By:  | October 30, 2022 8:12 am

The final of the heavyweight kickboxing Grand Prix will take place at ONE 163. Roman Kryklia faces off with Iraj Azizpour at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on November 19th.

This will not be the first time the two men have met in the final of a Grand Prix. The first fight between them took place in 2018 in China with both men reaching the final of the Kunlun Heavyweight Grand Prix.

Kryklia won by decision on that occasion and Azizpour will be looking for revenge when they rematch in Singapore next month. Both men booked their spots in the final with wins at ONE 161 last month.

Iraj Azizpour claimed a decision win over Bruno Chaves. But Kryklia, who currently holds the light heavyweight kickboxing belt, made quicker work of Guto Inocente, finishing the Brazilian in under a minute.

Title eliminator

The event will be headlined by a bantamweight kickboxing title fight between Hiroki Akimoto and Petchtanong Petchfergus. The champion is one of four Japanese fighters currently confirmed for the card.

One of them will be involved in an atomweight title eliminator. Seo Hee Ham faces Itsuki Hirata and the winner will be handed a shot at reigning atomweight champion Angela Lee.

Ham has won two fights out of two for ONE Championship, beating Denice Zamboanga by decision on both occasions. She is currently ranked #2 at atomweight and is the former Rizin 108lbs champion.

Hirata is coming off a narrow decision win over Heqin Lin but missed weight by over 4lbs. She is currently unranked but has been training in New York while Ham appears to have been sidelined for several months due to injury.

Former champions

Meanwhile two time lightweight champion Shinya Aoki will be looking for his first MMA win in over a year when he faces Saygid Izagakhmaev. The latter is ranked at #4 while the former is #5 making this a potential title eliminator.

Former middleweight and light heavyweight champion Aung La Nsang has been matched with UFC veteran Yushin Okami. This fight has been in the works for well over a year and was initially penciled in for an event in Tokyo.

La Nsang called for the fight as recently as April when he asked Okami on Instagram β€˜shall we dance?’. The Japanese fighter has not fought in three years but is coming off a win over Agilan Thani.

Former bantamweight champion Kevin Belingon will take on Kim Jae Woong. The Filipino has lost his last four while his opponent was submitted by Shamil Gasanov at ONE on Prime Video 3 last weekend and is coming off back to back defeats that have cost him his spot in the top five.

ONE 163, Singapore, November 19th
Kickboxing: Hiroki Akimoto (c) vs. Petchtanong Petchfergus (For bantamweight title)
Kickboxing: Roman Kryklia faces Iraj Azizpour (Heavyweight Grand Prix Final)
Saygid Izagakhmaev vs. Shinya Aoki (Lightweight)
Aung La Nsang vs. Yushin Okami (Middleweight)
Seo Hee Ham vs. Itsuki Hirata (Atomweight)
Yuya Wakamatsu vs. Woo Sung Hoon (Flyweight)
Kevin Belingon vs. Kim Jae Woong (Bantamweight)