As the Jan. 11 card continues to add bouts, ONE Fight Night 27 now has an exciting match-up in the featherweight MMA division. Sources inside ONE Championship recently confirmed with Combat Press that Ecuador’s Aaron Cañarte will be back in action against Russia’s Timofey Nastyukhin.
The bout with Nastyukhin will serve as Cañarte’s third fight inside the ONE Circle. Entering the promotion with a perfect 10-0 record in Jul. 2023, he suffered a first round TKO at the hands of Akbar Abdullaev. His second bout was last August when he lost a unanimous decision to Shamil Gasanov. Cañarte, a former soccer player, is looking to score his first win in ONE. In a recent interview with ONE, Cañarte discussed his thoughts after his last fight.
“I was disappointed because as an athlete, you always want to win and I was already coming off a loss, so it wasn’t good for me,“ Cañarte said. “This is how the sport goes when competing in the world’s best organization. Every fight is going to be difficult but I’m going to get the win in my next fight.”
While Cañarte’s ONE career has not gotten off to the start he was hoping for, Nastyukhin, who has been with the promotion for a decade, and he is on a four-fight skid. Cañarte recognizes his opponent is in a similar boat.
“I don’t have any message for him,“ Cañarte said. “I know he’s hungry, because he’s coming off of a few losses, as am I, so we’ll both be looking for the victory. It’ll be a fight filled with good exchanges, and it won’t go the distance. I’m going to win the fight via knockout.”
Nastyukhin has had a checkered, yet storied, history inside ONE. He entered the organization with a 7-1 record in Dec. 2014, and his debut ended in a first-round knockout of Eduard Folayang, who would go on to be a two-time ONE lightweight champion. After winning some and losing some, he now sits at an even 7-7 in the promotion, and his last four fights all ended in TKO losses. However, one of those was a title fight against Christian Lee, and the fight after that was a Fight of the Year contest against Saygid Guseyn Arslanaliev in Dec. 2021. Needless to say, will have his hands full on Jan. 11.
“My coaches study my opponents and based on the opponent, they then modify my training,“ Cañarte said. “I’ve seen some of Nastyukhin’s fights, and I’ve seen that he’s strong, but I trust in my team to tell me what I have to work on during training camp. He’s a fighter that is always looking for the knockout, but I’m going to be smart when it comes to exchanging with him.
“He gets hit a lot. I think I can knock him out, if I land a good shot on him. I’m going to manage my distance, be patient, and wait for the opportunity to counter-attack and knock him out.”
With two fighters on losing streaks, which can make any athlete feel like his back is against the wall, the fight between Cañarte and Nastyukhin could have Fight of the Night written all over it.
ONE Fight Night 27 takes place Friday, Jan. 11, and will air live and free to Amazon Prime subscribers on Prime Video starting at 8 p.m. ET.