ONE: ‘Warriors of the World’ preview (Pt. 1)

ONE: “Warriors of the World” is set for the Impact Arena in Bangkok on Saturday (Dec. 9, 2017) and is headlined by a strawweight title fight between Yoshitaka Naito and Alex Silva.

The fight card will be ONE Championship’s third in Thailand and features six local fighters including popular lightweight Shannon Wiratchai and former strawweight champion Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke.

The first three fights will be streamed live on facebook while the rest of the card can be purchased for $9.99 USD. Here’s my preview of the first five fights:

145lbs.: Tang de Pan vs Asraful Islam

Asraful Islam is from Bangladesh and has a background in Wushu. That doesn’t sound particularly encouraging, but he supposedly won a title with an MMA promotion in India called Ultimate Fight League.

Tang De Pan (1-0) made his ONE Championship debut last year and won with a highlight reel KO due to a slam. He has a background in Sanda, has won wrestling tournaments in China and will be a very strong favourite here.

125lbs.: Kritsada Krongsrichai vs Rabin Catalan

People tend to assume Thais come from a striking background but Krongsrichai (5-3) is a wrestler. He likes to take opponents down and attack with ground and pound although you can tell he has trained in Muay Thai too.

Rabin Catalan (4-3) is a good test for any up and coming fighter despite being 0-2 in ONE Championship matches. He comes from a Wushu background but is well rounded and will be a solid test of the Thai fighters credentials.

145lbs.: Yodsanan Sityodtong vs Dodi Mardian

Dodi Mardian (0-1) is a Silat practitioner which doesn’t bode too well for the Indonesian as he’s been booked against a former boxing world champion who has been competing in MMA for six years.

Yodsanan Sityodtong (3-1) has also competed in Muay Thai at a very high level and has been working on his ground game and wrestling at Evolve MMA since around 2010. You can’t see him losing this one.It

155lbs.: Saketdao Petpayathai vs Jimmy Yabo

It is interesting that Saketdao Petpayathai (1-0) has been handed a much tougher assignment than Yodsanan, given that he is much newer to the sport. He’s a multiple time Lumpinee champion who has been training at Evolve MMA since 2014.

Jimmya Yabo (5-5-0-1) has a background in Taekwondo and once knocked out Bashir Ahmed in under a minute. He’s faced some tough opponents and will be desperate to improve upon an underwhelming 1-5 promotional record.

125lbs.: Jingnan Xiong vs April Osenio

Jingniang Xong (9-1) is a very exciting signing for ONE Championship and with Angela Lee likely to move up in weight the two female fighters seem to be on a collision course.

April Osenio (2-2) fights out of Team Lakay and has a strong Wushu background but will be arguably the toughest opponent Xiong has faced in her entire career. Don’t write off the Filipina.

The full ONE: “Warriors of the World” card can be purchased for $9.99 USD from here and the first three fights are being shown live on the ONE Championship facebook page.

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