By Ivan Stewart Saldajeno – PNA
MANILA — Shinya Aoki will get a second chance at the ONE lightweight title he lost to Eduard Folayang as they will meet again in his home country next year.
Folayang and Aoki will face off in one of the highly-anticipated three world title fights scheduled in the first event in Tokyo, ONE: A New Era, on March 31 at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in the Japanese capital.
The Team Lakay star will make his first title defense of his second reign as the ONE lightweight champ against the same guy he wrestled the belt from, but this time, Aoki has the Japanese crowd with him.
Aoki is not the only Japanese disputing a world title belt in Tokyo as Ken Hasegawa also looks to take the ONE middleweight championship from Myanmar’s Aung La N Sang.
In a rematch of what many touted as the “greatest bout in ONE Championship history” last June that was named the “Bout of the Year” by the Global Martial Arts Awards, N Sang will try to repeat despite Hasegawa’s home arena advantage.
Also, the much-awaited clash between Xiong Jing Nan and Angela Lee will finally take place.
Supposed to take place this year if not for a road accident that hurt Lee, the showdown between the two reigning champions of the ONE women’s division will now take place in Tokyo with Xiong’s women’s strawweight title on the line.
Meanwhile, former Ultimate Fighting Championship stars Eddie Alvarez and Demetrious Johnson will make their ONE Championships debuts.
Alvarez will take on Timofey Nastyukhin, while Johnson will face Yuya Wakamatsu.
A muay thai clash will also happen in the fight card as Yodsanklai IWE Fairtex takes on Andy Souwer.
On the other hand, the ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix will kick off at ONE: A New Era, with the preliminary bouts to be announced at a later date.
