Won Il Kwon – Syndication Server

ONE 170 news: Fabricio Andrade set for first title defense against Won Il Kwon in January

Fabricio Andrade will defend his ONE bantamweight title for the first time against a familiar opponent in January at ONE 170.

ONE Championship creates more depth in its big January event by adding the return of champion [autotag]Fabricio Andrade[/autotag].

At ONE 170 on Jan. 24 at Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand, Andrade (9-2) will defend his bantamweight (145 pounds) title for the first time against a familiar opponent, [autotag]Won Il Kwon[/autotag]. The promotion directly confirmed the news of the matchup with MMA Junkie.

The event is an Asian primetime card starting at 7:30 a.m. ET.

Andrade achieved his crowning moment by defeating John Lineker at ONE on Prime Video 7 in February 2023. Lineker’s corner stopped the fight after the conclusion of Round 4 due to damage to their fighter’s eye.

Since his big moment, Andrade, 27, has only appeared once in a kickboxing bout against Jonathan Haggerty. It was an attempt to become a two-sport champion in ONE, but things did not go his way as he was stopped in the second round. Now, he’s geared up for his return to MMA competition and will look to defend his title for the first time against Kwon (14-4), who he previously faced and finished.

The first meeting took place at ONE Championship 158 in June 2022. Andrade finished the fight with a liver kick in the first round, which led to back-to-back appearances against Lineker.

Kwon has not lost since. The 29-year-old South Korean fighter has gone on a tear, finishing three consecutive opponents. His most recent appearance was a second-round ground and pounding of Shinechagtga Zoltsetseg in January, which has set up his title opportunity.

With the addition, the ONE 170 lineup includes:

Fabricio Andrade vs. Won Il Kwon – for bantamweight title
Tawanchai PK Saenchai vs. Superbon Banchamek – for muay Thai lightweight title
Superlek Kiatmoo9 vs. Nico Carrillo – for muay Thai featherweight title
Saeksan Or Kwanmuang vs. Soe Lin Oo
Suriyanlek Por Yenying vs. Thant Zin

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ONE Championship 127 video: Check out the best of the action from Singapore

Recap the best of the action from ONE Championship 127 at Singapore Indoor Stadium, including Mauro Cerilli’s victory over Abdulbasir Vagabov.

Asia’s leading mixed martial arts organization was back in action Friday as “ONE Championship 127: Unbreakable II” delivered a feast of finishes at Singapore Indoor Stadium.

All six fights – five MMA bouts and one kickboxing match – delivered finishes, with former Cage Warriors heavyweight champion [autotag]Mauro Cerilli[/autotag] scoring a second-round TKO in the night’s main event.

Italy’s Cerilli finished previously-undefeated [autotag]Abdulbasir Vagabov[/autotag] with a thumping leg kick, followed by a flurry of punches, to cap off a night that delivered plenty of highlights.

The co-main event saw [autotag]Daichi Takenaka[/autotag] submit Brazilian flyweight [autotag]Ivanildo Delfino[/autotag], while South Korea’s [autotag]Won Il Kwon[/autotag] added another win to his record with a crushing body-shot knockout of China’s [autotag]Rui Chen[/autotag].

The opening bout of the night saw the eagerly anticipated ONE debut of Senegalese wrestler [autotag]Oumar Kane[/autotag], and the man known as “Reug Reug” marked the occasion with a first-round finish as he TKO’d Hong Kong striking specialist [autotag]Alain Ngalani[/autotag] in their heavyweight showcase.

But the best finish of the night undoubtedly came in the lone kickboxing clash on the card, as Russian light heavyweight contender [autotag]Beybulat Isaev[/autotag] folded up [autotag]Mihajlo Kecojevic[/autotag] with a sledgehammer right hook in their ONE Super Series bout.

Check out the best of the action via the highlight video above.

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Joshua Pacio defends 125-pound title vs. Alex Silva in ONE Championship 107 main event

The 125-pound title will be on the line when ONE Championship returns to its regular stomping grounds in the Philippines in January.

“ONE Championship 107: Fire & Fury” is set for Jan. 31 at Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, the promotion announced Thursday. The card will stream on the B/R Live app.

In the headliner, strawweight (125 pounds for ONE) champion [autotag]Joshua Pacio[/autotag] (18-3) will defend his title in front of his home fans against former champion [autotag]Alex Silva[/autotag] (9-4). And former lightweight champion [autotag]Eduard Folayang[/autotag] (22-8) gets a home fight when he takes on [autotag]Ahmed Mujtaba[/autotag] (8-2).

The 23-year-old Pacio won the title in September 2018 with a unanimous decision over Yoshitaka Naito. But in his first defense four months later, he lost a split call to Yosuke Saruta and surrendered the belt.

He got a rematch three months later, though, and took Saruta out with a fourth-round knockout. Then, just a month ago, he defended the title with a second-round submission of Rene Catalan in Manila.

Silva beat Naito to win the title in December 2017, but lost it to him in a split decision in May 2018. He then dropped a decision to Saruta for the first consecutive losses of his career, and after Naito had lost the title to Pacio, Silva fought him in a rematch and lost a unanimous decision in May.

But he’s been on the upswing the past few months and has back-to-back second-round armbar wins over STefer Rahardian and Xuewen Peng to cement himself back into the title picture. Eight of the Brazilian’s nine career wins have come by submission.

The ONE Championship 107 lineup includes:

Joshua Pacio vs. Alex Silva – for strawweight title
Eduard Folayang vs. Ahmed Mujtaba
[autotag]Danny Kingad[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Wei Xie[/autotag]
[autotag]Won Il Kwon[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Shoko Sato[/autotag]
[autotag]Lito Adiwang[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Pongsiri Mitsatit[/autotag]
[autotag]Gina Iniong[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Asha Roka[/autotag]
[autotag]Jenny Huang[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Jomary Torres[/autotag]

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