What's at stake for fighters at ONE 159?

Hype alone couldn’t do justice to what the upcoming blockbuster in Singapore, ONE 159: De Ridder vs. Bigdash, has in store.

Mixed martial arts, Muay Thai, kickboxing, and submission grappling will all be featured on the July 22 card, which will be broadcast live from the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

While ONE 159 is stacked from the lead card to the main event, there are also storylines that will see their epic conclusions.

Two-division world champion Reinier de Ridder will defend his ONE middleweight world title against former world champion Vitaly Bigdash in a titanic main event that is sure to set the MMA world abuzz.

ONE atomweight kickboxing world champion Janet Todd, meanwhile, has a chance to become a two-sport world champion when she takes on the debuting Lara Fernandez for the ONE interim atomweight kickboxing world title.

With that said, here are the top storylines for ONE 159.

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#3. Top strawweights gun for all-important win

Bokang Masunyane and Hiroba Minowa were on similar career trajectories before they fell to their first losses in ONE Championship.

Both were unbeaten in the organization in the early going, but suffered disappointing losses to No.1 strawweight contender Jarred Brooks. Needless to say, these top strawweights want nothing more than to get back into the win column and preserve their place in the rankings.

Masunyane is the No.2 contender in the division, while Minowa sits right below him at No.3.

Minowa found himself in the top five of the division after close wins over Lito Adiwang and former world champion Alex Silva. Masunyane, meanwhile, beat Ryuto Sawada and knocked out former world title challenger Rene Catalan in his brief run.

A win would surely keep that fighter at the top of the heap and even give him a chance at the ONE strawweight world title.

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#2. A generational battle between Janet Todd and Lara Fernandez at ONE 159

The match for the ONE interim atomweight Muay Thai world title is set to be a battle of generations. On one side there is the 27-year-old Lara Fernandez, who is gunning for an explosive debut in ONE Championship.

Across the circle will be the 36-year-old Janet Todd, a fighter who has already established herself as one of the best of her generation.

Todd is the reigning ONE atomweight kickboxing world champion and a win at ONE 159 will put her on an exclusive list of two-sport world champions in ONE Championship, a list that includes Thai superstar Stamp Fairtex.

Fernandez, meanwhile, has already won world titles for WBC Muay Thai and ISKA, but she knows that a victory at ONE 159 will solidify her growing legacy in the striking arts.

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#1. Middleweight supremacy on the line between Reinier de Ridder and Vitaly Bigdash

Reinier de Ridder’s reign atop the middleweight division just entered its most difficult phase yet.

The two-division world champion is set to defend the ONE middleweight world title against former titleholder Vitaly Bigdash in a titanic clash of world champions from different eras.

Bigdash, who held the title from 2015 to 2017, was an absolute monster in the middleweight division, blasting through Igor Svirid and Aung La N Sang early in his ONE tenure. While he ultimately lost the strap to Aung La in their second encounter, Bigdash secured another win over the Burmese legend in their trilogy fight this past February.

Reinier de Ridder, meanwhile, has been on an otherworldly run at both middleweight and light heavyweight, winning the world titles in both divisions.

‘The Dutch Knight’ holds a perfect 6-0 record in ONE Championship and owns victories over Aung La, Leandro Ataides, and, most recently, ONE welterweight world champion Kiamrian Abbasov.

The champ has already established himself as one of the best fighters of his generation, but Bigdash is a world champion of a different era. The matchup between these two colossal middleweights will surely be the stuff of legend once it’s all said and done.