MMA News: ONE Championship's First Card In 2022 Features Two Title Defenses

Singapore-baed ONE Championship is getting ready to start 2022 with a bang on January 14 with two title defenses at ONE: Heavy Hitters.

Reigning strawweight queen Xiong Jing Nan will defend the title that she has held since 2018 against Japan’s Ayaka Miura in the main event.

Miura’s aptitude in the grappling game is set to give Xiong her toughest challenge to date as her submission victories will surely make the champion be more careful in taking the fight to the ground.

The ONE light heavyweight kickboxing title will also be on the line as Roman Kryklia defends his belt against Murat Aygun in the co-main event.

Both fighters have not stepped foot in the ring since December 2020, with Kryklia netting the unanimous decision victory over Andrei Stoica and Aygun netting the win over Anderson Silva.

Since becoming champion, Kryklia has never looked threatened in a bout, but Aygun is expected to throw everything but the kitchen sink at him in hopes of dethroning him.

Thailand’s Tawanchai P.K. Saenchaimuaythaigym faces off against fellow countryman Saemapetch Fairtex in a bantamweight Muay Thai bout.

Tawanchai and Saemapetch are both coming off losses and are aiming for victories that they hope will propel them to a title shot down the road against Capitan Petchyindee Academy.

Also on the card is ONE Championship veteran James Nakashima welcoming Saygid Izagakhmaev to the promotion’s lightweight division.

The bout also features the appearance of UFC legend Khabib Nurmagomedov as one of Izagakhmaev’s cornermen for the fight.

Nakashima will look to spoil the debut of Izagakhmaev while also stopping a two-fight skid that dates back to October 2020.

Muay Thai prodigy Supergirl Jaroonsak Muaythai looks to continue her winning ways as she faces Ekaterina Vandaryeva of Belarus.

Vandaryeva is currently riding a two-fight losing streak, and despite her being the more experienced fighter, Supergirl’s stunning knockout of Milagros Lopez in her September 2020 debut points to her potential as a future champion.

To round out the card, Japan’s Senzo Ikeda will look to stop the two-fight winning streak that the resurging Filipino Jeremy Miado is carrying.

Miado is coming off of two stunning knockout victories over Miao Li Tao and is planning to do the same against Ikeda as he aims to break through in the perpetually-stacked strawweight division.

ONE: Heavy Hitters will be broadcasting live from the Singapore Indoor Stadium on January 14, 2022.