MMA News: ONE Championship Announces Full Card For January 28 Event

Singapore-based ONE Championship went all in for the undercard of January 28’s ONE: Only The Brave event.

It was announced last week that undefeated heavyweights Anatoly Malykhin and Kirill Grishenko will be facing off against each other in the main event to determine the interim ONE heavyweight champion after division kingpin Arjan Bhullar declined to defend his title at the event.

In the co-main event, No. 1-ranked featherweight fighter Kim Jae Woong of South Korea faces No. 4-ranked Tang Kai of China.

Since debuting in ONE Championship back in 2019, Tang has been undefeated in his past five fights and is currently riding an eight-fight win streak dating back to 2017.

As for the “Fighting God,” he shot up to the top of the division with a surprising first-round knockout of former two-division titleholder Martin Nguyen at ONE: Revolution last September.

A win for either fighter could have them next in line for a shot at the featherweight title against the winner of the showdown between current champion Thanh Le and Gary Tonon.

ONE: Only The Brave also features the semifinals of the ONE Featherweight Kickboxing World Grand Prix with Marat Grigorian squaring off against knockout artist Chingiz Allazov while Thailand’s Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong facing Davit Kiria in the other bracket.

The winner of the entire Grand Prix will have the privilege of challenging the inaugural ONE Kickboxing Featherweight champion Superbon Banchamek, who won the title after knocking out Giorgio Petrosyan at ONE: First Strike.

To round out the card, the Singapore-based promotion opted to have one MMA and one kickboxing bout to set the tone for the entire event.

Ruslan Emilbek Uulu will put his wrestling skills to the test against Chinese submission artist Zhang Lipeng while rising kickboxing star Rade Opacic will go up against Francesko Xhaja of Albania.

The promotion also made sure to stack the lead card with three important fights.

Ranked strawweights Jared Brooks and Hiroba Minowa enter the cage against each other in a potential title eliminator match for Joshua Pacio's belt.

Thai kickboxing star "Smokin'" Jo Nattawut will face Dovydas Rimkus for the right to become an alternate in the ONE Kickboxing Featherweight World Grand Prix.

China's Wang Shuo will have the task of welcoming 33-year-old Tatsumitsu Wada back to the promotion in the lead card.

ONE: Only The Brave will be streaming live on the ONE Super App and official ONE Championship YouTube channel for fans in Asia on Friday, January 28 at 8:30 PM SGT.