Everything You Need To Know About The 2026-2027 ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Grand Prix
The 2026-2027 ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Grand Prix has officially arrived, and it is rapidly shaping up to be the greatest eight-man tournament the sport has ever assembled.
Featured in the incredibly stacked bracket are the undefeated and reigning ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Champion, a pair of Thai icons, hungry young lions, and a battle-tested Thai technician.
That bracket officially came to life over the past week, and on Monday, September 28, ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong took to Facebook to unveil the grueling road to the semifinals and grand final.
All four opening-round bouts are set across The Inner Circle 38 and The Inner Circle 39, which will stream from Bangkok’s iconic Lumpinee Stadium exclusively for subscribers via live.onefc.com on November 13 and November 20, respectively.
Here is everything you need to know before the countdown begins.
The Path To The Final Begins Here
The Inner Circle 38 kicks off the tournament with two quarterfinals carrying very different kinds of weight. Former divisional king Rodtang “The Iron Man” Jitmuangnon and ex-bantamweight ruler Nong-O Hama finally get the monumental matchup that was originally scheduled for ONE 173 in Tokyo, Japan, last November.
Rodtang’s granite chin and suffocating forward pressure have rarely been solved by anyone willing to stand and trade, while Nong-O counters with surgical timing and a missile of a right kick that has ended fights in an instant throughout his legendary career.
It is a clash of two contrasting styles and one shared refusal to ever take a backward step, with a combined 543 career victories standing between them heading into this quarterfinal.
On the same card, former WBC Muay Thai World Champion Shimon Yoshinari meets hard-hitting Lebanese firecracker Ramadan “The Scorpion” Ondash in a bout where legacy takes a back seat to raw ambition.
Shimon’s southpaw precision and body-hunting combinations have carried him to a perfect run under the ONE Championship banner, while the Lebanese warrior’s blistering speed and fearless aggression have made him one of the most explosive strikers on the global roster. Both men enter in career-best form, and neither has shown any inclination to play it safe.
The Inner Circle 39 raises the stakes considerably. Reigning ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Champion Asadula “The Dagestan Ninja” Imangazaliev runs it back against Aslamjon “El Pantera” Ortikov in a rematch of their instant classic at The Inner Circle 20 — a five-round war that had fans on their feet from bell to bell.
Imangazaliev’s suffocating pressure and finishing instincts collide once again with Ortikov’s technical, high-volume striking, with 26 pounds of gold and a World Grand Prix semifinal spot simultaneously on the line.
Rounding out the bracket, Black Panther and Ubaid “Bad” Hussain meet in a high-stakes collision between a battle-tested Thai talent and an undefeated British-Pakistani phenom.
The Thai’s grinding, opportunistic style has carried him through six straight wins, while Hussain’s balanced, ever-evolving arsenal has kept him perfect across 17 professional fights. Whoever survives earns a direct route into the sport’s biggest stage yet.
Every Possible Road Ahead
With the quarterfinals officially set, the shape of the final four is already coming into focus, even if the exact pairings remain a game of “what if” for now.
Should Rodtang and Shimon both advance, the tournament would pit generational power against generational speed — a potential five-round collision between one of the most durable chins in Muay Thai history and one of the sharpest young finishers in “the art of eight limbs” today.
Rodtang meeting Ondash instead would tell a very different story, pitting veteran composure against teenage fearlessness, with the Thai’s World Championship pedigree tested by an athlete who has never once shown hesitation against bigger names.
On the other hand, a Nong-O clash with either the Japanese or Lebanese youth would set up a striking clinic — the veteran’s technical precision matched against a level of speed and intensity he has rarely faced at this late stage of his career.
The other side of the bracket carries its own layer of intrigue, since there is no guarantee the flyweight Muay Thai king advances.
However, if the undefeated 13-0 Imangazaliev gets past Ortikov, a matchup with either Black Panther or Hussain would pit his supreme, unorthodox skill set — a puzzle nobody in the division has ever solved — against Thai grit or unrelenting freshness, depending on who emerges.
An entirely possible Ortikov upset, on the other hand, would send the newly minted number-one contender into a fight against two men who have never faced anything quite like his complete offensive arsenal.
Whichever pairing ultimately meets in the final, the 2026-2027 ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Grand Prix will certainly guarantee one thing: greatness will be earned, not given.
The Details That Matter Most
Every quarterfinal, semifinal, and final bout in this Grand Prix will be contested under ONE’s Global Muay Thai Rule Set, with standard non-title fights running three three-minute rounds.
There is one significant wrinkle, however. Unlike the ongoing ONE SAMURAI Featherweight Kickboxing Tournament and previous World Grand Prix tournaments on the global stage, this bracket features the reigning divisional king, Imangazaliev.
This means the ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Title will be on the line in every round of the tournament. As a result, those specific bouts with the gold at stake will be contested over the standard five three-minute rounds reserved for World Title fights in ONE.
Should the undefeated Russian fall short at any stage, the 26 pounds of gold changes hands independently of the bracket, and the standard five-round format applies for the remainder of his side of the tournament.
Either way, the math works out cleanly in the end: whoever wins the tournament final will be crowned the new ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Champion and the ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Grand Prix Champion, claiming both the sport’s most prestigious individual title and its most prestigious tournament accolade on the exact same night.
All four quarterfinal matchups kick off across two action-packed cards, with Rodtang vs. Nong-O and Shimon vs. Ondash taking place at The Inner Circle 38 on November 13, followed by Imangazaliev vs. Ortikov and Black Panther vs. Hussain at The Inner Circle 39 on November 20.
Both events stream live in Asia primetime, exclusively for subscribers at The Inner Circle. Sign up today to make sure you do not miss a single second of the greatest eight-man tournament the sport has ever seen.
The dates and locations for the semifinals and the grand final will be revealed in the coming months.
