ONE Championship lines up 45 events for 2019

CEO of ONE Championship Chatri Sityodtong talks to the media during the ONE Championship press conference at Marina Bay in Singapore. INQUIRER PHOTO/ Sherwin Vardeleon

MANILA, Philippines—It’s going to be another big year for ONE Championship.

The mixed martial arts promotion announced that it would have a total of 45 events scheduled to take place in 2019.

Twenty four ONE Championship events (fight cards), 12 ONE Hero Series, six ONE Warrior Series, and three ONE ESports events are lined up for the year, according to ONE Championship chairman Chatri Sityodtong.

Fight cards have all been set in terms of dates and venues.

ONE Championship’s biggest card in 2019 is the A New Era event on March 31 at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo.

A New Era will be ONE Championship’s first card in Japan with ONE World lightweight champion Eduard Folayang defending his belt against Shinya Aoki in the main event.

The Folayang-Aoki fight, which is a rematch more than two years in the making, is just one of three World title fights in the card with ONE Women’s World atomweight champion Angela Lee moving up in weight to challenge ONE Women’s World strawweight champion Xiong Jin Nan.

Rounding out the three title fights is the bout between Aung La N Sang, the ONE World light heavyweight and middleweight champion, will put his 204-lb title against Ken Hasegawa.

New signings, and former UFC World champions, Eddie Alvarez and Demetrous Johnson would also make their debuts for the promotion in Tokyo.