ONE Championship: Full Circle line-up features three title fights, debut of David Branch
- Reinier de Ridder will defend middleweight title against welterweight champ Kiamrian Abbasov headliner
- Event will also feature return of Aung La N Sang in trilogy bout with Vitaly Bigdash
The planned line-up for the upcoming ONE Championship: Full Circle event has been revealed.
The Asian martial arts organisation dropped the line-up for the event, scheduled for February 25 at Singapore Indoor Stadium, early on Friday morning.
The card will be topped by a rare champion versus champion bout, as Reinier de Ridder (14-0), who holds the ONE light heavyweight and middleweight belts, defends the latter strap against welterweight champion Kiamrian Abbasov (23-4).
The bout will be De Ridder’s first since he captured the middleweight and light heavyweight titles in back-to-back victories over Aung La N Sang, with a first-round submission in October 2020 and a unanimous decision in April 2021.
Kyrgyzstan’s Abbasov will be returning from an even longer lay-off than his Dutch rival, having not fought since he defended the welterweight title with a fourth-round TKO win over James Nakashima in November 2020. This will be his first foray up to the ONE middleweight division.
Full Circle will be co-headlined by a light heavyweight kick-boxing title fight between champion Roman Kryklia of Ukraine and Dutch-Turkish challenger Murat Aygun. It will also feature a third title fight, as featherweight Muay Thai champion Petchmorakot Petchyindee of Thailand takes on No 1 contender Jamal Yusupov, from Russia.
The card will also feature the return of former two-division champ Aung La N Sang of Myanmar (27-12), who will take on Russia’s Vitaly Bigdash (11-2). It will be the third time the two middleweights have clashed, after a decision win apiece in 2017.