Nakatuon muli ang atensiyon ng mixed martial arts fanatics sa buong mundo sa Manila bilang host ng ONE Championship:
Global Rivals na tatampukan ng duwelo sa pagitan nina American ONE Welterweight Champion Ben Askren at Nikolay Aleksakhin sa Abril 15, sa MOA Arena.
Nakatakda ang umaatikabong aksiyon ganap na 7:00 ng gabi.
Mapapanood din ang duwelo sa pagitan nina April Osenio at Batalie Gonzales Hills sa all-Pinay showdown para sa Atomweight category, gayundin ang sagupaan nina Burn Soriano at Sunoto ng Indonesia sa Bantamweight category.
Hindi rin pahuhuli ang inaasahang ratsadahan nina Team Lakay Danny Kingad kontra Muhamad Haidar ng Malaysia sa Flyweight Division, gayundin, si dating ONE Featherweight World Champion Honorio “the Rock” Banario kontra Pan Asian Champ Vaughn Donayre sa Lightweight fight.
Ididepensa ni Featherweight Champion Martin Nguyen ng Vietnam ang korona kontra kay Li Kai Wen ng Beijing, habang North vs South ang matutunghayan sa all-Pinoy duel sa pagitan nina Joshua Pacio, Grand Prix champ mula sa Baguio Team Lakay laban kay Robin Catalan, National Wushu Champion mula sa Mindanao sa Strawweight category.
Sa Bantamweight Division, mapapalaban si Geje Eustaquio, Team Lakay’s Wushu Xanda champion, kay Malaysian MMA hero Gianni Subba, habang hatawan sina Lowen Tynanes, Hawaiian Elite MMA champ, kontra Koji Ando, Asia-Pacific lightweight champ mula Tokyo para sa Lightweight category.
“I owe the Filipino fans. The last time I was in Manila obviously the bout didn’t have the outcome anyone wanted and my opponent was a lot less than courageous in faking his eye injury. The Filipino fans were unfairly robbed of a good fight. They lost the main event that night. I have to do an extra dominant job on April 15th to make sure the Filipino fans get a fight made up to them that they lost out on last year,” pahayag ni Askren.
“You can look in my eyes, I’m honestly 100% not concerned about anything Nikolay [Aleksakhin] brings to the table.
He’s not an elite striker. I face strikers who are twice as good as him on a daily basis at practice. He is not as good of a wrestler as me. Hell, I’ll let him take me down! He can take me down all he wants because once we get on the ground he’s in my world.”
“I’ve been training in Singapore for the past week and I can’t wait to get to Manila this Tuesday and kick some butts! I owe it to the fans and I will make sure I give them the best fight of the night!” aniya.
