ONE Championship looks to kick off the new year with a bang when the promotion returns to Jakarta, Indonesia, for their first event of 2017.
Indonesia’s bustling capital city will once again play host to an exciting evening of mixed martial arts dubbed ONE: QUEST FOR POWER, which promises to showcase top international MMA talent alongside the best Indonesia’s top combat sports talents.
The show is scheduled for Saturday, 14 January 2017, at the Jakarta Convention Center.
In the main event, undefeated ONE Middleweight World Champion Vitaly Bigdash (8-0) is set to make his highly-anticipated return to the ONE Championship cage against Polish powerhouse Marcin Prachnio (12-2).
Bigdash, as fans may recall, turned in an absolutely epic performance in his last bout, defeating former champion Igor Svirid to win the title more than a year ago. The Russian middleweight sensation came back from multiple knockdowns to forge his own technical knockout victory.
It was considered one of the best fights in 2015 and arguably the most memorable battle inside the ONE Championship cage.
On the other hand, the 28-year-old Prachnio is riding a seven-fight win streak, including two since joining the promotion, defeating both Leandro Ataides and the highly-regarded Jake Butler of Evolve MMA.
Also to see action at ONE: QUEST FOR POWER is Australian featherweight and former title challenger Martin “The Situ-Asian” Nguyen (7-1). He’ll take on Japanese MMA veteran Kazunori Yokota (25-6-3).
Both Nguyen and Yokota have a common opponent in the form of ONE Featherweight World Champion Marat “Cobra” Gafurov. Gafurov finished both men via rear-naked choke in title bouts.
Nguyen is coming off three impressive victories, all thrilling finishes inside the ONE Championship cage. In his most recent outing, Nguyen scored one of the best submissions of the year, putting well-touted featherweight talent Christian Lee to sleep with a guillotine choke.
Yokota, on the other hand, lost to Gafurov in his last contest. However, the Japanese fighter does own the edge over Nguyen in experience, with over 30 professional mixed martial arts bouts under his belt. Prior to his bout against Gafurov, Yokota was riding a 13-fight win streak.
It is an interesting matchup to say the least. You have the raw potential and youthful power of Nguyen, who has improved greatly since he challenged for the belt in 2015, and you have Yokota, who has seen it all inside the cage during a career spanning more than a decade.
Aside from these two compelling bouts, Dutch-Indonesian fighters Vincent Latoel and Anthony Engelen are set to see action inside the ONE Championship cage.
Latoel will be taking on Filipino lightweight Vaughn “The Spawn” Donayre, who gave a great account of himself in a tough loss to Singapore’s Amir Khan this past November, while Engelen goes up against Malaysian MMA pioneer AJ “Pyro” Lias Mansor.
Other bouts include Stefer Rahardian versus Jerome S. Paye, Adrian Matheis against the Philippines’ wushu gold medalist Rene Catalan, as well as a battle between “The Terminator” Sunoto and Cambodian Khun Khmer practitioner Chan Heng.
Additional bouts will be announced at a later time.
Confirmed bouts so far for ONE: QUEST FOR POWER are as follows:
Main Event:ONE Middleweight World ChampionshipVitaly Bigdash vs Marcin Prachnio
Main Card:Kazunori Yokota vs Martin NguyenAnthony Engelen vs AJ PyroVincent Latoel vs Vaughn Donayre
Preliminary Bouts:Stefer Rahardian vs Jerome PayeAdrian Matheis vs Rene CatalanSunoto vs Chan Heng
