5 of the most stacked weight divisions in ONE Championship

ONE Championship is the world’s largest martial arts organization. The promotion is home to multiple world champions across MMA, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, wrestling, Muay Thai, kickboxing, and other disciplines in the world of combat sports.

Athletes are drawn to The Home of Martial Arts for many reasons. One reason is its revolutionary “walking-weight” competition. This makes the organization's weight divisions unique from any other MMA promotion. It was designed specifically with the competitors' safety in mind.

This has attracted fighters from all disciplines, as ONE not only gives them the opportunity to compete with added safety measures in place, but also to not be restricted to a specific discipline.

Currently, the promotion has 11 MMA world champions, seven kickboxing world champions, and five Muay Thai world champions.

The dynamic roster constantly welcomes emerging and veteran superstars from different parts of the globe. Each division is highly competitive and it gets more stacked by the day.

ONE Championship ranks five top contenders behind a world champion in each division. However, this top five doesn't come close to reflecting just how competitive the divisions really are.

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#5. ONE Strawweight Division

The Home of Martial Arts is known for its lighter weight classes. The men’s 56.7kg division title, for example, is arguably one of the most hotly-contested MMA world titles right now. Nobody previous champion has come anywhere near Joshua Pacio’s current reign of 1000 days and counting.

Undefeated South African standout Bokang Masunyane currently holds the top contender spot in the division. This comes after an incredible 37-second knockout of former world title challenger Rene Catalan in December 2020.

No.2-ranked Yosuke Saruta bounced back from losing the world title to Pacio by defeating a streaking Pancrase champion in Daichi Kitakata and former division king Yoshitaka Naito. While he failed to re-capture the gold in his trilogy bout with Pacio, he remains one of the most dangerous fighters in the weight class.

American veteran Jarred Brooks announced his arrival in Asia by forcing one of the promotion’s most exciting fighters in Lito Adiwang to tap in the second round of their encounter last year. The win earned him the third spot in the division’s rankings. His wealth of experience in various MMA promotions makes him a legitimate threat to the world title.

The fourth spot is occupied by a rising star in Hiroba Minowa, whose conquests include Adiwang and No.5-ranked contender, Alex Silva. At 22 years old, Minowa already has a 13-2 record and is currently riding a six-fight win streak.

The division also includes Muay Thai legend Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke, Greco-Roman wrestling champion Gustavo Balart, Filipino national wushu sanda and Muay Thai champion Robin Catalan, European grappling champion Aleksi Toivonen, Pancrase world champion Senzo Ikeda, and Indonesian wrestling champion Elipitua Siregar.

#4. ONE Women’s Atomweight Division

If we could describe the ONE women’s atomweight division's plethora of 52.2kg stars in a couple of words, it would be brave, bold, and brilliant.

Angela Lee has reigned supreme over the division since she grabbed the gold in May 2016. The 25-year-old Singaporean-American is the only athlete in the history of the organization to hold the ONE gold for more than 2000 days.

The ONE women’s atomweight World Grand Prix last year was the perfect tournament to showcase the growth and evolution of female fighters worldwide. Eight of the world's best competitors vied for a chance to be the winner of the Grand Prix.

Ultimately, it was former ONE kickboxing and Muay Thai world champion Stamp Fairtex who lifted the tournament belt against India’s wrestling sensation Ritu Phogat.

Stamp, the top-ranked contender, and Phogat (4) are the cream of the crop when it comes to Muay Thai and wrestling respectively. However, fellow ranked stars like Denice Zamboanga (2), Ham Seo Hee (3), and Meng Bo (5), have shown that they too can churn out victories by using their wushu, Muay Thai, and grappling skills.

Outside the top five are where things get a lot more interesting in terms of skill set and variety of competitors from young teenaged sensations to experienced veteran athletes.

There are fighters like undefeated judoka Japanese star Itsuki Hirata, who has four finishes in her five fights, Ukrainian submission expert Alyona Rassohyna, who boasts an 85 percent finishing rate, and Filipina prospects like Gina Iniong and Jenelyn Olsim.

Indonesia’s Priscilla Hertati Lumban Gaol and Malaysia’s Jihin Radzuan are well-rounded fighters too. Combined, the pair have six finishes to date.

Japanese MMA veteran Mei Yamaguchi remains a huge threat to anyone in the division. 17-year-old Victoria Lee, meanwhile, has already marked her name as the promotion’s top star to watch in 2022.

Strawweight queen Xiong Jing Nan is also eyeing an atomweight world title rematch against Angela Lee at some point this year.

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#3. ONE Flyweight Division

The ONE flyweight division has been one of the most outstanding divisions in the ONE roster since the very beginning. Today, the 61.2kg bracket still stands out as one of the best to watch, largely due to competitors who pack pace, power, technical abilities, and so much more.

At the time of writing, Adriano Moraes has been the division king for 1078 days. It is his third reign. That said, the only other two men to have held the gold – Geje Eustaquio and Kairat Akhmetov – are still very much in the world title frame today.

Adriano Moraes knocked out MMA GOAT-contender Demetrious Johnson to successfully defend his world title in his last outing in the Circle. The KO over ‘Mighty Mouse’ was Moraes’ 13th finish in his stellar career. What makes this division so exciting is that the ranked contenders behind him – Johnson (1), Yuya Wakamatsu (2), Kairat Akhmetov (4), and Reece McLaren (5) have a combined 54 stoppage victories between them.

Then, there are competitors like Team Lakay’s dynamic duo, No.3-ranked Danny Kingad and Geje Eustaquio have fought some of these big names all the way to the final bell. Their warrior spirit and wushu-based unorthodox striking skills have troubled the division’s biggest stars' – be it Moraes’ and McLaren’s Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Akhmetov’s superior wrestling, or Wakamatsu’s technicality in the boxing department.

Tatsumitsu Wada can trouble anyone with his judo and karate-dominant style, while Indonesian star Eko Roni Saputra has already showcased his knockout skill just as much as his wrestling.

Last but certainly not least, is China's Xie Wei. The stars of the flyweight divison may all be great in some way or another, but none own a 100 percent finishing rate, except this warrior. All eight of his wins on the global stage have come by way of knockout.

#2. ONE Lightweight Division

Smack in the middle of ONE's male MMA weight classes is the ONE lightweight division. What makes fights in the 77.1kg class memorable encounters is that most competitors own pace like fighters from the lighter weight divisions, and power similar to the larger behemoths in the promotion.

Ok Rae Yoon wrote his name in the history books last year by becoming only the sixth man to hold the division’s championship belt. The South Korean star blitzed his way to the world title following commanding outings against Marat Gafurov, Eddie Alvarez and former kingpin Christian Lee.

Just like Ok, the top five contenders in the division can take on any of the world’s leading lightweight fighters outside the promotion. Christian Lee, the fighter with the most finishes in the promotion’s history sits at the top of the rankings, while Dagi Arslanaliev (2), Shinya Aoki (3), Iuri Lapicus (4), and Timofey Nastyukhin (5) follow behind.

Any fight between these stars promises a clash of skills, styles, and martial arts of the highest order.

To describe this division as stacked is an understatement when you consider names like James Nakashima, Eduard Folayang, Marat Gafurov, Lowen Tynanes, Ruslan Emilbek Uulu, and Zhang Liping.

Then there are former UFC stars like Eddie Alvarez, Sage Northcutt, and Yoshihiro Akiyama, who have all found life pretty difficult in the promotion.

Saygid Izagakhmaev is the latest addition to the 77.1kg weight division. The Russian star, who trains with MMA legend Khabib Nurmagomedov, makes his debut against wrestling specialist Nakashima at ONE: Heavy Hitters on January 14.

The rematch between Arslanaliev and Nastyukhin at ONE: Winter Warriors last month was voted as the promotion’s 2021 MMA Fight of the Year. It was an ideal match to sum up the quality of every individual in this division.

With knockout power, boxing combinations, stamina-draining grappling, submission wizardry and blistering striking, whatever fans look for, the lightweight division provides.

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#1. ONE Featherweight Kickboxing Division

In combat sports today, there are few divisions that can hold a candle to the level of talent in the ONE featherweight kickboxing division.

The athletes in the 70.3 kg division are world champions in striking. Even if you look back at the history of the sport, there has never been a time when all fighters had similarly been placed together under one umbrella.

Superbon became the inaugural world champion of the division when he knocked out kickboxing GOAT Giorgio Petrosyan at ONE: First Strike last year. Everyone expected the Italian-Armenian icon to outscore his opponent on his way to the world title. However, the Thai striker reminded Petrosyan that there are several stars with a burning desire to achieve a similar goal.

Other prominent names in the kickboxing world are Davit Kiria, Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong, Marat Grigorian, and Chingiz Allazov. These four are all in the semifinals of the second edition of the ONE featherweight kickboxing world Grand Prix, which gets underway at ONE: Only the Brave on January 28.

German striking machine Enriko Kehl, Dutch-Turkish slugger Tayfun Ozcan, Spanish sensation Jonay Risco, Lithuanian star Dovydas Rimkus, and French warrior Samy Sana have all enjoyed stellar careers in the European circuit. They are all waiting for their chance to take on better and bigger names. The number of world-class superstars in this ONE Super Series division gives these strikers the perfect platform to showcase their talents.

Thailand’s Sagetdao Petpayathai and Jo Nattawut are two more names that show how much excitement and talent this division packs.