ONE Championship returns on Friday, Apr. 22, with ONE 156: Eersel vs. Sadikovic, and the lineup will feature bouts across kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, and submission grappling, giving fans a taste of everything the promotion has to offer.
From championship battles to title eliminators, coupled with some highly anticipated debuts, ONE 156 is set to deliver a stellar evening of action. And for those still on the fence about tuning in, we have compiled three reasons why Friday’s event is unmissable.
The double-main event will see not one, but two ONE Super Series world championship matchups.
In the co-main event, strawweight Muay Thai athletes Smilla Sundell and Jackie Buntan will go head-to-head for the inaugural ONE women’s strawweight Muay Thai title. Swedish teen sensation Sundell will attempt to become the youngest champion in ONE history, while American powerhouse Buntan looks to bring the gold home to California and push her perfect run on the global stage to 4-0.
Then, the main event will feature the return of the best pound-for-pound kickboxers on the planet.
Surinamese-Dutch phenom Regian Eersel returns to try for his 19th-straight victory, and a fourth title defense, when he meets German star Arian Sadikovic.
Fans of ONE Super Series are in for a thriller, as the final two matches of ONE 156 will deliver elite striking action and crown two world champions who’ll carry the banner for their respective divisions further into 2022 and, possibly, beyond.
Second-ranked strawweight contender Jarred Brooks has made a lot of noise since making his ONE debut in 2021, and now a shot at gold is just one match away. The mouthy American will meet top-ranked contender Bokang Masunyane in a pivotal strawweight world-title eliminator on Friday’s main card.
Both men are notable grapplers who have shown off their striking prowess inside the ONE Circle, and that may be the deciding factor on the night, if their wrestling skills cancel each other out.
Regardless of how this matchup goes down, these two dynamic athletes are guaranteed to put on a show. This one could easily take “Fight of the Night”, and strawweight king Joshua Pacio will be watching closely.
Fans will want to make sure they are checked in for the evening’s lead card, too, as pound-for-pound striking great Anissa Meksen returns to the global stage to face Estonia’s Marie Ruumet in an atomweight Muay Thai contest.
Meksen is no stranger to the “art of eight limbs,” but the kickboxing legend hasn’t put on the four-ounce ONE gloves before. This fight will be a chance for her to display her famous accuracy and score some crushing blows – but she shouldn’t count out the “Snow Leopard.”
The ONE Super Series Muay Thai rule set leaves no room for error, and Ruumet is waiting for her moment to shock the world.
This tussle sits amongst a slew of other unmissable matchups on the lead card that will help set the tone for the evening and should provide some explosive results.
The event airs live on the ONE Championship website with the lead card starting at 5 a.m. ET, followed by the main card at 8:30 a.m. ET.