ONE Championship will hold its seventh event of the year just two weeks after one of the most important shows in promotional history, ONE Championship: A New Era, which took place in Tokyo. The organization’s follow-up offering — the 93rd event for the company — will take place on Friday, April 12, from the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines.
ONE Championship: Roots of Honor is headlined by a featherweight title fight between current champion Martin Nguyen and former titleholder Narantungalag Jadambaa. After failed bids to win a third divisional title against Bibiano Fernandes and Kevin Belingon, Nguyen returns to his preferred weight class. In his ONE tenure, Jadambaa has won six of his eight fights and has only ever lost to Marat Gafurov in championship contests.
In the night’s championship co-headliner, current ONE strawweight kingpin Yosuke “Tobizaru” Saruta puts his title on the line in a rematch against the man from whom he took the belt, Joshua Pacio. Prior to the split-decision nod against him at ONE Championship: Eternal Glory earlier this year, Pacio was riding a four-fight winning streak, including his title-clinching performance against Yoshitaka “Nobita” Naito.
In the night’s kickboxing and Muay Thai action, former three-division Rajadamnern stadium champion Lerdsila “Mr. Lighting” Phuket Top Team takes on WBC Muay Thai international champion Kohei “Momotaro” Kodera, former Lion Fight titleholder Ognjen Topic meets MTGP world super welterweight champ Saemapetch Fairtex, and top light heavyweight kickboxers Ibrahim El Bouni and Andrei Stoica clash.
In addition to all of the aforementioned action, the final quarterfinal bout of the flyweight world grand prix takes place. The contest features former Deep champion Tatsumitsu Wada against 2012 Olympian Gustavo Balart.
The preliminary card airs live at 6 a.m. ET on ONE Championship’s Twitter and Facebook pages. The main card continues live at 8:30 a.m. ET on B/R Live (United States), Star Sports Select 2 (India), Hotstar (India), and YouTube. A condensed version of the event will air on TNT (United States) at 2:00 a.m. ET on Saturday, April 13.
Joshua Pacio def. Yosuke Saruta by knockout (kick). Round 4, 2:43 – strawweight title
Tatsumitsu Wada def. Gustavo Balart by unanimous decision – flyweight grand prix quarterfinal
Leandro Issa def. Fu Chang Xin by submission (armbar). Round 1, 3:03
Kickboxing: Andrei Stoica def. Ibrahim El Bouni by unanimous decision
James Nakashima def. Luis “Sapo” Santos by TKO (injury). Round 2, 0:56
Edward Kelly def. Sung Jong Lee by TKO (strikes). Round 2, 2:51
Kickboxing: Anderson “Braddock” Silva def. Andre Meunier by knockout (overhand right). Round 1, 1:14
Kwon Won Il def. Eric Kelly by TKO (strikes). Round 1, 0:19
Muay Thai: Saemapetch Fairtex def. Ognjen Topic by majority decision
Xie Bin def. Ahmad Zais Jasoor by submission (d’arce choke). Round 2, 2:27
Niko Soe def. Eko Roni Saputra by knockout (elbow). Round 1, 3:03
Muay Thai: Lerdsila Phuket Top Team def. Momotaro by unanimous decision
Bi Nguyen def. Dwi Ani Retno Wulan by TKO (strikes). Round 1, 3:55
Ramon Gonzales def. Akihiro Fujisawa by submission (guillotine choke). Round 1, 1:19