ONE In The Media

She was up against an opponent 10 years younger than her, and faced a vociferous 10,000-strong crowd cheering on the local favourite. It mattered little to May Ooi. The 41-year-old Singaporean made it a dream debut to remember when she choked out Malaysian Ann Osman in the first round of the ONE Championship’s Quest for Greatness event at the Stadium Negara in Kuala Lumpur last night.

KUALA LUMPUR: THE newly crowned ONE Featherweight world champion, Martin Nguyen, made history at Stadium Negara after he defeated Marat Gafurov at ONE: Quest for Greatness’ main event, yesterday.

SINGAPORE – She is no longer a member of Team Singapore, nor is she in Kuala Lumpur for the SEA Games. But mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter May Ooi entered the cauldron that is the Stadium Negara last night and flew the Republic’s flag high.

KUALA LUMPUR: Barely three months since he was last seen in action, Malaysian standout Agilan “The Alligator” Thani is raring to enter the ONE Championship cage once more with an attempt to put himself back on the winning track.

KUALA LUMPUR: After they both carded losses in their respective title shot fights, Malaysian mixed martial arts (MMA) exponents Ev Ting and Agilan Thani are looking to redeem their pride at One: Quest for Greatness in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow night.

The race to dominate the MMA scene in China has heated up after ONE Championship announced their inaugural event in Shanghai.

Almost 30 years have passed since May Ooi made her SEA Games debut in Kuala Lumpur in 1989 as a 13-year-old CHIJ Katong Convent student, winning two swimming bronze medals. Tomorrow, the Malaysian capital – coincidentally where the biennial Games are taking place – will again be the stage where Ooi, now 41, makes another sporting debut.

The last time Agilan Thani fought he lost, but the Malaysian still returned home a hero. The 22-year-old Thani captured hearts across his homeland in facing up to unbeaten American sensation Ben Askren for the One Championship’s world welterweight title in Singapore in May, even though his title shot lasted all of two minutes and 20 seconds.

FOR Ann Osman and Gianni Subba, the upcoming ‘One: Quest for Greatness’ event in Kuala Lumpur on August 18 promises to bring “a world of hurt”, especially when the local mixed martial arts (MMA) exponents are in high spirits as they train collectively. Ann, the first One Championship franchise female fighter from Malaysia, is psyched at the fact that all the other fighters are training to prepare each other for their bouts as well.

Now, more than ever, martial arts in the Philippines is booming, and one of the main reasons for this level of awareness among Filipinos is the recent success of Baguio-based MMA stable Team Lakay, led by reigning ONE Championship lightweight king Eduard ‘the Landslide’ Folayang.

Adriano “Mikinho” Moraes put almost two years of disappointment to bed on Saturday night at the One: Kings & Conquerers event in Macau, wresting the One Championship world flyweight title from Kairat Akhmetov at the Cotai Arena. It was Akhmetov who in November 2015 had lifted the flyweight belt after a hotly disputed split decision when the pair had first met, and Moraes flatly refused to believe he had lost the bout. The pain lingered long.

Last March, Folayang was in the center of everything when the Philippine scene and ONE Championship reached new heights and made history, as the Baguio native defended his title on the main event of ONE Championship: Kings of Destiny, the most-watched martial arts event in Philippine history. Because of this success, Sityodtong plans to double ONE Championship’s efforts in the Philippines, planning to bring their cage to PH shores four times.