The announcements from Asia's biggest mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion came thick and fast today.
First, ONE FC: "Warrior Spirit" was confirmed for Kuala Lumpur on November 15, 2013 with a welterweight title fight between Adam Kayoom and Nobutatsu Suzuki to headline.
Then, Shinya Aoki's long anticipated featherweight debut was booked for ONE FC: "Total Domination" in Singapore on October 18, with Thailand-based American Cody Stevens set to welcome the Japanese submission specialist to the 145-pound division.
Kayoom (4-1) is one of Malaysia's fastest rising stars and already holds ONE FC wins over Gregor Gracie and Zuli Silawanto. He has black belts in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) and Taekwondo and is a former Muay Thai world champion who has traveled all over the world to master various martial arts.
He will be in for the toughest test of his MMA career to date against Suzuki (9-1-2) -- a Karate fighter -- whose wins have all come by way of first or second round knockout/technical knockout. His latest was against Phil Baroni, who he stopped with knees and punches at ONE FC: "Rise to Power" back in May.
On the line will be the inaugural ONE FC welterweight title and Kayoom, who was born and bred in Kuala Lumpur, will be guaranteed the support of the local fans at the 15,000 seat Stadium Putra. He is the country's top pound-for-pound mixed martial artist and Malaysia's hopes of producing an MMA champion rest firmly on his shoulders.
The second ONE FC announcement of the day involved possibly the promotion's most marketable star. Aoki is for many the face of Asian MMA and has dominated the lightweight landscape ever since dropping down in weight in 2006.
Aoki (33-6-0-1) has beaten the likes of George Sotiropoulos, Joachim Hansen, Caol Uno, Eddie Alvarez, Mizuto Hiroa, Tatsuya Kawajiri and Satoru Kitaoka and will be looking to make a similar impression on the featherweight division starting on October 18.
His opponent at ONE FC: "Total Domination" is Stevens (11-5-1) who is coming off impressive back-to-back victories over Australia's Greg Atzori and Bellator and Strikeforce veteran Dustin Neace. The American is based at Tiger Muay Thai in Phuket and will be looking for the biggest win of his career to date when he takes on Aoki.
With a bantamweight unification bout between Soo Chul Kim and Bibiano Fernandes at the top of the card and lightweight contenders Peter Davis and Eddie Ng going head-to-head in the main event, ONE FC: "Total Domination" is set to be one of the best cards in the history of the Singapore-based promotion.
At present, no further fights have been announced for ONE FC: "Warrior Spirit" but a Malaysian 145-pound title tilt between Jian Kai Chee (4-4) and Melvin Yeoh (7-1) is also likely to be on the card at the Stadium Putra.