4 World Title Fights Announced For ONE: INSIDE THE MATRIX On 30 October

The biggest martial arts event of the year has an official date.

On Monday, ONE Championship Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong announced that four World Title bouts featuring the promotion’s top stars will headline ONE: INSIDE THE MATRIX on 30 October.

In the main event, two-division ONE World Champion Aung La “The Burmese Python” N Sang will defend the ONE Middleweight World Title against Reinier “The Dutch Knight” De Ridder.

The last time Aung La N Sang stepped inside the Circle was at ONE: CENTURY PART II in October 2019, where he defeated heavyweight king Brandon “The Truth” Vera via second-round knockout to retain the ONE Light Heavyweight World Title.

Since then, “The Burmese Python” has been eyeing a showdown with several top contenders – including De Ridder.

De Ridder, a black belt judoka with phenomenal striking, owns a perfect 12-0 record. Most recently, he beat five-time Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Champion Leandro “Wolf” Ataides in February to earn his shot at the Myanmar icon.

ONE: INSIDE THE MATRIX will also feature the highly anticipated return of ONE Lightweight World Champion Christian “The Warrior” Lee.

Lee had a spectacular 2019, which saw him knock out Japanese martial arts legend Shinya “Tobikan Judan” Aoki to claim the ONE Lightweight World Title before ripping through Turkish juggernaut Saygid “Dagi” Guseyn Arslanaliev on short notice to claim the ONE Lightweight World Grand Prix Championship.

Now, the newlywed will make his inaugural ONE Lightweight World Title defense, and it will come against the division’s top-ranked contender, Iuri Lapicus.

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Lapicus, who trains alongside ONE Featherweight Kickboxing World Grand Prix Champion Giorgio “The Doctor” Petrosyan with Team Petrosyan in Milan, Italy, has been unstoppable since joining The Home Of Martial Arts.

In May 2019, the Moldovan dominated Shannon “OneShin” Wiratchai in his promotional debut en route to a third-round TKO. He followed that up with a shocking submission victory over former ONE Featherweight World Champion Marat “Cobra” Gafurov in just 67 seconds back in February.

Those victories pushed Lapicus’ professional record to 14-0 ahead of his ONE World Title challenge of Lee.

In the third announced fight, ONE Featherweight World Champion Martin “The Situ-Asian” Nguyen will defend his gold against the division’s #3-ranked contender, Thanh Le.

Nguyen has looked invincible since claiming the belt from Gafurov in August 2017.

The Vietnamese-Australian successfully defended the gold against Lee in their May 2018 rematch, and he knocked out former titleholder Narantungalag “Tungaa” Jadambaa and #2-ranked contender Koyomi “Moushigo” Matsushima last year.

Nguyen will now face another devastating knockout artist in the Vietnamese-American Le, who has been ultra-impressive since debuting for ONE Championship in May 2019.

In that time, he has enjoyed an undefeated run, in which he has finished Yusup “Maestro” Saadulaev, former ONE Lightweight World Champion Kotetsu “No Face” Boku, and Ryogo Takahashi.

Finally, “The Panda” Xiong Jing Nan will defend her ONE Women’s Strawweight World Title against the division’s #1-ranked contender, Tiffany “No Chill” Teo.

This will be the second showdown between these star athletes.

In January 2018, Xiong defeated Teo at ONE: KINGS OF COURAGE by fourth-round TKO to claim the inaugural crown. Since then, she has successfully defended the belt against Laura “La Gladiadora” Balin, Samara “Marituba” Santos, and ONE Women’s Atomweight World Champion “Unstoppable” Angela Lee.

As for Teo, she worked her way up the ladder by scoring wins over #2-ranked women’s strawweight contender Michelle Nicolini and #4-ranked women’s strawweight contender Ayaka Miura.

Stay tuned for more card announcements as we move closer to ONE: INSIDE THE MATRIX on 30 October.