ONE Championship is gearing up for arguably its biggest event week of all time, with back-to-back events happening this August.
On Friday, August 26th, ONE 160 will excite fans with two world title bouts featuring some heavy-hitting knockout artists. A few hours later, legends will collide at ONE 161, which will be broadcast live on U.S. primetime via Amazon Prime Video.
The promotion celebrated its 10-year anniversary earlier this year at ONE X. Now, it is looking to add another historic milestone. In its return to U.S. primetime, ONE Championship will treat fans from both hemispheres of the world with a massive offering of incredible bouts.
Here’s why ONE 160 and ONE 161’s event week will be the promotion’s biggest one of all time.
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#3. ONE on Amazon Prime Video
Earlier this year, ONE Championship and Amazon Prime Video entered into a multi-year partnership that would bring the unmistakeable action of the Circle closer to North American audiences. The deal will see at least 12 ONE events broadcast on the global streaming platform live to over 200 million subscribers.
ONE joins an all-star slate of sporting offerings on Prime Video, which is also home to some of the world's biggest sporting properties like the NFL, the UEFA Champions League, and more.
ONE Championship top brass shared their excitement for the deal, saying that the promotion “could not ask for a bigger, more powerful partner" than Amazon.
Later this week, the two parties will officially kick off the partnership with a press conference in Los Angeles that will be attended by the likes of Thai superstars Stamp Fairtex and Superbon Singha Mawynn, flyweight MMA legend Demetrious Johnson, women’s atomweight world champion Angela Lee, and many others.
The live press event will also give a glimpse of what fans can expect from ONE for the remainder of 2022. These are truly exciting times for the promotion.
The joint promotional and marketing power of ONE and Amazon should produce incredible results, and finally give North American martial arts fans a taste of the uniqueness of ONE Championship’s Asian flair.
#2. Incredible martial arts doubleheader
ONE Championship is preparing a martial arts doubleheader like no other.
The two-day event will see a minimum of 18 confirmed bouts so far, featuring the full spectrum of martial arts offerings across MMA, Muay Thai/kickboxing, and submission grappling. New stars will look to introduce themselves on the global stage, while established fighters will be looking to climb up the rankings.
ONE 160 will see grappling star Renato Canuto make his promotional debut alongside Valdir Rodrigues in a submission grappling bout.
Singapore’s hometown hero Amir Khan will also be featured in the event, as he takes on Malaysia’s Keanu Subba in a featherweight MMA match. Meanwhile, the ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Grand Prix semifinal pairing of Superlek Kiatmoo9 and Walter Goncalves will be settled later in the event.
At ONE 161, former rivals Rodtang Jitmuangnon and Jonathan Haggerty find themselves in the same event, but with different opponents. The Thai superstar will be in a ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Grand Prix semifinal match against Savvas Michael, while Haggerty will battle Amir Naseri for an alternate spot in the tournament.
Grappling legend Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida will also be in action, as he is matched up against former ONE world title contender Kirill Grishenko in a heavyweight MMA bout.
ONE Championship has a knack for throwing extravagant doubleheaders, as it has in previous years. The ONE 160 and ONE 161 pairing appears to be the biggest one yet.
#1. Four ONE Championship world titles on the line
At least four ONE world titles will be up for grabs across both events. This isn’t the first time ONE Championship has pulled something like this off, so they know exactly how to up the ante and raise the stakes.
On August 26th, ONE featherweight world champion Thanh Le will put his world title on the line against a fellow finisher in Tang Kai in the co-main event of ONE 160. Meanwhile, Christian Lee is looking to reclaim the ONE lightweight world title from Ok Rae Yoon in the main event, in what is a highly anticipated rematch.
A few hours later, legends will collide when ONE 161 hits U.S. primetime. Nong-O Gaiyanghadao will look to overcome the latest challenger to his ONE bantamweight Muay Thai world title, British legend Liam Harrison, in the penultimate bout of the event.
In the main event, Adriano Moraes will defend his ONE flyweight world title against Demetrious Johnson in another epic rematch.
With just a little over a month to go, fans have enough time to block off their calendars to watch all the action go down on Amazon Prime Video, or if they’re in the area, they can buy tickets to watch the events live at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, with seats selling fast.