ONE Championship News Roundup

Welcome to today's edition of the daily Sportskeeda ONE Championship News Roundup, where we present the promotion's most important stories.

Today, we’ll discuss Tommy Langaker pushing for a fight against ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion Kade Ruotolo, Martin Nguyen revealing that he suffered multiple eye pokes against Leandro Casotti, and Tawanchai PK.Saenchai still pondering if he’ll join the ONE Openweight Muay Thai World Grand Prix.

That said, here is today’s ONE Championship News Roundup.

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#1. Tommy Langaker says Kade Ruotolo fight is the one to make

Tommy Langaker is slowly creeping into world title contention and he wasted no time calling out Kade Ruotolo for the ONE Championship lightweight submission grappling world title.

The Norwegian grappler secured a huge submission win over Uali Kurzhev, the man Ruotolo faced to become the inaugural ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion, at ONE Fight Night 7 this past weekend.

In an interview with the South China Morning Post after the bout, Langaker said:

“You know I want Kade. You know I want to take his belt. Show him like I respect him but I know I’m better and I deserve that title and I’m next in line.”

Langaker is now 2-0 in ONE Championship with wins over Renato Canuto and Kurzhev. The 29-year-old is also one of the most decorated grapplers in the promotion with 121 wins under his belt.

Catch Langaker's interview below:

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#2. Martin Nguyen reveals he got poked in the eye multiple times against Leonardo Casotti

Martin Nguyen knew that his bout against Leonardo Casotti was going to be a tough task.

The former ONE featherweight and lightweight world champion fought Casotti on a couple of days’ notice after his original opponents were forced to pull out.

Nguyen was originally set to face Shamil Gasanov and then Razhab Shaydullaev, but the two had to pull out from the fight. That forced ONE Championship to insert Casotti into the ONE Fight Night 7 card.

Nevertheless, ‘The Situ-Asian’ used his world championship experience in taking the unanimous decision victory.

Though the fight went largely Nguyen’s way, he admitted that he got poked several times throughout the contest.

He told the South China Morning Post in an interview:

“I think the main thing that hurt the most was the eye poke to be honest with you, everything else was just pure adrenaline. Just at the end of the second round, I got eye poked again but it was like in his corner, so I just said to him, ‘Get him to close his fingers.'”

Still, the victory was a pivotal one for Nguyen, who maintained his No.4 spot in the featherweight rankings.

Catch Nguyen's interview below:

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#1. Tawanchai still unsure if he wants to join Openweight Muay Thai World Grand Prix

Tawanchai PK.Saenchai, who just had the first defense of his ONE featherweight Muay Thai world title, is still pondering if he’ll join the massive ONE Openweight Muay Thai World Grand Prix.

The Thai phenom was fresh off his 49-second victory over Jamal Yusupov at ONE Fight Night 7 when the tournament was again floated to him.

Tawanchai, in a previous interview with the South China Morning Post, seemed hesitant to join the Grand Prix since it would put him in a scenario where he would fight some of his closest friends.

His stance remained largely similar after his first-round knockout win over Yusupov:

“I’m focusing on Muay Thai and kickboxing right now, the Grand Prix is still 50/50 so we will see what’s happening,” Tawanchai told SCMP.

The sub-minute knockout was arguably the best Tawanchai had in ONE Championship as he also captured his fifth win, and fourth KO, in the promotion.

Catch Tawanchai's interview below: