Undefeated Turkish fighter Halil Amir has been added to the ONE Fight Night 22 card. He faces Akbar Abdullaev in a featherweight bout that co-headlines the event in Bangkok on May 4th.
Amir (10-0) has already won three fights out of three for ONE Championship. He will be dropping down to featherweight and could secure himself an immediate title shot with victory here.
Abdullaev (10-0) has an identical record. He’s won two fights out of two for ONE Championship with both victories coming in the first 50 seconds of the opening round.
Akbar Abdullaev 🇰🇬 crushes Aaron Canarte in under a minute with a furious flurry of strikes! 🔥
Tune in to Prime Video NOW to catch the rest of ONE Fight Night 12!#ONEFightNight12 | 🔴 Live Now
🇺🇸🇨🇦 Watch Live on Prime 👉 https://t.co/RzDdZzqhZa
🌍 Live TV broadcast in 170+… pic.twitter.com/10WBxbUkmM— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) July 15, 2023
Bantamweight kickboxers
Chinese kickboxer Wei Rui will make his ONE Championship debut on this card and he has been matched with a #1 ranked former champion. Hiroki Akimoto held the title in 2022 and will be returning after an 18 month absence.
Rui arrives with a big reputation. He is a former K-1 lightweight Grand Prix winner who has been beating all comers in China and has won his last 21 fights.
Akimoto has a background in karate and fights out of Evolve MMA in Singapore. He lost the title after a split decision loss to Petchtanong Petchfergus in 2022.
ONE Bantamweight Kickboxing World Champion Hiroki Akimoto's got COUNTERS 🥊 #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/yk2Btp4Oxh
— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) September 8, 2022
Main event
As previously announced ONE Fight Night 22 has a main event and it is a title fight. Smilla Sundell will be putting her strawweight Muay Thai title on the line when she faces Natalia Diachkova at Lumpinee Stadium on May 4th.
Sundell was just 17 when she won the title in 2022. That made her the youngest fighter to ever win a belt with ONE Championship and she has successfully defended it once.
Her most recent outing came at ONE Fight Night 14 in Singapore. She faced Allycia Rodrigues and stopped the reigning atomweight Muay Thai champion in the third round.
Diachkova is very familiar with Lumpinee Stadium. She has won four fights out of four there on ONE Championship’s Friday night cards, with three of those wins coming courtesy of a first round stoppage.
CRAZY KO 😱 Natalia Diachkova moves to 4-0 in ONE with a dominant finish!#ONEFridayFights55 | 🔴 Live Now
🌎 Live TV broadcast in 190+ countries (check local listings)
🌎 Also available on https://t.co/eBUfsOlZOd (geo-restrictions may apply) pic.twitter.com/ZTjlrGw1md— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) March 15, 2024
Japanese fighters
In the atomweight division Noelle Grandjean has been matched with Chihiro Sawada. There has been an influx of Japanese fighters into the promotion since a broadcast deal was signed with U-Next.
Sawada made her debut at ONE Fight Night 20 last month and beat Jihin Radzuan by decision while Grandjean is coming off a decision win over Victória Souza on the same card.
Also representing Japan will be Nanami Ichikawa. She faces Bianca Basílio in a catchweight submission grappling contest.
ONE Fight Night 22, Bangkok, May 4th
Muay Thai: Smilla Sundell (c) vs. Natalia Diachkova (For strawweight Muay Thai title)
Akbar Abdullaev vs. Halil Amir (Featherweight)
Muay Thai: Sinsamut Klinmee vs. Dmitry Menshikov (Lightweight)
Maurice Abévi vs. Zhang Lipeng (Lightweight)
Kickboxing: Hiroki Akimoto vs. Wei Rui (Bantamweight)
Reece McLaren vs. Hu Yong (Flyweight)
Kickboxing: Rungrawee Sitsongpeenong vs. Bogdan Shumarov (Lightweight)
Noelle Grandjean vs. Chihiro Sawada (Atomweight)
Muay Thai: Thongpoon PKSaenchaigym vs. Zakaria El Jamari (Strawweight)
Submission Grappling: Bianca Basílio vs. Nanami Ichikawa (Catchweight)
Muay Thai: Sean Climaco vs. Josue Cruz (Flyweight)
