KEY POINTS

  • Sports Illustrated reveals ONE Championship's six fight cards that will run from January to March
  • Xiong Jing Nan will defend her strawweight title against Ayaka Miura 
  • The report also hints at a "tent-pole" event for March 26th that could be ONE: X

Singapore-based ONE Championship is already preparing for a strong start to the new year after announcing six cards that are set to run from January to March in 2022.

Sports Illustrated was the first to break the news and the dates are as follows: January 14 and 28, February 11 and 25, and March 11 and 26, with the March 26th card being a “tent-pole” event.

The January 14 card entitled “Heavy Hitters” will be headlined by reigning ONE women’s strawweight champion Xiong Jing Nan defending her title against No. 4-ranked Ayaka Miura of Japan.

Xiong has kept the belt around her waist since defeating Tiffany Teo back in 2018 and has been the division’s only champion since then, making her the first-ever Chinese champion of any major MMA promotion.

“The Panda” has amassed five victories over six fights with the lone loss being against ONE atomweight queen Angela Lee in the latter’s division.

With both women having one win over the other in their respective divisions, it remains to be seen whether the promotion will have them face in a catchweight bout for both titles in the future.

Facing the grapple-heavy Miura will prove to be a more than worthy opponent for Xiong in her sixth defense of the strawweight title as the Japanese seven victories via submission will force the champion to be wary when the fight goes to the ground.

Also on the “Heavy Hitters” card is the promotional debut of Saygid Izagakhmaev against James Nakashima in a lightweight bout.

Izagakhmaev is a highly-touted MMA prospect thanks to him being a direct training partner to UFC great Khabib Nurmagomedov, who has since confirmed that he will be in Singapore to be in his teammate’s corner.

Curiously enough, the report does not have any specific mention of when the promotion’s tenth-anniversary card (ONE: X) will be happening.

The event was set to happen on December 5, but ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong announced that the card would be moved to early 2022 due to rising COVID-19 cases in Singapore.

The “tent-pole” event that Sports Illustrated hinted could be the ONE: X card that everyone has been waiting for as it features kickboxing icon Rodtang Jitmuangnon going up against MMA legend Demetrious Johnson in the first-ever Muay Thai-MMA hybrid fight.

Fight fans across the globe eagerly await the organization’s announcement of when Rodtang and Johnson will get to share the cage and witness history first-hand.

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