ONE Championship is back at the historic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, on Friday, June 9, and the card will be stacked from top to bottom.
ONE Fight Night 11 on Prime Video is topped by two huge lightweight world title battles. Two-sport ONE world champion Regian Eersel defends his muay Thai strap against Russian star Dmitry Menshikov in the main event.
And ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion Kade Ruotolo puts his belt on the line against Norwegian submission ace Tommy Langaker in the co-main event.
But the rest of the card is set to draw the attention of the global fan base as well as several ONE world champions, who’ll be watching ONE Fight Night 11 closely.
Here, we’ve broken down who they are and why they’re bound to be interested in what goes down on June 9.
Jarred Brooks
A fascinating battle will have the attention of ONE strawweight world champion Jarred Brooks (20-3) at ONE Fight Night 11.
“The Monkey God” is on the lookout for his first challenger after claiming the strawweight strap from longtime champion Joshua Pacio last December.
While others may be ahead of them in the queue, the clash between Jeremy Miado (10-4) and Mansur Malachiev (10-0) is an intriguing battle that could cause a major shakeup in the divisional rankings.
Miado is riding a four-fight win streak and made it four knockouts in a row last October when he took out No. 5-ranked strawweight contender Danial Williams. A weight miss prevented “The Jaguar” from taking the Aussie star’s spot in the rankings, but his crisp striking game continues to strike fear in the division.
Malachiev could be the next big thing in the stacked division, however. The 32-year-old makes his promotional bow with a perfect 10-0 record and a suffocating wrestling game forged on the talent-rich Dagestani circuit.
So, Brooks will have his focused firmly fixed on this battle when it goes down.
Chingiz Allazov
ONE featherweight kickboxing world champion Chingiz Allazov may have his first world title defense locked in against Marat Grigorian later this year – but Superbon Singha Mawynn vs. Tayfun Ozcan will still be worth a look for the divisional king.
Superbon ruled over the division for the guts of 18 months before losing the belt to Allazov in January, but he is still the top-ranked contender, and he will be looking to make his way back to a shot at the world title by taking out the No. 5-ranked Ozcan.
A win over the Thai superstar would send the Dutch-Turkish star rocketing up the rankings and within touching distance of a chance to fight for the gold, so he’ll be coming for blood.
This one could well decide the future opponent for the Allazov vs. Grigorian winner, so the stakes are immensely high.
Tang Kai
ONE featherweight world champion Tang Kai (15-2) has his hands full preparing to rematch former titleholder Thanh Le (13-3) at ONE Fight Night 12 in July, but a couple of potential world title challengers could catch his eye at ONE Fight Night 11.
Ilya Fremanov (11-2) made a huge splash when he knocked out Australian star and former two-division world champion Martin Nguyen in his promotional debut at ONE Fight Night 2 last October.
The stunning victory launched the Russian newcomer straight into the third spot of the featherweight rankings, and a win over Shinechagtga Zoltsetseg (6-3) would confirm his status as one of the division’s top contenders.
But the returning Zoltsetseg is a dangerous fighter with heavy hands. The Mongolian has four big knockouts to his name since initially joining Rich Franklin‘s ONE Warrior Series in 2018, and a victory over Freymanov is exactly what he needs to introduce himself to the featherweight elite.
