Two Explosive Matchups Added To ONE Fight Night 9 Card

ONE Fight Night 9 is set to provide combat sports fans around the world with a healthy mix of mixed martial arts (MMA) and Muay Thai action across the card, and ONE Championship added two potentially show-stealing bouts.

In the strawweight division, No. 2-ranked South Africa's Bokang Masunyane will be facing No. 3-ranked Hiroba Minowa of Japan.

What makes this bout so interesting in the eyes of many is that both Masunayane and Minowa were the last victims of current strawweight king Jarred Brooks before beating then-champ Joshua Pacio.

Minowa went toe-to-toe with Brooks in their January 2022 bout at ONE: Only The Brave.

To open the fight, Minowa entered into a striking exchange with Brooks and was visibly hurt with a hard right hook to the chin that forced him to go for a single-leg takedown in the hopes of breaking up the action.

But as expected, Brooks went on to dominate their tussle on the mat and landed a big elbow that opened up a cut on Minowa's eyebrow, giving "The Monkey God" a target to focus on throughout the bout.

Brooks' strength as a wrestler and quickly developing striking game allowed him to outpoint Minowa and was awarded the unanimous decision victory.

Masunyane did not fare better than Minowa when they met on April 22 at ONE 156 as Brooks came out the victor courtesy of a rear-naked choke and set himself up for a date with Pacio later that December.

To his credit, Masunyane held out as best he can despite Brooks having full control of his back early in the bout, but eventually faltered late in the first round.

Both men will enter their clash with their losses to Brooks on their minds and will surely be coming out swinging as they hope to set up a rematch with him soon, but with the ONE strawweight title up for grabs.

Joining them on the card are ranked bantamweight kickboxing fighters Ferrari Faritex and Felipe Lobo, who are ranked No. 5 and 4 respectively with this bout being contested under Muay Thai rules.

Lobo has been seen as the next-great Muay Thai prospect under ONE Championship after pulling off a hard-fought split decision victory against Yodpanumrong Jitmuangnon in his promotional debut in 2020 and quickly followed it up with a unanimous decision over Rodlek PK.Saenchai a year later.

However, his most recent bout saw him on the losing side as he was knocked out in the third round by bantamweight Muay Thai king Nong-O Hama (formerly known as Nong-O Gaiyanghadao) at ONE X on March 26, 2022.

As for Ferrari, he enters the ring against Lobo with a 1-1 record, winning his promotional debut against Han Zi Hao by unanimous decision in September 2022 before being put to sleep by Fabio Reis this past February.

ONE Fight Night 9 takes place on April 22 (April 21 in the United States) on the sacred grounds of the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, which will be headlined by Nong-O Hama's defense of his ONE bantamweight Muay Thai title against Jonathan Haggerty.