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.

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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]

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ONE Championship 103 results: Meng Bo debuts with first-round knockout of Laura Balin

It didn’t take long for Meng Bo to launch her introduction to ONE Championship fans Saturday.

It didn’t take long for [autotag]Meng Bo[/autotag] to launch her introduction to ONE Championship fans Saturday.

In her long-awaited promotional debut, after having two previously scheduled fights against two-time title challenger Mei Yamaguchi scrapped, Bo (14-5) took out former title challenger [autotag]Laura Balin[/autotag] (11-6) with relative ease in the top MMA fight at “ONE Championship 103: Age of Dragons.”

Balin held her own in the opening minute of the fight, coming at Bo. But when Bo landed a big overhand right, Balin quickly dropped to the canvas. It took Bo only a few punches on the ground to have the fight stopped at the 2:18 mark of the first round. It was Bo’s fourth straight win and her first fight in 13 months.

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In other MMA fights on the card, which featured ONE Super Series kickboxing and muay Thai fights in the final three bouts, [autotag]Ritu Phogat[/autotag] (1-0) took out [autotag]Nam Hee Kim[/autotag] (0-1) with a first-round TKO and [autotag]Jeremy Miado[/autotag] (9-4) knocked out [autotag]Miao Li Tao[/autotag] (5-2) in the first round.

Ahead of those stoppages, [autotag]Tang Kai[/autotag] (10-2) outworked [autotag]Edward Kelly[/autotag] (12-8) for a unanimous decision, giving Kelly a second straight loss after seven fights of up-and-down results. [autotag]Yusup Saadulaev[/autotag] (19-5-1) took a split decision from [autotag]Daichi Takenaka[/autotag] (12-2-1), giving him six wins in his past seven fights. And [autotag]Hexi Getu[/autotag] (7-4) outworked [autotag]Ramon Gonzales[/autotag] (4-3) for a unanimous decision.

ONE Championship 103 MMA results included:

  • Meng Bo def. Laura Balin via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 2:18
  • Ritu Phogat def. Nam Hee Kim via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 3:37
  • Jeremy Miado def. Miao Li Tao via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 3:01
  • Tang Kai def. Edward Kelly via unanimous decision
  • Yusup Saadulaev def. Daichi Takenaka via split decision
  • Hexi Getu def. Ramon Gonzales via unanimous decision