Roman Kryklia’s light heavyweight kickboxing world title defense against Francesko Xhaja headlines ONE Fight Night 12

Roman Kryklia returns to the ONE Championship stage for the first time this year, and it’s a megafight that has all the makings to be an instant classic.

In the main event of ONE Fight Night 12 on Friday, July 14, he will put his ONE light heavyweight kickboxing world title on the line against Albanian tank Francesko Xhaja. Sports Illustrated broke the news earlier today.

This comes just six months after the Ukrainian dynamo became the ONE Heavyweight Kickboxing World Grand Prix Champion.

In the second half of last year, the Gridin Gym athlete switched to the 265-pound division to partake in the four-man tournament, knocking out Guto Inocente in the semifinals and turning Iraj Azizpour’s lights off in the final to claim the tournament’s prestigious silver strap.

Roman Kryklia has just been as impressive in the light heavyweight kickboxing division, sporting a perfect 3-0 run. This includes victories against world-class warriors Tarik Khbabez, Andrei Stoica, and Murat Aygun.

With a 5-0 run under the ONE spotlight, many fans expect Roman Kryklia to continue his impressive run at ONE Fight Night 12 at the legendary Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

Xhaja hopes to spoil the world champion’s party, though.

The 27-year-old enters this bout on the back of a strong win against Romanian striking machine Andrei Stoica at ONE Fight Night 7 in February this year. He’s hoping to use that positive momentum to knock off what is his toughest career test to date.

Both men are absolutely skilled at what they do in the stand-up department, so it’ll be interesting to see who comes out on top in this light heavyweight kickboxing world title tilt in the Thai capital.

North American fans with an Amazon Prime membership can catch the main event showdown between Roman Kryklia and Francesko Xhaja and the entire ONE Fight Night 12 bill live and for free.