ONE Championship has released its latest official athlete rankings following ONE 158: Tawanchai vs. Larsen. Two of the event’s marquee names used their finishes to elevate them to contender status.
In the evening’s main event, Tawanchai PK.Saenchai defeated Niclas Larsen by knockout in the second round. Heading into the event, it was known that it would be a title eliminator as per the promotion’s announcement.
However, following the sterling performance by the Thai star, Tawanchai is now officially the #1-ranked featherweight Muay Thai contender.
Superbon Singha Mawynn retained his #2 spot in the rankings, with Jimmy Vienot and Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong following right behind. The only athlete who dropped was Jamal Yusupov, who is now the #5-ranked contender in the division.
Tawanchai and ONE Featherweight Muay Thai World Champion Petchmorakot Petchyindee are set to meet later in 2022 for the gold, and the matchup could yield the biggest Muay Thai bout of the year.
The other move came in the mixed martial arts bantamweight division.
Fabricio Andrade had been calling out all of the top-ranked bantamweights, including ONE Bantamweight World Champion John Lineker. At ONE 158, he demolished #2-ranked contender Kwon Won Il and took his spot.
Former ONE Bantamweight World Champion Bibiano Fernandes retained his #1-ranked contender’s status, but “Wonder Boy” is now just one spot behind him and has a strong case to be the next title contender.
By virtue of Andrade’s leap up the ranks, the South Korean slipped to #3 in the division, with Stephen Loman falling to #4. Former divisional king Kevin Belingon remained at #5 in the rankings.
The rankings give a clear picture of each division and how things are set up for the second half of 2022.
The back half of the year will get underway on Friday, July 22.
ONE 159: De Ridder vs. Bigdash will be the first event of the year’s final six months, with a ONE Middleweight World Championship main event between Reinier De Ridder and Vitaly Bigdash.
