Tag: Amir Khan

Yoshihiro Akiyama returns at ONE Championship 109 in February

Fan favorite Japanese fighter Yoshihiro Akiyama will turn 45 in July, but he’s not done yet.

Fan favorite Japanese fighter [autotag]Yoshihiro Akiyama[/autotag] will turn 45 in July, but he’s not done yet.

Akiyama (14-7) will return next month in a middleweight bout against [autotag]Sherif Mohamed[/autotag] (9-5) at “ONE Championship 109: King of the Jungle,” the promotion announced today. Akiyama, known as “Sexyama” to his legion of fans, arguably is the highest profile MMA fighter on a card that is topped with a trio of fights in ONE’s Super Series.

ONE Championship 109 takes place Feb. 28 at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore. The card streams on the B/R Live app.

After a seven-fight run in the UFC in which he went just 2-5, but won three straight “Fight of the Night” bonuses, Akiyama stepped away from the sport after a split decision loss to Alberto Mina in late 2015. But this past June, he returned under the ONE banner to fight for the first time in nearly four years. His comeback ended in a decision loss to Agilan Thani in China, giving him six losses in his past seven fights.

[lawrence-related id=479576]

Egypt’s Mohamed will be looking for his first win under the ONE banner. He has dropped three of his past four fights over a three-year stretch, and all three of those setbacks have been in ONE fights. After a win outside the promotion in August 2017, he came back to ONE on a week’s notice and lost to a decision to Thani. Then this past June, he was stopped by Rong Fan with a second-round TKO for his second straight loss.

Other key MMA fights on the card include a fight between former welterweight title challenger [autotag]Amir Khan[/autotag] (12-6) and [autotag]Kimihiro Eto[/autotag] (16-5-2), and a women’s strawweight bout between two-time title challenger [autotag]Mei Yamaguchi[/autotag] (21-11-1) and [autotag]Meng Bo[/autotag] (14-5).

The ONE Championship 109 lineup includes:

MAIN CARD (B/R Live app)

  • Kimihiro Eto vs. Amir Khan
  • Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Sherif Mohamed
  • Meng Bo vs. Mei Yamaguchi

PRELIMINARY CARD (B/R Live app)

  • [autotag]Mark Abelardo[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Troy Worthen[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Honorio Banario[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Shannon Wiratchai[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Ayaka Miura[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Tiffany Teo[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Wu Chiao Chen[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Ritu Phogat[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Hexi Getu[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Adrian Mattheis[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Jeff Chan[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Radeem Rahman[/autotag]

[vertical-gallery id=415132]

Kell Brook vs. Amir Khan at long last? Talk as loud as ever

Amir Khan and Kell Brook continue to say they’re willing to fight one another. Could it actually happen this year?

From Floyd Mayweather Jr. to Manny Pacquiao, a lot happened in the last decade. Here’s something that didn’t:

Kell Brook vs. Amir Khan.

Glaciers have melted since fight fans first started talking about Brook-Khan. There’s still no opening bell, yet the talk is still there, suddenly as loud as ever. Khan mentioned Brook last week, perhaps because he is running out of options for some good money. Retirement looms.

Brook, 33, has heard the renewed talk, of course. It must sound like an old song. He knows the lyrics. Yet, the beat goes on. Perhaps, a re-done version will include more than just talk in a new decade. Maybe not.

“Amir knows where I am, I’m here,’’ Brook, a former welterweight champion, told The Mirror while training for a Feb. 8 bout against Mark DeLuca in Sheffield, England. “If he wants to fight, it’s not hard to make. I’m not being awkward and the world knows that.

“He’s reluctant because we’re both British and with him saying how easy he can beat me, he wouldn’t be able to walk the streets knowing he’d been pasted all over the ring by me.

“He’s been saying for years that he will do this, that and other to me, so when I put him flat on his face he wouldn’t be able to walk around the streets. It would do him in. He can lose to Americans. But losing to a Brit — given the history we’ve got — that’s going to hurt. That’s the major issue for him.”

Brook (38-2, 26 KOs) went on to say that he does not expect to hear from Khan if he delivers an impressive performance in a victory over DeLuca (24-1, 13 KOs).

“I’m fed up of saying his name,’’ said Brook, who hasn’t fought since scoring a unanimous decision over Michael Zerafa on Dec. 12, 2018.

However, he hasn’t eliminated the Khan option. Brook’s hopes for 2020:

“DeLuca, world title fight, Khan.”

Then, maybe, a decade without talk of Brook-Khan. That’ll sound strange.

Amir Khan, now 33, looking for big names, big money

Amir Khan is hoping for two or three more fights against well-known opponents after a forgettable 2019 that led to talk about retirement.

Amir Khan begins a new year hoping for two or three more fights after a forgettable 2019 that led to inevitable talk about retirement.

Khan, who turned 33 a month ago, hopes for some good money against known names in 2020.

Longtime U.K. rival Kell Brook continues to be a possibility. Khan also continues to talk about Manny Pacquiao, a 41-year-old welterweight champion who hopes to return to the ring while on break from his duties as a Filipino senator this spring.

“I am in a position where I can fight the top fighters that bring a lot of money to the table, and I am very lucky to be in that position,” Khan (34-4, 21 KOs) told The Bolton News, his hometown newspaper. “I can go to America, or go back to Saudi Arabia and do a fight there, or I do a big fight in the U.K.”

Khan, a former junior welterweight champion, lost to Terence Crawford on April 20 in New York. He said he could not continue after he was hit by what was ruled an accidental low blow in the sixth round. Khan, knocked down in the first round, apologized after the TKO loss. In July, he went to Saudi Arabia, stopping late replacement Billy Dibbs in four rounds.

There has been some renewed interest in a Khan-Brook fight, which looks to be more likely than Pacquiao. It’s a good bet that the Filipino’s next fight will be against Danny Garcia or one of the other welterweights tied to Premier Boxing Champions.

Brook is back on Feb. 8 in Sheffield, England against once-beaten Mark DeLuca in a junior middleweight bout. Brook hasn’t fought since December of 2018, when he struggled in a decision over Michael Zerafa.

ONE Championship 104 highlights: Khan’s bloody win, Northcutt’s stellar debut

ONE Championship 104 is in the books, and you can check out the video highlights right here on MMA Junkie.

ONE Championship 104 is in the books, and you can check out the highlights right here on MMA Junkie.

ONE Championship 104 took place Friday at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore and streamed on B/R Live.

In the main event, [autotag]Amir Khan[/autotag] hurt [autotag]Ev Ting[/autotag] early in the fight and bloodied him up, then hung on through Ting’s rally to win a hard-fought split decision. The fight card also saw some stellar TKOs and submissions on the MMA side of things, as well as the promotional debut of [autotag]Colbey Northcutt[/autotag], sister of Sage Northcutt, who got her first pro win.

You can watch the highlights in the video above, which includes fights in ONE’s Super Series, as well.

[vertical-gallery id=465051]

[vertical-gallery id=465148]

ONE Championship 104 results: Amir Khan survives Ev Ting rally, Colbey Northcutt gets first win

Amir Khan did damage early against Ev Ting, but had to survive Ting’s third-round rally to escape with a split decision win.

[autotag]Amir Khan[/autotag] did damage early against [autotag]Ev Ting[/autotag], but had to survive Ting’s third-round rally to escape with a split decision win in the ONE Championship 104 MMA main event.

“ONE Championship 104: Edge of Greatness” took place Friday at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore. The event streamed on B/R Live.

Ting (17-7) was able to utilize many of his weapons in the first round, but Khan’s (12-6) striking was on point. In particular, when Ting and Khan clinched, Khan was able to land a hard elbow on the break that damaged Ting’s nose.

Khan’s striking again was rolling in the second after targeted Ting’s nose. He turned Ting’s face into a bloody mess. But with a little more than a minute left in the second round, Ting was able to land a takedown and got on top and tried to turn the tide with ground-and-pound. But Khan got back to his feet after only a few seconds on his back to ride out the round on his feet.

Ting clinched Khan up in the final frame and tried to get a takedown, but Khan stayed on his feet and moved back to the center. When Ting tried to kick high 90 seconds in, Khan slipped it and landed a hard right hand that was emblematic of his striking throughout the fight. But with at the 2:50 mark, Ting landed a pair of heavy punches, and the second seemed to stun Khan and forced him to tie things up.

Ting got the fight to the canvas late and tried to go to work on top. Khan tried to work back to his feet and finally did with 25 seconds left. And despite Ting’s third-round rally, Khan already had done enough in the eyes of two of the three judges.

[vertical-gallery id=465051]

[autotag]Troy Worthen[/autotag] (6-0) stayed unbeaten when he took out [autotag]Chen Lei[/autotag] (6-2) with just four seconds left in the second round of their fight. With Lei covered up, Worthen repeatedly rained punches down on him until he got the stoppage. The ref arguably could have let them go to the horn to allow Lei a chance to see a third round, but he wasn’t showing anything while Worthen hammered away on him to get the stoppage.

[autotag]Rahul Raju[/autotag] (7-4) continued his resurgence after a three-fight skid to open his ONE tenure when he submitted late-notice opponent [autotag]Furqan Cheema[/autotag] (8-3) with a second-round rear-naked choke. It was Raju’s second straight finish by the choke to get back on track after going 0-3 in his three ONE fights in 2018.

Earlier on the card, [autotag]Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke[/autotag] (11-5) took out [autotag]Muhammad Imran[/autotag] (5-4) with a big TKO. Amnuaysirichoke landed heavy knees in the clinch to put Imran on the canvas, then quickly dropped to the mat to finish him with punches in the third round.

[autotag]Colbey Northcutt[/autotag] (1-1) picked up the first win of her pro MMA career with a striking clinic in her ONE debut. Northcutt, a karate standout and sister of ONE fighter Sage Northcutt, put her standup on display for a unanimous decision win over [autotag]Putri Padmi[/autotag] (0-2).

To open the MMA portion of the main card, former strawweight champion [autotag]Alex Silva[/autotag] (9-4) won for the second straight time by armbar when he took out [autotag]Xuewen Peng[/autotag] (3-6) in the second round. Brazil’s Silva put on a masterful grappling display late in the middle frame to get the tap in a similar fashion to how he beat Stefer Rahardian earlier this year to snap a three-fight skid.

On the prelims, Japan’s [autotag]Shuya Kamikubo[/autotag] (11-1-1) won for the sixth straight time and took a unanimous decision from Brazil’s [autotag]Bruno Pucci[/autotag] (7-4) in their featherweight fight.

MAIN CARD (B/R Live)

  • Amir Khan def. Ev Ting via split decision
  • Troy Worthen def. Chen Lei via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 4:56
  • Rahul Raju def. Furqan Cheema via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 3:00
  • Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke def. Muhammad Imran via TKO (strikes) – Round 3, 1:21
  • Colbey Northcutt def. Putri Padmi via unanimous decision
  • Alex Silva def. Xuewen Peng via submission (armbar) – Round 2, 4:45

PRELIMINARY CARD (Facebook, Twitter)

  • Shuya Kamikubo def. Bruno Pucci via unanimous decision