Aung La Nsang teases an early 2022 fight coming up

Aung La Nsang has confirmed on his official Facebook fan page that he will be making a return to action in early 2022.

The former ONE middleweight and light heavyweight world champion is yet to name his opponent or the event he will be competing in. However, there are two fighters that fans will no doubt want to see him go against.

For one, avenging his losses against the current two-division world champion Reinier de Ridder is a legitimate option. The Dutchman defeated Aung La Nsang on back-to-back occasions to claim both of his world titles.

After dominating both of their meetings with unanimous decision wins, de Ridder expressed a desire to find new challengers and move on from Aung La Nsang. Earlier this month, he doubled down on this sentiment by issuing multiple challenges, none of which included Myanmar’s hero.

While de Ridder may think he’s done with the ‘The Burmese Python’, they did fight in different weight divisions, and Aung La Nsang still deserves a rematch.

Meanwhile, there’s also the opportunity to settle the score with another former world champion in Vitaly Bigdash. The Russian warrior is coming off a big win over Fan Rong at ONE: Winter Warriors II and immediately called out Aung La Nsang, saying he’s the only guy that’s on his mind.

Aung La Nsang quickly responded to the challenge by posting a video of Bigdash’s challenge with a message that said:

“Oh come on, I’ve signed the contract multiple times. @onechampionship @henrihooft we’ve got ourselves a fight.”

Screen capture from Aung La Nsang's IG Story | [Photo: Aung La Nsang's Instagram]

If this back-and-forth is any indication, it seems that the much-anticipated Aung La vs. Bigdash III is finally happening.

---

Aung La Nsang vs. Vitaly Bigdash III has been almost five years in the making

Aung La Nsang bulldozed the competition as soon as he entered ONE Championship in 2016. He earned the right to challenge Vitaly Bigdash for the ONE middleweight world title in 2017.

However, Aung La Nsang only had 10-days’ notice when he stepped up and could not overcome the world champion.

They would meet again later in the year for another world title clash. This time, Aung La Nsang had a full training camp, was more motivated to prove himself, and had the home crowd behind him. This resulted in him becoming the first-ever world champion from Myanmar.

He would go on a tear from there, rolling to six straight victories, including one of the greatest bouts in ONE Championship history against Ken Hasegawa. He capped off the streak in 2019 with a thrilling win over then-ONE heavyweight world champion Brandon Vera.

Meanwhile, Bigdash hit a couple of roadbumps in his pursuit of reclaiming his world title in 2018. He suffered an injury earlier in the year and later lost to Leandro Ataides when their matchup finally happened.

He did get an impressive win to position himself for a match against Aung La Nsang, but the threat of COVID-19 derailed plans of the two meeting in the Circle.

Now, it seems there’s no stopping these two from settling the score between them – a prize that may be bigger than any world title for these proud fighters.