ONE: ‘Dawn of Heroes’ has a new main event. Martin Nguyen will defend his featherweight title against Koyomi Matsushima at the MOA Arena in Manila on August 2nd.
Nguyen (12-3) is one of the biggest stars on the roster. He has won seven fights in a row in the featherweight division and also claimed the promotion’s lightweight belt during this stint, a title he subsequently vacated.
The only recent smear on Nguyen’s record is a pair of decision losses at bantamweight. But in his natural division the Australian has looked unstoppable, snatching the title from Marat Gafurov and successfully defending against both Christian Lee and Narantungalag Jadambaa.
Matsushima (11-3) burst onto the international scene with a KO win over Gafurov at ONE: ‘Conquest of Heroes’. He followed that up with a more workmanlike decision victory against Kwon Won Il at ONE: ‘Legendary Quest’ last month’.
As previously announced two of the biggest names on ONE Championship’s lightweight roster will face off at the MOA Arena on August 2nd. Eduard Folayang faces Eddie Alvarez with both men looking to bounce back from first round stoppage defeats in Tokyo.
The card will also feature a Muay Thai fight. England’s Jonathan Haggerty will make the first defence of his flyweight title he won at ONE: ‘For Honor’. He faces hard hitting Thai fighter Rodtang Jitmuangnon.
ONE: ‘Dawn of Heroes’ will also feature three bouts in the Lightweight Grand Prix and the Flyweight Grand Prix. In the former Honorio Banario has replaced the injured Lowen Tynanes and will face Timofey Nastyukhin in the second semi final.
Meanwhile in the latter tournament both semi finals are set for August 2nd. Demetrious Johnson takes on Tatsumitsu Wada while Danny Kingad goes up against Kairat Akhmetov.
ONE: ‘Dawn of Heroes’, Manila, August 2nd
Martin Nguyen (c) vs. Koyomi Matsushima (For Featherweight Title)
Muay Thai: Jonathan Haggerty (c) vs. Rodtang Jitmuangnon (For Flyweight Title)
Eduard Folayang vs. Eddie Alvarez (Lightweight)
Demetrious Johnson vs. Tatsumitsu Wada (Flyweight Grand Prix Semi-Final)
Danny Kingad vs. Kairat Akhmetov (Flyweight Grand Prix Semi-Final)
Honorio Banario vs. Timofey Nastyukhin (Lightweight Grand Prix Semi-Final)
Reece McLaren vs. Yuya Wakamatsu (Flyweight)
Leandro Issa vs. Daichi Takenaka (Bantamweight)
Muay Thai: Neunglanlek Jitmuangnon vs. Chris Shaw (Bantamweight)
Yushin Okami vs. James Nakashima (Welterweight)
Pongsiri Mitsatit vs. Miao Li Tao (Strawweight)
Edward Kelly vs. Xie Bin (Featherweight)
Ayaka Miura vs. Samara Santos (Atomweight)
Muhammad Aiman vs. Sunoto (Bantamweight)