Fight card released for Rise of Kings
The One Fighting Championship has announced the full fight card for One FC: Rise of Kings on 6 October.
Melvin "No Mercy" Manhoef will return to the One FC cage when he battles the Middleweight King of Pancrase Ryo "Rambo" Kawamura in what is sure to be a fight for the ages.
The event will also feature the highly anticipated Lightweight Super Fight between Shinya "Tobikan Judan" Aoki and French Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Champion Arnaud "The Game" Lepont when One FC heads back to Singapore Indoor Stadium on Saturday, 6 October.
Two World Champions will be crowned on the night not three as previously stated by One FC as the organisation had to move their to-be-decided Featherweight title bout to later this year due to Pay-Per-View time constraints.
What is on the cards is Brazilian submission expert Zorobabel "Zoro" Moreira taking on top Japanese Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) veteran Kotetsu Boku for the Lightweight crown and BJJ World Champion Leandro Issa battling former RisingOn Champion Soo Chul Kim for the Bantamweight championship.
"The Lightweight and Bantamweight divisions of One FC are both incredibly stacked with the largest roster of Asian champions. Moreira, Boku, Issa and Kim have proven that they are the best and most exciting prospects in the divisions and we are giving them the chance to earn themselves a World Championship Title Belt," One FC chief executive officer Victor Cui said.
"To top things off, we have added to the fight card one of the most exiting fights in the Middleweight division. Melvin Manhoef is set to face one of the best in the division when he squares off against Ryo Kawamura in what is expected to be a slug fest."
Also, for the first time, the eight-man Bantamweight Grand Prix kicks off with American MMA legend Jens Pulver taking on China's rising star Zhao Ya Fei while Korean slugger Min Jung Song clashes with Japan's very own Masakatsu Ueda and Russian Top Team Fight Club Champion Yusup Saadulaev takes on Filipino Champion Kevin Belingon. The Grand Prix will culminate in late 2013 where the finalists will contend for the prestigious One FC Bantamweight title.
Plus, Singaporean striker Bruce Loh will replace the injured Radeem Rahman. Loh will battle Malaysian submission specialist Gianni Subba in what should be a classic battle of styles.