MMA: ONE Championship announces Tokyo bout with DJ, Alvarez in the card

ONE Championship has just announced the first six bouts scheduled for ONE: A New Era, which is set to take place Sunday, 31 March at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan, featuring multiple-time World Champions Eddie Alvarez and Demetrious Johnson.

Alvarez and Johnson, who both joined ONE Championship in October are scheduled to make their first appearances inside the ONE Championship cage during the event.

Alvarez is taking his stellar career back to Asia where he first made a name for himself. A multiple-time lightweight World Champion, Alvarez seeks to become a ONE World Champion but will have to go through a bevy of top lightweight contenders in order to achieve his goal. In his first outing for the promotion, Alvarez will face top lightweight contender Timofey Nastyukhin of Russia.

Johnson, meanwhile, is widely considered the pound-for-pound best mixed martial artist in the history of the sport. He appeared in Singapore the following week for the Global Martial Arts Summit, Global Martial Arts Awards, and ONE: Heart Of The Lion.

Johnson’s opponent for his first ONE Championship bout will be Japan’s Yuya Wakamatsu.

Meanwhile, reigning ONE Women’s Strawweight World Champion Xiong Jing Nan of China will defend her title against ONE Women’s Atomweight World Champion Angela Lee of Singapore.

The two martial artists sit at the top of their weight classes, and each has dominated their respective divisions. However, with Lee moving up in weight to challenge Xiong for the strawweight crown, the Singaporean has the chance to become the first two-division women’s World Champion in ONE Championship history.

It certainly will not be easy, as “The Panda” represents the toughest challenge in Lee’s career.

ONE Middleweight World Champion Aung La N Sang of Myanmar will defend his title against Ken Hasegawa of Japan.

Aung La N Sang is the most iconic sports superstar to hail from Myanmar. His first encounter with Japan’s Ken Hasegawa in June 2018 was a five-round thriller of epic proportions, one which Aung La N Sang won in the final moments of the heated battle.

The match is considered the “Greatest Bout In ONE Championship History” and was also awarded “Bout Of The Year” honors at the 2018 Global Martial Arts Awards for its nonstop action and dramatic finish.

Aung La N Sang and Hasegawa will meet once again at ONE: A NEW ERA in a highly-anticipated rematch that is sure to produce fireworks.

In another much-anticipated bout, ONE Lightweight World Champion Eduard Folayang will defend his title against Shinya Aoki of Japan.

Folayang of the Philippines is set to face the Japanese martial arts legend and former World Champion in a long-awaited rematch.

In November 2016, Folayang captured the title from Aoki via third-round TKO, but surrendered the belt to Martin Nguyen a year later. Last November, the Filipino reclaimed the crown with a dominant five-round unanimous decision over Singaporean knockout artist Amir Khan.

Meanwhile, Aoki is riding a three-bout win streak, having finished Rasul Yakhyaev and Ev Ting by submission, and stopping Shannon Wiratchai by TKO. These three wins have elevated the Japanese icon to another shot at the ONE Lightweight World Title, as well as a chance to defeat his former conqueror.

The ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix will commence at ONE: A New Era. Initial bouts for the tournament will also be announced at a later date.

Also on the card is a ONE Super Series showdown between Muay Thai legend Yodsanklai IWE Fairtex and Dutch World Champion kickboxer Andy Souwer.