A battle between two top ranked bantamweights is set for ONE 158. Kwon Won Il is set to take on Fabricio Andrade in a bout that has all the makings of a title eliminator.
Outspoken Brazilian Fabricio Andrade who is currently ranked #4 will go up against #2 ranked Korean Kwon Won Il. The winner will be in pole position for a shot at newly crowned champion John Lineker.
Andrade (7-2) has won four fights out of four for ONE Championship and has not been content just to do his talking inside the cage. He has regularly been calling out the champion and told Lineker he was not impressed with his win over Bibiano Fernandes.
But the Brazilian’s performances inside the cage have been hugely impressive. Three of his four ONE Championship wins have come inside the distance and the one fight which went to a decision was not close.
— FABRICIO ANDRADE “WONDERBOY” (@fabriciowdb) March 17, 2022
Winning streak
His opponent is on an extremely impressive three fight winning streak of his own. The Korean has stopped his last three opponents with punches to earn the #2 spot in the rankings.
Prior to that Kwon’s form had been indifferent. He lost three out of his first six ONE Championship fights and was submitted by both Shoko Sato and Masakazu Imanari.
But since the loss to Sako in 2020 he has been on a tear. The Korean has some devastating punches to the body and has either damaged or finished his last three opponents with this shot.
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Several months
Marcus Almeida’s third ONE Championship fights has been several months in the making. He has seen multiple matchups fall through and is now on his third opponent.
Bouts with Oumar Kane and Hugo Cunha have both fallen through. Almeida ended up commentating instead of fighting at ONE 157 but will finally get to fight on June 3rd.
He has been matched with Simon Carson (2-1). The Australian is making his ONE Championship debut, has not fought since 2019 and has never faced an opponent with a winning record before.
Almeida (2-0) is a decorated BJJ black belt who has been at the top of that game for the last decade. He has submitted both his opponents in the opening round and already has two ONE Championship wins to his name.
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Notable absence
Notable by its absence from this card is the strawweight title fight between Joshua Pacio and Jarred Brooks. That bout had been expected to headline ONE 158.
It was officially announced by the promotion as the main event. But after having criticized each other extensively on social media it seems the two strawweights will have to wait a bit longer to actually fight.
ストロー級の上位対決を制し、世界タイトル挑戦権を手にしたジャレッド・ブルックス🇺🇸が王者ジョシュア・パシオへ熱いメッセージ🗣😤@The_monkeygod #ONE156 #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship #格闘技 pic.twitter.com/gch8ZEkiq6
— ONECHAMPJP (@ONECHAMPJP) April 24, 2022
Best of the rest
In the flyweight division #5 ranked Reece McLaren (14-8) has been matched with the unranked Wei Xie (14-3). The Chinese fighter has won his last three while the Australian is coming off a loss.
Also in the flyweight division #2 ranked Kairat Akhmetov (28-2) has been matched with the unranked Tatsumitsu Wada (24-11-2). The latter is one of only three fighters to ever defeat reigning champion Adriano Moraes.
ONE 158, Singapore, June 3rd
Muay Thai: Tawanchai PKSaenchai vs. Niclas Larsen (Featherweight)
Kwon Won Il vs. Fabricio Andrade (Bantamweight)
Reece McLaren vs. Xie Wei (Flyweight)
Marcus Almeida vs. Simon Carson (Heavyweight)
Kairat Akhmetov vs. Tatsumitsu Wada (Flyweight)
Kickboxing: Rade Opačić vs. Guto Inocente (Heavyweight)
Adrian Mattheis vs. Alex Silva (Strawweight)
Yodkaikaew Fairtex vs. Gurdarshan Mangat (Bantamweight)
Kickboxing: Marouan Toutouh vs. Constantin Rusu (Lightweight)
Odie Delaney vs. Mehdi Barghi (Heavyweight)
Duke Didier vs. Jasur Mirzamukhamedov (Heavyweight)
Jenelyn Olsim vs. Julie Merzabarba (Atomweight)
Kim Kyung Lock vs. Edson Marques (Lightweight)
