One Championship, Asia’s largest sports media property has recently announced another blockbuster evening of martial arts action. Dubbed ‘One: Quest for greatness’, the event will be returning to Stadium Negara on 18 August 2017 to showcase Asia’s top martial arts talent.
Highlight of the show is the battle between reigning One featherweight world champion Marat “Cobra” Gafurov of Russia as he contends with Martin “The Situ-Asian” Nguyen of Australia to defend his title.
The upcoming competition will also see 21-year-old, 7-1 professional Malaysian Agilan “Alligator” Thani making his return to the cage following his first shot at a world title fighting reigning One welterweight world champion Ben Askren. Although Thani fell short of victory against the American, the young combatant has shown steady improvement and is now set to take on kickboxer Sherif Mohamed from Cairo, Egypt, who currently holds an 8-3 record.
Agilan Thani (right)
Among other exciting matches scheduled include Ev “E.T.” Ting (Malaysia) versus Nobutatsu Suzuki (Japan), Kevin “The Silencer” Belingon (Philippines) versus Reece “Lightning” McLaren (Australia) and Gianni Subba (Malaysia) versus Riku “The Outsider” Shibuya (Japan).
Gianni is 24-year old flyweight prospect from Kuala Lumpur. He spends time honing his craft with talented teammates, including brother Keanu, at Bali MMA in Indonesia. A winner of five of his last six bouts, Subba is a seasoned athlete with a stellar 8-2 clip in his young career.
Keanu Subba (top)
Keanu Subba (right)
On the female spectrum we will see 31-year-old Ann “Athena” Osman of Kota Kinabalu – Malaysia’s premier women’s combat sport star advancing her skills in various disciplines such as wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and Muay Thai. She will be facing Singaporean strawweight prospect and newcomer May Ooi in her return to the One Championship cage.
Ann Osman
Ann Osman (top)
“It is always an exciting time in Kuala Lumpur whenever our world-class athletes climb atop Asia’s biggest and grandest martial arts stage. Our warriors are eager to put on a show for fans in Kuala Lumpur, and it is our honour to have them perform in this marvelous city,” said Chatri Sityodtong, Chairman and CEO of ONE Championship.