Chatri Sityodtong drops ONE 165 announcement with five potential world title fights

ONE Championship's massive growth isn’t stopping any time soon.

Chatri Sityodtong, the ONE Championship Chairman and CEO, recently confirmed that the promotion is heading to Qatar for ONE 165.

The move also marks the return of the numbered events for the global martial arts organization.

The development was first reported by the South China Morning Post.

Sityodtong said in the report that the Doha card, which could transpire in November or December, will have five world title fights across mixed martial arts, Muay Thai, kickboxing, and submission grappling.

He also posted a simple announcement on Facebook about ONE Championship’s on-site arrival in the Middle East.

Sityodtong wrote:

“ONE 165: Qatar!!!”

According to SCMP, one of the headlining bouts in the Doha card could be ONE light heavyweight and heavyweight world champion Anatoly Malykhin’s historic bid for a third world MMA world title.

The Russian juggernaut looks to take the ONE middleweight MMA world title from Dutch star Reinier de Ridder, the man whom he dethroned for the light heavyweight belt at ONE on Prime Video 5.

ONE Championship last held a numbered event, ONE 164, in Manila in December 2022, which featured Jarred Brooks’ world title victory over Joshua Pacio for the ONE strawweight MMA world championship.

The promotion originally held double bills from August to December 2022, with its Amazon shows getting paired with numbered events starting with ONE on Prime Video 1 and ONE 160.

It has since turned its focus on the ONE Fight Night cards as well as the weekly ONE Friday Fights series that started in January.