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ONE Championship is truly pulling out all the stops with their 10-year anniversary show, ONE: X. For one, the Asian organization is bringing the crowds back to its events, as we speculated would happen this year.
ONE Founder and CEO Chatri Sityodtong announced that the March 26 show will be its first full stadium event, complete with 12,000 strong in attendance. They haven't done so ever since the pandemic started.
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So far, only seven fights have been officially announced for the mega-show, but we're already salivating in anticipation. Some of the notable names that are also connected to the event are Sage Northcutt, Eddie Alvarez, and Shinya Aoki, just to name a few. Chatri made it clear that this is going to be ONE's biggest show ever, with a projected 18-20 fights on the card that will go on all day.
Today, we look at the 5 announced ONE Championship: X fights we're most excited to see.
#5. ONE Championship lightweight bout between Nieky Holzkien and Islam Murtazaev
Dutch kickboxing legend Nieky 'The Natural' Holzkien returns to the cage against former ONE title challenger Islam Murtazaev. Holzkien is a 7-time world kickboxing champion, having held major world titles such as the Glory kickboxing welterweight title. He's challenged current ONE Championship lightweight king Regian 'The Immortal' Eersel twice but lost both bids.
'The Natural' then bounced back with back-to-back wins, finishing both Elliot Compton and fellow kickboxing legend John Wayne Parr. The last win was an absolute demolition of the Australian Muay Thai brawler inside two rounds.
Dagestani kickboxer Murtazaev holds a 20-5 record and has given champion Eersel more than he can handle in their last fight. His wild, never-back-down attitude inside the cage will play well with Holzkien's surgical power shots. With both fighters vying for another shot at gold, expect a tension-filled, high-level kickboxing on this one.
#4. ONE Championship flyweight title bout between Adriano Moraes and Yuya Wakamatsu
Adriano 'Mikinho' Moraes, fresh off his shocking knockout win over MMA legend Demetrious 'Mighty Mouse' Johnson last year, returns to defend his belt. Against him is streaking Japanese flyweight Yuya 'Little Piranha' Wakamatsu.
Don't blink on this one as these two are some of the most dynamic and lightning-quick fighters on the ONE Championship roster. Moraes, known for his explosive power, jiu-jitsu mastery and improving stand-up game, looks unstoppable at 135 pounds. For Wakamatsu, the former Pancrase flyweight champion has power that's rare in the division and a well-rounded MMA game. His trademark right hand knockout punch can end anybody's night in an instant.
This bout has 'Fight of the Night' written all over it and we can't wait to see it play out inside the circle.
#3. ONE Championship bantamweight Muay Thai title bout between Nong-O Gaiyanghadao and Alaverdi Ramazanov
Boy, did we jump off our seats when we heard this fight announced. Any fight involving Muay Thai living legend and current ONE bantamweight champion Nong-O Gaiyanghadao gets us excited like no other. He is without a doubt the most dominant champion in ONE's Super Series, ever.
After achieving everything there is to achieve in Muay Thai, Nong-O retired back in 2015 to focus on teaching. Three years later, he decided to come out of retirement for the sole reason of being a role model to new fighters. Boy, did he set a fine example. The man has not been beaten since his comeback and has won the ONE Championship belt and defended it four times.
Nong-O's tactical genius is perhaps the most beautifully technical iteration of Muay Thai you'll ever see. He is perfectly balanced, never out of position and uses timing to find openings for his powerful attacks. He is almost always two or three steps ahead of his opponents' every move and is almost impossible to hit clean.
Against him will be former ONE bantamweight kickboxing champion Alaverdi 'Babyface Killer' Ramazanov. The two were supposed to meet back in 2020 for a champion vs. champion match but the bout was canceled due to COVID-19.
Ramazanov is a tall and rangy fighter who fights in a very unorthodox manner. His brawling attacks come from weird angles and pack serious power. The clash between the two masters, operating at opposite ends of the Muay Thai spectrum, will surely be one of the highlights of the night.
#2. ONE Championship atomweight title bout between Angela Lee and Stamp Fairtex
The title bout between atomweight world champion Angela 'Unstoppable' Lee versus atomweight world Grand Prix champion Stamp Fairtex is bound to make history. For one, if Stamp wins this fight, she will become ONE Championship's first-ever tri-sport champion.
Since transitioning to MMA in 2018, the former ONE Muay Thai and kickboxing champion Stamp has come a long way with her grappling game. In 2021's atomweight Grand Prix, the flamboyant Thai masterfully handled ground specialist Alyona Rassohyna and out-classed MMA stallwart Julie Mezabarba. She even submitted wrestling world champion Ritu Phogat with a slick armbar.
With a blackbelt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and a world title in Pancration, however, ONE atomweight queen Angela Lee is cut above the rest. If the charismatic and wild Stamp dares to play on the ground with Lee, she's definitely entering the champion's world.
Both have glaring strengths in one of two directions. Lee is a grappling marauder while Stamp is a kickboxing savant. One thing's for sure, however, this bout will be a scrap from start to finish.
#1. ONE Championship special rules match between Rodtang Jitmuangnon and Demetrious Johnson
ONE Championship is venturing into the unknown with this brand-new experiment: a special-rules match.
Without a doubt, this mixed-rules bout between ONE flyweight Muay Thai champion Rodtang Jitmuangnon and UFC legend Demetrious 'Mighty Mouse' Johnson is the most anticipated in the event so far.
The blockbuster ONE Championship bout will be fought under a hybrid ruleset. Rounds one and three will be under Muay Thai rules, while rounds two and four will be contested under MMA rules.
What's intriguing is that we don't know how much grappling Rodtang has been doing in the past few months. As for Johnson, we've seen his brand of striking where he smoothly glides in and out of the pocket to connect slick combinations. Rodtang, however, is the opposite of that. You wouldn't expect the Muay Thai legend to dance around and use footwork to find openings. He's just gonna plod forward and kill you.
The bout has the potential to produce moments we've never seen before. With that said, it can either be the start of something truly great or a disaster never to be done again.
We'll just have to wait for ONE Championship: X to find out.
