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MANILA, Philippines – ONE Fighting Championship (ONE FC) makes its way back to the Manila suburb of Pasay to stage its 15th fight card at the 20,000-seater SM Mall of Asia (MOA) Arena on May 2.
The event dubbed as “ONE FC: Rise of Heroes” marks the organization’s fourth visit in the country, and was formally announced at a press conference conference at the MOA Atrium on Tuesday, March 18.
“This year, we’re giving Manila something new, a much deeper roster of talents. We are bringing guys from different parts of the globe to showcase world-class action,” ONE FC chief Victor Cui tells Rappler.com.
For the main attraction, ONE FC bantamweight champion Bibiano Fernandes will defend his belt for the first time against Masakatsu Ueda.
Fernandes (15-3) is riding high on a seven-fight winning streak and has not tasted a setback since December 31, 2010 when he yielded to Hiroyuki Takaya.
A former two-division titleholder in the now-defunct Japanese combat league Dream, the 33-year-old Brazilian infamously turned down a lucrative offer from the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2012 to sign with ONE FC.
Since his arrival to Asia’s largest MMA promotion, he quickly snugged a spot in the 135-pound division by outpointing Gustavo Falciroli at ONE FC: Pride of a Nation in August 2012 before capturing the company’s interim bantamweight title versus Koetsu Okazaki at ONE FC: Rise to Power last May.
This past October at ONE FC: Total Domination, Fernandes easily outpointed Soo-Chul Kim in a title unification bout to become the undisputed bantamweight king.
“I’m excited to be back in Manila. It’s such a great place. I fought here twice (Pride of a Nation and Rise to Power), and it feels that I belong to this country. It’s my first title defense, and I will make sure to bring my top game for the Filipino fans,” Fernandes said.
On the other hand, Ueda (18-2-2) earned the right to a world title shot when he edged out Kevin Belingon in the Bantamweight Grand Prix finals at ONE FC: Rise to Power.
The 5-foot-8 Japanese spearheaded his professional career with a 12-match unbeaten run, which saw him claim the Shooto 132-pound belt.
Ueda has gone 8-2 in his last ten outings, including three consecutive victories inside the ONE FC cage and a Bellator quarter-final loss to Travis Marx.
“Both of these guys know what to deliver on fight night. They have rich experience in their combat game and strategically it’s the perfect combination on May 2nd,” Cui stressed.
Aside from the championship clash, ONE FC executives publicly revealed two more bouts for ONE FC: Rise of Heroes.
Filipino fighter Eugene Toquero (4-1) takes on Malaysian flyweight prospect Gianni Subba (3-0), while Rob Lisita (13-5) locks horns with Yusuke Kawanago (13-3-2) in a three-round featherweight rematch.
ONE FC is expected to announce the other seven fights to fill up the one-night affair in the weeks to come.
“We’re going to stack more fighters for this fight card. We did a lot of game-changing announcement before. Expect more teasers and jaw-dropping announcements in the upcoming weeks,” Cui ended. – Rappler.co
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