Yoshihiro Akiyama has a date and an opponent for his long awaited ONE Championship debut. The UFC and Bellator veteran will take on Agilan Thani in Shanghai next month.
Their bout is set for ONE: ‘Legendary Quest’ on June 15th. Akiyama (14-6-0-2) has been in with the likes of Jake Shields, Vitor Belfort Michael Bisping and Kazushi Sakuraba.
Akiyama holds a 3rd dan black belt in Judo and is a former Asian Games and Asian Championships gold medalist who fought seven times for the UFC and won ‘Fight of the Night’ for three of those performances.
In 2006 he stopped three separate opponents in the first round to win the Hero’s light heavyweight Grand Prix. Meanwhile Thani (8-3) is a former welterweight title challenger with ONE Championship.
The Malaysian faces Ben Askren in 2017 but was submitted in the opening round. He is coming off back to back defeats but is 20 years younger than the Japanese veteran.
The event will be headlined by an atomweight Muay Thai title fight between Stamp Fairtex and Alma Juniku.
ONE: ‘Legendary Quest’, Shanghai, June 15th
Stamp Fairtex (c) vs. Alma Juniku (For Atomweight Muay Thai title)
Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Agilan Thani (Welterweight)
