Two former title challengers will face off for a newly introduced belt at the ONE Fight Night 23 main event, with four bouts set for Lumpinee Stadium on July 6.
Jackie Buntan faces Anissa Meksen in the showpiece with the winner set to be crowned the inaugural strawweight kickboxing champion. Filipino-American fighter Buntan has been competing in this division for her entire professional career while her French-Algerian opponent is moving up in weight.
Buntan previously challenged for the strawweight Muay Thai title but came up short against Smilla Sundell. Meksen is coming off a decision loss to Phetjeeja Lukjaoporongtom in a fight which had the atomweight kickboxing belt on the line.
The event will also feature the return of former lightweight champion Ok Rae Yoon (17-4). The Korean mixed martial artist is one of only three fighters to have ever beaten title holder Christian Lee.
He welcomes Alibeg Rasilov (13-0), who will be making his ONE Championship debut. Born in Dagestan but based in Turkey, 11 of his 13 victories have come inside the distance and he looks set to be a top contender in the lightweight division.
Another former title challenger will be in action in a bantamweight Muay Thai fight. Saemapetch Fairtex has been matched with Nico Carrillo, a Scottish fighter who is tipped to challenge for the belt himself.
Carrillo stopped Nong-O Gaiyanghadao, who overcame Saemapetch in a bantamweight title fight in 2019, last year and also holds wins over Muanthai PKSaenchaigym and Seksan Or Kanmuang,
The event will take place on Saturday morning and be broadcast live in North America on Prime Video. The fourth fight on the card features Ji Won Kang (7-2) taking on Kirill Grishenko (5-2) in a heavyweight bout.
Throughout his career Kang has either won by knockout or lost by submission. The Korean is one of the most entertaining fighters in the heavyweight division while his Belarusian opponent hasn’t won a fight since 2021.
Next up for the promotion is ONE Fight Night 21 which takes place at Lumpinee Stadium this Saturday. Swedish strawweight Muay Thai champion Sundell headlines, she faces Russia’s Natalya Dyachkova in an all European main event.
After that, ONE 167 is booked for Impact Arena in Bangkok, which is twice the size of Lumpinee Stadium. In the main event Stamp Fairtex defends her atomweight MMA title against former teammate Denice Zamboanga.
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