ONE: "Quest for Power" is the promotion's first card of 2017 and is headlined by a middleweight title match between undefeated champion Vitaly Bigdash and late replacement Aung La Nsang. The Burmese fighter accepted the fight less than three weeks ago after original challenger Marcin Prachnio had pulled out with an injury.
It will be interesting to see whether the fight can provide the same sort of fireworks as Bigdash's ONE Championship debut did. There's also two potential title eliminators on the card with Martin Nguyen and Saygid Arslanaliev both entitled to think they could be just one win away from a shot at the belt.
170 lbs.: Saygid Guseyn Arslanaliev vs Georgi Stoyanov
Saygid Guseyn Arslanaliev (4-0) impressed ONE Championship officials at an open tryout and has been impressing people ever since. The Dagestan born, Turkish based lightweight already has three first round stoppages for the promotion and looks like he could be a match for anyone in the division.
Georgi Stoyanov (19-11) is currently training at the Saigon Sports Club and accepted this fight at fairly late notice. He is much more experienced than Arslanaliev but with eight losses in his last nine fights it would be a major surprise if the Bulgarian tasted victory here.
170 lbs.: Vincent Latoel vs Vaughn Donayre
Vincent Latoel (16-18-2) is 3-5 for ONE Championship but has provided a lot of entertainment during his spell with Asia's biggest MMA promotion. He seldom goes the distance these days and has solid Dutch style kickboxing and a good ground game.
Vaughn Donayre (8-6) is a former URCC champion but is winless in his four ONE Championship outings. However he more than held his own against Amir Khan last time out and very nearly submitted the Singaporean with a kimura so the Filipino is capable of causing Latoel problems, particularly on the ground.
155 lbs.: Martin Nguyen vs Kazunori Yokota
Martin Nguyen (7-1) and Kazunori Yokota (25-6-3) have one thing in common, they have both been beaten by Marat Gafurov. The circumstances were very different though, the Australian took the fight at just two days notice while the Japanese veteran was awarded a title shot in recognition of his 13 fight winning streak.
Yokota is something of a grinder. He takes a very patient approach to fights and tends to win by decision whereas Nguyen is much more explosive and has never even been the distance. Expect the two division Deep champion to try and set a slow pace from the off while his opponent will be looking for another fast finish.
205 lbs.: Vitaly Bigdash vs Aung La Nsang
It's difficult to understand why Aung La Nsang (19-9-0-1) wasn't awarded a title shot in the first place, perhaps ONE Championship were saving him for a championship bout in Yangon. But there's no question he deserves that he has earned the chance to fight for the belt and it's just a shame he only had three weeks to prepare.
La Nsang is adamant he was already in good shape and having won three fights out of three in 2016, taking out two top contenders in the process he has plenty of momentum. Bigdash by contrast has been out of action for an entire year but he has the advantage of a full fight camp behind him going into this one.
La Nsang is very good on the ground and has a slick Muay Thai based striking style. Bigdash seems to be good at everything and his ONE Championship debut was one of the best fights seen anywhere in 2015. There are a lot of variables but this has the potential to be a very good fight indeed.
ONE: "Quest for Power" is set for Saturday night (local time) at the Jakarta Convention Centre and can be purchased for $9.99 from here.