The stakes got a bit higher for a couple of matches on the ONE Fight Night 10: Johnson vs. Moraes III card this Friday, May 5, following ONE Championship Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong’s announcements at the pre-event press conference on Wednesday.
Top-ranked atomweight contender Stamp Fairtex is scheduled to take on American star Alyse Anderson at the event, which will mark the Singapore-based promotion’s arrival on U.S. shores, and Sityodtong had mentioned previously that a win for her would confirm a shot at the ONE interim atomweight championship later this year.
But the ONE co-founder has now extended that promise to Anderson as well.
With Ham Seo Hee confirmed as the opponent for the interim strap after her win against Itsuki Hirata at ONE Fight Night 8, Stamp and “Lil’ Savage will square off for their chance at interim gold inside Denver’s 1stBank Center on Friday night.
“I don’t know if people know, but the winner of Alyse versus Stamp is going to get a title shot – the [ONE] interim atomweight world title in mixed martial arts. So, it’s a big-stakes, high-stakes fight,” Sityodtong stated.
But Sityodtong didn’t stop there with the exciting news. He also dropped word on what may be one of the most-anticipated kickboxing matchups in recent times.
Following the signing of Takeru Segawa, the world immediately began clamoring to see a battle between him and Rodtang Jitmuangnon. And, according to Sityodtong, that match is going to happen, and it will go down in Japan.
“That is probably the biggest kickboxing fight in a few decades. Obviously, Tenshin and Takeru was a big fight, but I think Takeru and Rodtang is literally going to be the biggest fight in decades for kickboxing,” Sityodtong said.
“It’s going to blow up the whole world. A hundred percent, we’re going to go to Japan with it. A hundred percent, it will be an amazing sellout. We’re actually discussing maybe doing it at Saitama [Super Arena] – a 20,000-seater.”
Takeru and Rodtang have been exchanging social media callouts for some time, and now that the Japanese superstar is inked to ONE, it can finally happen.
All eyes were already set to be on Rodtang when he puts his ONE flyweight Muay Thai world title on the line against Mexico’s Edgar Tabares on Friday night, and this announcement adds a bit more spice to that bout.
ONE Fight Night 10 airs live on Friday, May 5. The action begins at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on ONE’s YouTube Channel before the main card gets underway at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on Prime Video. The event is free for all U.S. and Canadian Amazon Prime subscribers.