Several fighters will be looking to defy the odds at ONE Fight Night 13 on August 4.
The blockbuster event airs live and free on Prime Video in North America and is headlined by a ONE featherweight kickboxing world title contest between divisional king Chingiz Allazov and old foe Marat Grigorian.
Allazov shocked the world when he dropped former king and pound-for-pound great Superbon Singha Mawynn three times to claim the strap in January, and here are the three athletes that will be hoping to flip the script in the same manner next Friday evening.
1. Jarred Brooks
It might seem like a stretch to paint current strawweight mixed martial arts king Jarred Brooks as an underdog in any fight, but he is unlikely to be the bookies’ favorite in his challenge of ONE flyweight submission grappling world champion Mikey Musumeci at ONE Fight Night 13.
“The Monkey God” will not only step up a division, but he will be competing in his first grappling-only contest in the promotion when he meets “Darth Rigatoni,” who has been a force so far in his ONE tenure.
Brooks has been dominant, too, however, amassing an unbeaten 4-0 slate that includes an epic five-round victory over longtime strawweight titleholder Joshua Pacio last December.
He’s also a former state champion wrestler and will bring plenty of transferrable skills and championship know-how to the ring against Musumeci, so we’re not writing him off just yet.
2. Davit Kiria
Davit Kiria has endured a tough introduction to ONE, albeit against elite opposition.
The Georgian kickboxing star is 1-3 in his promotional run, with a win over Enriko Kehl sandwiched between losses to two of the featherweight kickboxing division’s biggest stars in Giorgio Petrosyan and Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong.
ONE Fight Night 13 will see the Georgian star taking on another world-class opponent. He is set to welcome ONE featherweight muay Thai world champion Tawanchai PK.Saenchai to the promotion’s kickboxing ranks.
The Thai phenom is riding a four-fight winning streak and is venturing into the sport in search of a second world title.
But Kiria is one of the most respected kickboxers in the world, and he has a penchant for flashy techniques, so he might be the man to end Tawanchai’s run and send him back to muay Thai.
3. Oumar Kane
The stacked August 4 card includes an intriguing heavyweight clash of styles.
“Reug Reug” Oumar Kane will pit his Senegalese wrestling pedigree against Marcus “Buchecha” Almeida‘s legendary Brazilian jiu-jitsu skillset in the hopes of putting the first dent in the dominant star’s MMA slate.
Kane is 4-1 as a ONE fighter and has won his last two in a row, so it may seem odd that his name appears on a list of underdogs.
But “Buchecha” is a 17-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion who has finished all four of his fights in ONE before the end of the first round.
Almeida’s submission threat hangs over this matchup for Kane, but the Senegalese powerhouse is a finisher in his own right, and he could well prove that wrestling trumps BJJ when they meet next week.
