This day in ONE Championship history: ONE FC 15 Rise of Heroes took place

ONE FC 15 Rise of Heroes took place on this day in ONE Championship history on May 2, 2014. This ONE event was headlined by fighters who would stay in the championship conversation for years to come. The event was hosted at the Mall of Asia in Manila, Philippines.

Bibiano Fernandes already had a great legacy in MMA by the time he was competing in ONE. He held multiple titles in DREAM and had notable wins over fighters such as Joachim Hansen, Masakazu Imanari and Antonio Banuelos, among others.

He won the ONE bantamweight world championship in 2013 and defended his title against Masakatsu Ueda in the Rise of Heroes headliner. Ueda is a very talented Japanese MMA fighter who already had impressive wins over Royler Gracie, Kyoji Horiguchi and Jens Pulver prior to his ONE championship challenge.

After a five-round war, the Brazilian titleholder was awarded the decision victory, thus starting his championship win streak. Starting at this event, he went on to set the record for most title defenses in ONE Championship history with seven.

Catch the full fight below:

ONE FC 15 Rise of Heroes also saw future champion Eduard Folayang extend his win streak against Kotetsu Boku. Folayang later picked up a ONE Championship title in 2016.

The Filipino fighter is a major figure in ONE Championship, having fought at the very first event and on the 10th-anniversary card, ONE X. Folayang headlined the very first ONE event, facing A Sol Kwon in 2011.

In 2022, he faced Australian Muay Thai legend John Wayne Parr. Folayang also holds the record for most fights in ONE history with a whopping 23 bouts.

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ONE FC 15 Rise of Heroes developing talent

Several other talented fighters also competed at ONE FC 15 Rise of Heroes. Leandro Ataides, of Brazil, earned a first-round knockout over Tatsuya Mizuno. Ataides later went on to challenge for a title in 2014.

Australian fighter Robert Lisita recorded an impressive first-round knockout finish over Japanese fighter Yusuke Kawanago. Female fighters Jujeath Nagaowa and Ana Julaton also both earned victories at this event.

Veteran British fighter James McSweeney also competed at ONE FC 15 Rise of Heroes, earning himself a first-round KO victory over Josh Alvarez. In addition to ONE Championship, McSweeney has competed all over the globe in GLORY Kickboxing, KSW, UFC, Cage Rage and K-1.

ONE FC 15 Rise of Heroes was a great event for ONE Championship. It featured many notable future champions and contenders, and was overall a very entertaining card.