ONE Championship had a huge year in 2019 as they expanded their roster, widened their global footprint and broke into the consciousness of MMA fans across the world with big-name signings and exciting events.
The arrivals of former UFC champions Demetrious Johnson and Eddie Alvarez generated a host of headlines for the Singapore-based promotion, who unveiled their two big-name additions on their historic March 31 card, “ONE Championship 92: A New Era”.
The event was the promotion’s first in Japan, as the historic sumo venue of Ryogoku Kokugikan played host to a card stacked with some of ONE’s biggest names.
Filipino lightweight champion Eduard Folayang put his belt on the line against Japanese MMA icon Shinya Aoki, while women’s strawweight champion Xiong Jing Nan faced off against atomweight champ Angela Lee in a champion-versus-champion super fight.
Two-division champion, “The Burmese Python” Aung La N Sang was also in action, as he took on Japanese contender Ken Hasegawa in a rematch of their epic first encounter nine months earlier.
But for many fans in the U.S., the event was all about the promotional debuts of the two former UFC champions, and the pair experienced contrasting fortunes as they made their first appearances as ONE Championship athletes, as Alvarez took on hard-hitting Russian Timofey Nastyukhin, while Johnson faced off against former Pancrase veteran Yuya Wakamatsu.
ONE Championship will end their five-month hiatus when they return to action at “ONE Championship 110: No Surrender” on July 31 in Bangkok, Thailand.
Ahead of the promotion’s return, recap some of the action from one of their biggest events via the video above.
