FOCUS will be on ONE Championship World Heavyweight Champion Filipino-Italian fighter Brandon Vera who defends his crown against Japanese challenger Hideki Sekine at ONE: Age of Domination today Friday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
“We got a fantastic card here in Manila. People asked if Folayang is in the card. But he just fought two weeks ago. And, we have this card coming up,” said Victor Cui, CEO of ONE Championship.
When Filipino fighter Eduard Folayang disposed of Shinya Aoki with third-round strikes to capture the lightweight crown in the One Championship in Singapore, many fans asked when his next fight will be.
He won’t be around today but Vera headlines a stacked card that will more than make up for it. Vera defends his One Championship heavyweight title belt against Sekine in the main event.
“This fight is creating a lot of buzz. It’s going to be another great fight,” said Cui in an interview at the Nobu Hotel in Aseana, Parañaque.
Vera has won his last two fights against Igor Subora and Paul Cheng, the first on a technical knockout and the second on a knockout.
The 205-lb. Vera won’t be intimidated by the hulking 265-lb. Sekine.
For more than a year or so Vera’s coach Billy Fonua has been training him to be fast on the ring with his 6’2” built.
There will be 10 under cards tonight. Among those seeing action are Team Lakay standouts Geje Eustaquio, Honorio Banario, April Osenio and Danny Kingad.
Fights are also set for Eugene Toquero, Mark Striegl, and Filipino-Australian Reece McLaren.
Sekine has not fought over the last two years after he beat Ryuta Kono in the Real Fight Championship by TKO in the first round.
Among the fights that will happen is the fight between Striegl and Sotir Kichukov. Then, there’s the Eustaquio and Toni ‘Dynamite’ Tauru fight.
Banario fights Rajinder Singh Meena.
“We focus on tomorrow. We wrap it up,” said Cui who bared that 24 fight cards are lined up next year and fans will know about it next week.