Everything You Need to Know About the MMA Bouts at ONE Fight Night 45 on July 17
ONE Fight Night 45 delivers a stacked night of MMA action on Friday, July 17, live from Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
The show is headlined by America's most charismatic Muay Thai fighter, Luke Lessei, who takes on Mohamed Younes Rabah in a featherweight Muay Thai main event.
But before that ONE Fight Night 45 main event, five MMA bouts across three weight classes give the card serious competitive depth.
Two atomweight matchups put the division's finest in the spotlight, two flyweight contests pit unbeaten prospects against hungry contenders, and a strawweight bout between a South African veteran and a South Korean finishing machine carries potential title eliminator implications.
Atomweight Division Takes Center Stage with Two High-Stakes Bouts
Malaysia's top MMA fighter Jihin Radzuan returns on the back of a dominant TKO victory over Gabriela Fujimoto earlier this year. A ONE Championship veteran since 2018 with nine promotional wins, Radzuan steps up against Canadian standout Anastasia Nikolakakos, who made a statement in her March ONE debut by knocking out Victoria Souza in the first round.
The undefeated 36-year-old Nikolakakos will be looking for a second consecutive promotional win to push her name firmly into the vacant ONE Women’s Atomweight MMA World Championship conversation.
The second atomweight contest brings Japanese submission machine Ayaka Miura back to the ring against a rough-and-tough fighter. Miura was rolling on a five-fight winning streak before Chihiro Sawada handed her a defeat, snapping a run that had established her as one of the division's most dangerous submission artists. A bounce-back win is the priority heading into July 17.
Souza, on the other side of the ring, enters the contest off a tough loss. The Brazilian previously won two straight and now, she is equally motivated to reverse her recent fortunes at ONE Fight Night 45.
Flyweight Division Delivers Compelling Bouts at ONE Fight Night 45
Filipino fan favorite Lito Adiwang enters July 17 riding serious momentum. Just two months removed from knocking out Eko Roni Saputra in 34 seconds, Adiwang has won five of his last six bouts and a convincing performance against promotional newcomer Antonio Cesar would place his name squarely in the flyweight title contender conversation.
Cesar arrives at ONE Fight Night 45 with championship ambitions of his own, and the opportunity to defeat an established ONE Championship star in his debut gives the Brazilian every reason to come out swinging from the first bell.
The second flyweight bout pits two unbeaten fighters against each other in one of the card's most intriguing matchups. Sanzhar Zakirov has been phenomenal since his 2023 ONE debut, racking up seven wins including three finishes against notable divisional names on a 16-fight unbeaten career run.
Russian star Ruslan Satiev makes his promotional return having claimed a split decision in his only ONE Championship appearance, and a victory over an unbeaten prospect of Zakirov's caliber would immediately make him a genuine threat.
Masunyane and Lee Collide in Strawweight MMA Battle
South Africa's Bokang Masunyane carries the momentum of a unanimous decision victory over Ryohei Kurosawa from this past January into his outing.
The 32-year-old veteran has faced the who's who of the strawweight division across five promotional wins, accumulating the kind of high-level experience that rarely shows up in a record but always reveals itself in a fight.
Standing across from him is South Korean phenom Lee Seung Cheol, one of the division's most explosive finishers. An overall record of 12-1 with 10 stoppages tells its own story, and five ONE Championship victories built on a relentless finishing game make Lee one of the most dangerous opponents any strawweight on the roster can face.
Watch ONE Fight Night 45 live on Prime Video at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT on Friday, July 17, from Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
