For the third time, the Singapore Indoor Stadium will play host to Asia’s most prestigious Mixed Martial Arts event. Titled ‘Rise of Kings’, the event is the 6th installment of the Singapore-based ONE Fighting Championship, and is set to go down on October 6th.
The featured attraction of the night pits former DREAM title holder Shinya Aoki, and Team Muayfit’s Arnaud ‘The Game’ Lepont. While the former looks to rebound with a win following a TKO loss against Eddie Alvarez in April, Lepont will be working harder than ever to beat a fighter he has idolized his entire life.
Meanwhile, 3 inaugural championship belts will also be up for grabs on October 6th.
High-flying Zorobabel Moreira will be looking to build on a spectacular TKO win over former UFC standout Roger Huerta by bringing the Lightweight strap to Evolve MMA. But that’d be easier said than done. His opponent, Kotetsu Boku, is Japanese veteran who is no stranger to Championship gold. A former champion in the Shooto promotion, Boku is 5-1 in his last 6 outings.
Issa and Kim have fought each other before, at ‘ONE FC: Champion vs. Champion’The second title match-up pits Bantamweights Soo Chul Kim, and Evolve MMA’s Leandro ‘Brodinho’ Issa. Both fighters will be fighting for the 2nd time against each other in their careers. Kim impressed fans and critics alike with a win over Filipino Kevin Belingon in a feisty 3-round affair in Manilla, Philippines. At the age of just 20, Kim is slowly, but surely, securing a place amongst Asia’s elite. Issa, on the the other hand, is no slouch either. Unbeaten in his stint with the promotion thus far, Issa may be the slight-favorite heading into this title tilt, having beaten the South Korean before. He then went on to win a decision against Masakazu Imanari, before earning himself a title shot.
URCC Champion Honorio Banario is slated to fight for the Featherweight strap in our third title match-up, but an opponent is yet to be named. Muayfit’s Eric Kelly was Banario’s original opponent, but the Filipino was scrapped due to his commitments with URCC. Keep it locked to MMASucka.com as we receive updates on this title match-up.
ONE FC 6: Rise of Kings will also feature the promotion’s first ever Bantamweight Grand Prix, in which the winner will receive a future title shot. (Match-ups can be viewed below)
Eleswhere, Striking specialist Melvin Manhoef, a former Strikeforce veteran, takes on Ryo Kawamura, who’ll be looking to build on a 3-fight win streak. The Japanese fighter has a resume that includes fights with the likes of ‘King Mo’ Lawal and Kevin Randleman. Manhoef, in the meantime, recently snapped his winless streak with a much needed split decision win at a recent ROAD FC event.
Radeem Rahman, Singapore’s first ever professional Mixed Martial Artist, is set to represent his country once again as he fights for the second time under the ONE FC banner.
Mitch Chilson, another one of Evolve MMA’s fighters, will hit the ground running on October 6th as he looks to take out Ngabdi Mulyadi in the first bout of the night.
With that said, here’s the entire fight card for ‘ONE FC: Rise of Kings’:
- Arnaud Lepont vs. Shinya Aoki
- Kotetsu Boku vs. Zorobabel Moreira (For Inaugural Lightweight Championship)
- TBA vs. Honorio Banario (For Inaugural Featherweight Championship)
- Soo Chul Kim vs. Leandro Issa (For Inaugural Bantamweight Championship)
- Ryo Kawamura vs. Melvin Manhoef
- Zhao Ya Fei vs. Jens Pulver (Bantamweight Grand Prix match-up)
- Min Jung Song vs. Masakatsu Ueda (Bantamweight Grand Prix match-up)
- Yusup Saadulaev vs. Kevin Belingon (Bantamweight Grand Prix match-up)
- Gianni Subra vs. Radeem Rahman
- Ngabdi Mulyadi vs. Mitch Chilson
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