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ONE Championship spiced up the main event for ONE: NextGen on October 29 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. Iraj Azizpour will face Roman Kryklia for the inaugural kickboxing heavyweight title.
The Iranian kickboxer stepped in for Murat Aygen, who suffered an injury, sources told Sporkskeeda. The bout is set to be a trilogy between the two fighters. They split the first two encounters 1-1.
They first shared the ring in February 2018 at Kunlun Fight 69. Azizpour won a tight majority decision. Both fighters met again a year later at Kunlun Fight 80. Kryklia won this contest via unanimous decision.
Their matchup at ONE: NextGen will settle the trilogy between the two hard-hitting heavyweights.
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Kryklia will go into the contest with a 45-7 (24 T/KOs) record. Meanwhile, Arizpour hasn't fought since his loss to Kryklia at Kunlun Fight 80.
Roman Kryklia's move to ONE Championship
After fighting Azizpour, the Ukrainian heavyweight kickboxer signed a contract with ONE Championship. He has already earned two victories in the promotion.
His debut fight against Moroccan fighter Tarik Khbabez at ONE Championship: Age of Dragons was for the inaugural light heavyweight title. Kryklia prevailed with a TKO victory in the second round.
His next bout was against Andrei Stoica in December 2020. After five grueling rounds, he defended his title via unanimous decision.
A win over Azizpour at ONE: NextGen would make Kryklia the first two-division kickboxing champion in the organization.
Return and Revenge
Azizpour and Kryklia's fates are intertwined. After fighting twice in different promotions, both heavyweights now find themselves under the ONE Championship umbrella.
The 32-year-old Azizpour now owns an outstanding 65-4 professional kickboxing record and half of his losses came from Kryklia.
It's been almost a thousand days since both fighters shared the ring. Azizpour now has another chance to avenge his losses against Kryklia. The Ukrainian, on the other hand, is on the cusp of making history.
