining the UFC and the latter briefly signing with the PFL before entering the inaugural GFL draft last month.

More recently, flyweight MMA fighter Reece McLaren publicly requested his release in an open letter to ONE Championship on social media. Like Menshikov, the Australian cited an alleged “ghosting” from the matchmaking team regarding his desire to fight.

ONE Championship Announces Fight For Title Vacated After Demetrious Johnson’s Retirement

ONE Championship has announced that on March 23 at ONE 172, the promotion will crown a new flyweight champion in the co-main event of the evening. The title has been left vacant ever since Demetrious Johnson announced his retirement at the Ball Arena in Denver this past September at ONE 168. Following several high stakes […]

ONE Championship has announced that on March 23 at ONE 172, the promotion will crown a new flyweight champion in the co-main event of the evening. The title has been left vacant ever since Demetrious Johnson announced his retirement at the Ball Arena in Denver this past September at ONE 168.

Following several high stakes contests at flyweight, the two top contenders that will battle for the gold have emerged. Brazil’s Adriano Moraes is a multiple time flyweight champion in ONE and was the inaugural holder of the title back in 2014. In his latest title reign, he ended his trilogy of fights with Geje Eustaquio before becoming the first man to finish Johnson in 2021 which kickstarted their trilogy of fights.

Moraes recently returned to the win column in Johnson’s absence by beating Danny Kingad at ONE 169 in November via a submission in the second round. “Mikinho” is now set to face off with Japan’s Yuya Wakamatsu who is sure to receive an incredible amount of support at the Saitama Super Arena on March 23.

Wakamatsu previously challenged Moraes for the flyweight title in 2022 at ONE: X where he was submitted in the third round. After suffering back-to-back defeats, “Little Pranha” has won three in a row including a dominant victory at the start of December over Gilbert Nakatani.

This huge card is set to be headlined by arguably the biggest fight in the history of the promotion as Rodtang Jitmuangnon faces off with Takeru Segawa in a kickboxing super fight that has been building ever since their matchup at ONE 165 earlier this year fell through due to an injury to the Thai superstar. There is sure to be a lot more top Japanese talent on the card for what will be ONE’s biggest event to date.

Anatoly Malykhin Loses 1 Of 3 Titles To ‘Reug Reug’ In Huge ONE 169 Upset

Anatoly Malykhin’s three-division kingpin status is no more following ONE 169. Malykhin became the first MMA fighter in a major organization to capture gold across three separate weight classes earlier this year when he added the ONE Championship middleweight title to a trophy cabinet that already boasted the heavyweight and light heavyweight belts. And after […]

Continue Reading Anatoly Malykhin Loses 1 Of 3 Titles To ‘Reug Reug’ In Huge ONE 169 Upset at MMA News.

Anatoly Malykhin’s three-division kingpin status is no more following ONE 169.

Malykhin became the first MMA fighter in a major organization to capture gold across three separate weight classes earlier this year when he added the ONE Championship middleweight title to a trophy cabinet that already boasted the heavyweight and light heavyweight belts.

And after getting the better of Reinier de Ridder for the second time to accomplish that feat, the Russian behemoth turned his sights to defending his thrones.

His first attempt at adding a successful retention to his résumé came on Friday night at ONE 169, which he headlined inside the famed Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand opposite Oumar “Reug Reug” Kane.

The Senegalese wrestler entered the event as a significant underdog against the undefeated “Sladkiy,” but he overcame the odds to have the heavyweight strap placed on his shoulder after five rounds.

Kane started strong, making good on his pre-fight promise to take the Russian champ down. And Malykhin’s use of the ropes to fight his challenger’s smothering wrestling resulted in a yellow card from referee Herb Dean.

That ultimately proved crucial, as he fell on the wrong side of a split decision verdict to be relegated to two-division titleholder status at ONE 169.

During fight week, Malykhin had expressed firm confidence in his chances of brushing “Reug Reug” aside before turning his attention to PFL star Francis Ngannou in 2025, having taken issue with “The Predator’s” claim to global heavyweight supremacy.

But with Kane now on the throne, perhaps a door has been opened to a huge Senegal vs. Cameroon showdown down the line, should the PFL and ONE come to terms on a cross-promotional event.

Elsewhere at ONE 169, there were big wins for the likes of Kade Ruotolo and Jackie Buntan. While the lightweight submission grappling champion further showed his MMA promise by club-and-subbing Ahmed Mujtaba, the Filipino-American finally got her hands on ONE gold by outpointing Anissa Meksen for the inaugural strawweight kickboxing title.

Thai star Rodtang Jitmuangnon also had his hand raised after getting the better of England’s Jacob Smith for the second time. Unfortunately, his weight miss on Thursday meant he was ineligible to exit with the flyweight Muay Thai title.

Continue Reading Anatoly Malykhin Loses 1 Of 3 Titles To ‘Reug Reug’ In Huge ONE 169 Upset at MMA News.

Francis Ngannou Called Out By Three-Division Champ For 2025 Superfight To Decide ‘Best Heavyweight In The World’ 

The top heavyweight competing in Asia’s leading martial arts promotion plans to prove his superiority over the rest of the pack by facing and defeating PFL champion Francis Ngannou next year. Having not competed in MMA since January 2022, Ngannou made his highly anticipated return to the sport in which he made his name last […]

Continue Reading Francis Ngannou Called Out By Three-Division Champ For 2025 Superfight To Decide ‘Best Heavyweight In The World’  at MMA News.

The top heavyweight competing in Asia’s leading martial arts promotion plans to prove his superiority over the rest of the pack by facing and defeating PFL champion Francis Ngannou next year.

Having not competed in MMA since January 2022, Ngannou made his highly anticipated return to the sport in which he made his name last month following a two-fight stint in the boxing ring.

Debuting for the PFL, “The Predator” headlined a pay-per-view event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia opposite Brazil’s Renan Ferreira. While the 2023 PFL heavyweight title winner was expected to pose a threat by many, he was battered en route to a knockout defeat within the first round.

The result saw Ngannou crowned the inaugural PFL Super Fight heavyweight champ, and he subsequently reaffirmed his belief that no heavyweight comes close to matching him.

Unsurprisingly, the uber-confident Anatoly Malykhin has something to say about that.

During a recent interview with MMA Knockout, the three-division ONE Championship king reiterated his desire to do battle with another of the planet’s most devastating heavyweight knockout artists.

And the Russian’s fire for that fight appears to have been flamed by “The Predator’s” claim to global supremacy in the division following his successful return to the cage last month in the Middle East.

“2025, for me, is a year when a really big fight should happen, that’s what I want. Because Ngannou, Francis Ngannou, recently said that he’s the best fighter on the planet, which he cannot and should not be saying until he faces me,” Malykhin said. “So my fight against Ngannou is something that needs to happen in 2025. I think everybody looks forward to that, everybody wants that fight, and we need to have it to decide once and for all who is the best heavyweight in the world right now.”

Anataoly Malykhin
Image: ONE Championship

And beyond himself, “Sladkiy” sees plenty of threats to Ngannou from Russian brutes already under the PFL banner, naming 2024 PFL heavyweight finalist Oleg Popov and former Bellator champion Vadim Nemkov.

“Francis Ngannou is a strong fighter. I watched his fight (with Ferreira), he’s got a great skillset,” Malykhin stated. “He has got some great opposition in PFL. That’s Oleg Popov, who’s definitely gonna win the (heavyweight tournament). Everybody needs to keep his eyes on Popov, this guy is going to be absolutely amazing. I can see great things coming for him. And of course there is Vadim Nemkov, who is another amazing Russian fighter.

“As for Ngannou, I think that it was more of a psychological pressure for him to come back into the ring after such a long break from MMA. But I think he did well, he did well,” Malykhin continued. “But his words after the fight, I think were a little bit premature. He shouldn’t have said that he is the greatest heavyweight in the world.”

For now, Malykhin’s sights are on a different African heavyweight behemoth — one currently competing alongside him in ONE.

The heavyweight, light heavyweight, and middleweight champ will put the first of those titles on the line against Senagalese powerhouse Oumar “Reug Reug” Kane tomorrow night at ONE 169.

The build-up to their showdown at the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand has been a heated one, with the pair almost coming to blows at the hotel and press conference faceoff during fight week.

Continue Reading Francis Ngannou Called Out By Three-Division Champ For 2025 Superfight To Decide ‘Best Heavyweight In The World’  at MMA News.