Pinoy fighter Edward Kelly to compete at ONE FC: Roar of Tigers

MANILA, Philippines – Edward Kelly, the younger brother of renowned Filipino fighter Eric Kelly, has been booked to face Malaysian prospect Ev Ting in the-co-main event of ONE FC: Roar of Tigers on October 17 at the 16,000-seater Putra Indoor Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Kelly (5-1) has not fought since his 44-second submission setback to Brazilian grappler Herbert Burns at ONE FC: Moment of Truth in December 2013.

Prior to his meeting with Burns, Kelly was riding high on an impressive five-fight winning streak, instantaneously making a name in the Asian mixed martial arts (MMA) circuit by trouncing Tariq Jan and Tanaphong Khunhankaew.

Meanwhile, his opponent Ting (7-2) made a successful promotional debut in June at ONE FC: Era of Champions, where he stopped Yohan Mulia Legowo via first-round technical knockout.

Facing a Pinoy MMA competitor is not new to the 25-year-old Ting as he previously locked horns with two Filipino combatants.

Ting bowed down to highly-touted featherweight Mark Striegl by first-round submission at Legend FC 7 in February 2012 before avenging the disappointing loss by outpointing Rolando Gabriel Dy at Legend FC 10 six months later.

Striegl and Ting were penciled to have their rematch in November 2013 at PXC 41, but the three-round tussle was cancelled after the latter failed to meet the contracted weight limit at the official weigh-in.

Ting checked-in seven pounds heavier than Striegl, who was hoping to redeem himself at that time after yielding to the organization’s featherweight champion Jang Yong Kim at PXC 39 in September of the same year.

Aside from the Kelly-Ting pairing, ONE Fighting Championship (ONE FC) has also added two more matches to the aforementioned fight card, including the headlining bout between Rob Lisita and M-1 Global featherweight titlist Marat Gafurov.

Lisita (14-6) has won seven of his last nine outings, but he is coming off a rear-naked choke defeat to Eric Kelly this past July at ONE FC: War of Dragons.

On the opposite end, Gafurov (9-0) has never tasted a single loss since he spearheaded his prizefighting career in 2010 and holds five triumphs by way of submission to his credit.

The other fight slated for ONE FC: Roar of Tigers is the three-round bantamweight showdown between Raymond Tan (2-2) and Stephen Langdown (1-1). – Rappler.com