By Thinesh John
Another fight has been added to ONE Fighting Championship’s August 31st card, and it pits Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu maestro Gregor Gracie up against reigning URCC Light Heavyweight Champion, Nicholas Mann.
The match-up was first announced by MMAOrient.
ONE FC 5: Pride of a Nation, is set to go down August 31st at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Manilla, Philippines. Several big names have already been confirmed for the event, including former UFC Heavyweight Champion Andrei Arlovski, former UFC Lightweight Champion Jens Pulver, former DREAM Champion Bibiano Fernandes, and Asia’s No. 1 fighter Shinya Aoki. ONE FC 5: Pride of a Nation is set to take center stage one again in the Asian MMA scene, with a crowd of 16,500 looking on.
With that said, Nicholas Mann will not be having any hometown jitters when he makes his promotional debut in Manilla. In fact, the Australian has only fought in the Philippines thus far, making all of his 5 professional appearances in the URCC. The reigning URCC Light Heavyweight Champion is 4-0 in his past 4 fights, following his lone career setback against Igor Subora. The URCC veteran was last seen at URCC 21 – Warpath in a Superfight that saw him emerge victorious via Unanimous Decision against Froilan Sarenas.
His opponent, in the meantime, will be making his 3rd appearance in the ONE FC cage. Gregor Gracie is currently 1-1 in his stint with the Singapore-based promotion, and is 6-2 overall in his professional MMA career. The 25-year-old Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner marked his promotional debut with a decision victory over Korean Seok Mo Kim at the promotion’s ‘Champion vs. Champion’ event last September, but fell short against Malaysian favorite Adam Kayoom at ONE FC 4: Destiny of Warriors. That defeat was Gracie’s first in 4 years.
Do check back regularly on MMASucka.com as more fights are set to unfold over the coming weeks.
Here are the latest line-up of fights confirmed for ONE FC 5: Pride of a Nation:
– Bibiano Fernandes vs. Gustavo Falciroli
– Andrei Arlovski vs. Soa Palelei
– Jens Pulver vs. Eric Kelly
– Gregor Gracie vs. Nicholas Mann
– Phil Baroni vs. Rodrigo Ribeiro
