ONE saves ‘Reug Reug’ fight after last minute ‘health and safety’ cancelations

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) isn’t the only promotion having to deal with lots of last minute changes these days.

On Weds., April 7, 2021, ONE Championship makes its debut on TNT with a pretty impressive card, featuring former UFC champs Demetrious Johnson and Eddie Alvarez. “Iron Chin” Rodtang Jitmuangnon is being featured in a special Muay Thai Catchweight bout. And also on the card: Oumar “Reug Reug” Kane, a Senegalese wrestling champion whose two mixed martial arts (MMA) fights thus far have been pretty wild maulings.

“Reug Reug” was originally set to fight Medhi Barghi before “health and safety protocols” took Barghi off the card. We’re assuming this is what ONE calls COVID-19 protocols? Also off the card for the same given reason is Rade Opacic, who was set to compete in a kickboxing bout with Patrick Schmid.

With so much riding on these new TNT shows, ONE did what it could to keep “Reug Reug” on the card. So now Schmid will go from a Heavyweight kickboxing bout to full MMA fight against Kane.

Kane is hoping to move to 3-0 in his new sport of MMA following first round stoppages against Alain Ngalani and Sofiane Boukichou. This is Schmid’s first MMA fight, but he does have more than a decade of combat sports under his belt with K-1 and Superkombat kickboxing experience.

We’re honestly just glad ONE managed to keep “Reug Reug” fighting on Wednesday. Their bout kicks off the ONE on TNT lead card, which is set for 8:30 p.m. ET.