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ONE Championship has proven to be a force to be reckoned with in combat sports. Featuring fights across Muay Thai, kickboxing, grappling, and MMA, the Singapore-based organization showcases a full spectrum of martial arts.
While the UFC has been good at promoting itself as the 'big league' in MMA for the better part of 25 years, ONE has established itself quietly in Asia for a decade. As of 2021, however, ONE Championship has proven that it has some of the best fighters in the world and has the results to prove just that.
Just a few months ago, ONE Championship flyweight king Adriano 'Mikinho' Moraes shocked the MMA world by knocking out one of the most successful UFC champions ever, Demetrious 'Mighty Mouse' Johnson.
With that said, today we list down 5 crossover matches between ONE Championship and the UFC that we'd love to see. We know that crossover fights rarely happen in the big leagues anymore as fighters are under exclusive contracts and the like. But we're allowed to dream, aren't we?
#5. ONE Championship's Lito Adiwang vs. the UFC's Deiveson Figueiredo
What do you get when you put two of the most explosive 125-pound MMA fighters in the cage? Fireworks from start to finish.
Lito 'Thunder Kid' Adiwang, who fights at ONE: NEXTGEN III on November 26, has proven to be one of the most dynamic and exciting fighters on the ONE roster. His break-neck pace, explosive attacks, and unlimited cardio produced some of the most heart-stopping finishes in ONE Championship history.
Just look at his highlight reel video here:
Enter Deiveson 'Deus Da Guerra' Figueiredo. The former UFC flyweight champion has fire in his hands and explosiveness in every limb. His path to UFC gold was riddled with violence, the likes of which we've never seen at flyweight.
Adiwang and Figueiredo mirror each other perfectly in that they use explosiveness, speed, and power to overcome their opponents. Pitting these two dynamic sluggers would be a striker's dream and would have Fight of the Night written all over it. Perhaps even Fight of the Year.
#4. ONE Championship atomweight queen Janet Todd vs. Joanna Jędrzejczyk in a kickboxing bout
ONE Championship atomweight kickboxing champion Janet 'JT' Todd is a highly technical striker who operates at a very high pace. She throws everything out of the chamber and has very little wind-up in her shots. She matches her perfect technique with pressuring aggression that's difficult to handle.
Former UFC strawweight champion and Polish superstar Joanna Jędrzejczyk has a similar style. The self-proclaimed Boogeywoman was a former kickboxing and Muay Thai champion before destroying everyone in MMA.
Jędrzejczyk's similarities in stature, technical striking and pace with the ONE Championship queen are too glaring to ignore. It would be such a treat to see these two technicians slug it out in a straight kickboxing match.
#3. ONE Championship flyweight champion Adriano Moraes vs. Henry Cejudo
Of all the entries on this list, this bout is the closest to happening in real life. Henry Cejudo, the self-proclaimed 'greatest combat sports athlete of all time', has done pretty much everything to earn him that monicker.
The only thing he hasn't truly done is dominate and soundly beat his first UFC rival, the former flyweight king Demetrious 'Mighty Mouse' Johnson. As it stands, the former two-division champ is 1-1 against Johnson.
Adriano 'Mikinho' Moraes, however, did what Cejudo couldn't in two fights: finish 'Mighty Mouse'. The ONE Championship flyweight king also did it in less than two rounds. It would be interesting to see the retired Cejudo put the gloves back on, travel across the world, and fight the one man who outperformed him.
#2. ONE Championship atomweight queen Angela Lee vs. UFC strawweight champ Rose Namajunas
Reigning ONE Championship atomweight champion Angela 'Unstoppable' Lee might pose a serious threat to UFC strawweight champ 'Thug' Rose Namajunas. The two-time UFC champ has had problems with strong grapplers before and Lee is a grappling savant.
Namajunas, however, is miles away from Lee when it comes to striking. A product of MMA genius Trevor Wittman, Namajunas's kickboxing has improved leaps and bounds. Lee's loss to ONE Championship strawweight champ Xiong Jing Nan showed that she can get overwhelmed by talented strikers. This fight boils down to who gets to impose her game first.
Expect a scrappy grappling barrage when Lee gets a hold of Namajunas. If the fight goes to the ground, Namajunas would be in Lee's world. The UFC great, however, will try to stick-and-move and avoid Lee's takedowns to keep the fight on the feet.
Regardless, a bout between the two would be one for the ages.
#1. ONE Championship bantamweight king Bibiano Fernandes vs. UFC featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski
ONE Championship bantamweight champion Bibiano 'The Flash' Fernandes and UFC featherweight king Alexander 'The Great' Volkanovski are two of the best fighters active today. The grandess and intrigue this fight could generate would be through the roof.
ONE Championship's Fernandes is a top-of-the-food-chain grappler, utterly dismantling his opponents when the fight hits the ground. The former jiu jitsu world champion can also hold his own against elite strikers, opening them up to his otherworldly grappling.
Volkanovski, in his last fight, has proven himself seemingly unkillable after surviving two deep submission attempts from Brian 'T-City' Ortega. The champ ultimately mauled his challenger to earn a unanimous decision win.
Ortega, however, is nowhere close to Fernandes' grappling wizardry. When it comes to jiu jitsu, the best defense to a submission is to not let it happen in the first place. With Volkanovski showing vulnerability to getting caught up in submissions, expect Fernandes to sink one in at some point in the fight.
This time, Volkanovski may not be able use his toughness and grit to get out of the hold.
