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MANILA, Philippines – ONE Championship is set to make its 8th trip to the Philippines on April 15, 2016 to stage a fight card at the 20,000-capacity SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
The event name or bouts have yet to be announced for ONE’s April card in the Philippines.
ONE’s 9th Philippine outing is scheduled to happen on December 2, 2016 at the same showground.
Asia’s largest mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion has held 7 events in the country since its first venture to Philippine shores in August 2012.
ONE formed a partnership with SM in 2014 that requires the organization to hold an MMA showcase at the aforementioned state-of-the-art location twice a year.
Company head honcho Victor Cui told Rappler that ONE plans to extend its reach in the archipelago by hosting a fight card in Cebu City, where Henry Sy’s SM Group is currently building a 16,000-seater indoor arena.
Aside from its next two Philippine visits, ONE publicly confirmed 22 events, including 10 MMA affairs in mainland China with dates still to be determined.
Venues for the 12 other confirmed dates likewise include usual spots for ONE, such as Malaysia, Indonesia and its homebase of Singapore.
“We will also return to our favorite cities in Asia – Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila and Singapore – with even greater shows and blockbuster fight cards that will ignite stadiums and get fans demanding for more,” Cui said in a press release.
ONE will also try its hand in new markets next year by visiting countries like Thailand, Vietnam, and Hong Kong for the first time.
“With our success in Asia and the Middle East, we are thrilled to announce that we will be entering 3 new markets next year, namely Thailand, Vietnam and Hong Kong. These are amazing cities with a massive following of martial arts fans and next year, these fans will get to experience ONE Championship’s superlative MMA events live,” Cui added.
ONE concluded its 2015 calendar by crowning its first-ever heavyweight champion last December 11 as Filipino-American fighter Brandon Vera knocked out late-replacement Paul Cheng in just 26 seconds with a head kick.
“As we wrap up 2015, I’m very pleased that it has been a great year for ONE Championship in terms of growth as we continue to expand at an incredibly rapid pace. We look forward to bringing our signature brand of world-class MMA action into more cities in Asia come 2016,” Cui stated. – Rappler.com
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