THINGS are popping in the martial-arts scene early in the new year. For ONE Championship alone, the largest global sports-media property in Asia announced it will host 45 events in 2019, including ONE events in new territories such as Japan, South Korea and Vietnam.
Rich Franklin, the former Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight champion now ONE Championship vice president, has also just kicked off his ONE Warriors Series, a reality TV search whose aim is to hunt for Asia’s next martial-arts superstar.
The groundbreaking documentary series kicked off with three thrilling cards held in Singapore, and saw Franklin unearthing Asia’s finest burgeoning talent, Stamp Fairtex, who captured the ONE Kickboxing Atomweight World Championship en route to being named ONE’s 2018 Breakthrough Athlete of the Year.
ONE will host 12 ONE Hero Series events this year, with a new format to be announced at a later date. On top of the elite combat sports that are set to light up Asia in 2019, ONE eSports will also get underway. There will be three of the colossal gaming events on offer, held alongside the martial-arts shows in weekend spectacles.
Event-wise, ONE Championship kicks off 2019 with ONE: Eternal Glory in Jakarta on January 19. Local hero Joshua “The Passion” Pacio of Team Lakay stakes his ONE Strawweight World Championship belt against Yosuke Saruta of Japan.
On January 25 the much-awaited rubber match between ONE Flyweight Champion Geje “Gravity” Eustaquio of Team Lakay and Adriano “Mikinho” Moraes of Brazil. This will be the third time that Eustaquio and Moraes will face each other in a historic trilogy bout with the score tied 1-1 thus far. In September 2014 Moraes submitted the Team Lakay hero in just two rounds with a second-round guillotine choke to become the first owner of the then inaugural ONE Flyweight Championship belt.
Eustaquio worked his way back up the ranks to secure a rematch with Moraes. After four years (January 2018), he defeated Kairat Akhmetov to set up the title unification bout with Moraes. When they finally clashed again, Eustaquio defeated Moraes via split decision in Macau. It was an epic five-round battle with “Gravity” winning via split decision to become the undisputed champion. Now, they face off one more time for a best of three that will determine who is the rightful owner of the ONE Flyweight World Title in ONE: Hero’s Ascent.
As for Pacio, the young emerging superstar of the Lakay group will face Yosuke Saruta who has taken up the cudgels for his injured compatriot Hayato Suzuki. Suzuki was supposed to have been Pacio’s originally slated opponent where the Lakay champion was supposed to have evened the score, but it was not meant to be. Suzuki was the last man to have defeated Pacio during the latter’s debut in August 2017.
But Pacio must not take his past conquest of the replacement Japanese fighter lightly. The 31-year-old veteran has a wealth of experience and will be on the lookout for any slips or weak links from the champ. Saruta has had 26 professional matches and had made a successful ONE Championship debut in December against Alex Silva. Saruta isn’t a normal replacement opponent, and if the champion takes the challenger lightly, it could be a disaster for him. He is a tremendous striker and an accomplished wrestler with heavy hands that Pacio has to prepare against.
All told, January will be a busy month not just for ONE Championship but for Pinoy martial-arts athletes, as well. Two other Filipino fighters will see action with Pacio in Jakarta, namely, Robin Catalan of Catalan Fighting System and Edward Kelly, also of Team Lakay.
In Manila, former ONE Featherweight World Champion Honorio “The Rock” Banario, a Team Lakay veteran, will tangle with undefeated lightweight Lowen Tynanes of Hawaii, USA. Banario has moved up to the lightweight division after suffering defeat as a flyweight against Amir Khan of Singapore. “The Rock” has won six of his last seven bouts and is already considered as one of the top competitors in his new weight class.
Also in ONE: Hero’s Ascent, Team Lakay prodigy Danny “The King” Kingad of Baguio City will take on Japanese veteran Tatsumitsu “The Sweeper” Wada in a showdown between top flyweight contenders.
Since dropping a first-round submission to Moraes in November 2017, Kingad has stormed back into title contention. He went 3-0 in 2018 and looks to make a statement in the new year with another solid win.
Wada, on the other hand, made his ONE Championship debut last July, falling to Reece McLaren via split decision. He bounced back months later to defeat Eugene Toquero via first-round rear-naked choke.