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A heavyweight fight between American Tony Johnson Jr. (7-1) and Australian Chris Lokteff (11-1) has been added to this Friday's (Nov. 15, 2013) ONE FC: "Warrior Spirit" card which is set for the Stadium Putra in Kuala Lumpur and will be the promotion's third event in Malaysia.
Johnson Jr. signed for ONE FC earlier this year and made his debut in Manila, defeating former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia by third round technical knockout. He was previously signed to Bellator and his only career loss came at the hands of Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix winner Daniel Cormier.
Lokteff is a new addition to the ONE FC roster but according to MMA Kanvas he has signed a long-term deal with Asia's biggest mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion. Nine of his 11 wins have come by way of KO or TKO and he has a reputation for being the hardest hitting heavyweight on the Australian scene, but will be taking a big step up against Johnson Jr.
Although ONE FC has focused primarily on the lower weight classes up until this point, matchmaker Matt Hume is starting to build a competitive heavyweight division with Camerounian kickboxing champion Alain Ngalani taking on Taiiwanese Canadian former CFL star Paul Cheng in Manila next month.
Rolles Gracie is also on the roster but with Johnson Jr. and Lokteff possessing such impressive records the winner will potentially be in pole position for a shot at the inaugural ONE FC heavyweight title. This fight was put together at the last minute because Adam Kayoom suffered a rib injury in training and was forced to pull out of his 170-pound title tilt against Nobutatsu Suzuki.
Replacing him will be undefeated Portugese welterweight Vitor Pinto who will be putting his 7-0 record on the line when he faces Suzuki in a three-round non-title fight. The other change to the card sees Yusup Saadulaev (10-3-1) step in to face Adriano Moraes (9-0) after Josh Paiva pulled out for undisclosed reasons.
ONE FC: "Warrior' Spirit" gets underway at 7 p.m. local time and the undercard will be streamed live online for free while the main card costs $9.99 and can be purchased from the ONE FC website.
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