Exclusive | ONE Championship’s Shinya Aoki returns to face James Nakashima at lightweight: source
- Japanese legend back for January 22 event in Singapore after a 15-month hiatus from the ONE Circle, source tells SCMP MMA
- Former welterweight challenger Nakashima drops down after coming up short against champ Kiamrian Abbasov
After a 15-month hiatus from the ONE Championship Circle, Shinya Aoki will return to the organisation in early 2021, a source has told SCMP MMA.
Former ONE lightweight champ Aoki (45-9) is slated to face James Nakashima (12-1) in a January 22 event at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
A source said the match-up will happen, on condition of anonymity since the Asian martial arts promotion has yet to make an official announcement to confirm it.
The 37-year-old Japanese legend was last seen in action three months ago at Road To ONE 3 under the Shooto banner, where he picked up a unanimous decision over Kimihiro Eto in the main event. Before that, he submitted Honario Bonario in 54 seconds at ONE: Century Part 2 in late 2019 at the famed Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo.
American Nakashima came up short in his last outing for the welterweight title against Kiamrian Abbasov at ONE: Inside The Matrix 2 in November. It was his first loss as a professional athlete.
The 32-year-old will be dropping down to lightweight for the first time in his career to face off against Aoki.
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It is still unclear if this will be a live event or a pre-recorded fight to be broadcast at a later date, as ONE has yet to release its schedule for the new year.
The only match-up officially announced by the organisation for 2021 is the showdown between flyweight champion Adriano Moraes and Demetrious Johnson on February 24 in Singapore.
