“Bigger and better than ever” - ONE Championship announces the return of the ONE Featherweight Kickboxing World Grand Prix

ONE Championship continues to bring out the big guns in 2024.

The promotion recently announced the return of the ONE Featherweight Kickboxing World Grand Prix, practically pitting the world's best pound-for-pound strikers in a winner-takes-all tournament.

ONE's featherweight kickboxing division has always been considered the greatest weight class across combat sports, and the murderer's row will once again take center stage in a months-long spectacle.

"The ONE Featherweight Kickboxing World Grand Prix is BACK -- bigger and better than ever 🤩 Which ONE athlete deserves a shot? 🤔," the promotion announced on Instagram.

Although ONE Championship hasn't officially announced the Grand Prix's participants, it's already expected that the biggest names in kickboxing are filling up the necessary paperwork to join the tournament.

Chingiz Allazov reigns as the ONE featherweight kickboxing world champion and is currently the number one pound-for-pound kickboxer, while Superbon, the division's interim world champion, is number two on the publication's list.

Naturally, Superbon also sits as the number one contender in ONE's featherweight kickboxing division.

Tawanchai PK Saenchai, the reigning ONE featherweight Muay Thai world champion, is ranked fourth in the division while eternal rivals Marat Grigorian and Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong occupy the second and third spots, respectively.

The legendary Giorgio Petrosyan, often considered the greatest kickboxer of all time, is fifth in the featherweight kickboxing rankings and could return to action following his hiatus.

Another star who could make his mark in the division is Japanese superstar Masaaki Noiri.

The two-division K-1 Kickboxing champion recently signed with ONE Championship earlier this year and will make his promotional debut against Sitthichai at ONE 167 on June 7 at Impact Arena.

ONE 167 is available live and free to all Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.

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A look back at the previous ONE Featherweight Kickboxing World Grand Prix

There have been two iterations of the ONE Featherweight Kickboxing World Grand Prix.

The first tournament saw the absolute greatness of Giorgio Petrosyan when he ran through Petchmorakot Petchyindee, Jo Nattawut, and Samy Sana to claim the Grand Prix title and the cool $1 million prize in 2019.

Chingiz Allazov became the second ONE Featherweight World Grand Prix champion when he beat Nattawut and Sitthichai in the 2022 tournament.

'Chinga' ultimately claimed the ONE featherweight kickboxing world title when he beat Superbon at ONE Fight Night 6 in Bangkok.