Asia’s largest Mixed Martial Arts promotion will venture into the Middle East in August for the first time in the promotion’s history and it does so with FOUR title fights.
Headlining the card will be lightweight champion Shinya Aoki (35-6, 1 NC) versus UFC veteran Kamal Shalorus (9-2). MMA veteran Aoki is currently on a five-fight-win-streak since his loss to Eddie Alvarez in 2012 while his opponent Shalorus has won back-to-back fights since his UFC release last year.
Welterweight champ Nobutatsu Suzuki (11-1-2) will have his hands full as he faces another American in Ben Askren (13-0). Japanese fighter Suzuki has fought and beat UFC vets Phil Baroni and Brock Larson en route to capturing the welterweight title but now will have the toughest test of his career in the undefeated wrestling machine that is Ben Askren. This will be Askren’s second apprearance for ONE FC after winning his debut in May of this year.
Koji Oishi (25-9-10) will defend his featherweight title against a yet-to-be-named opponent and there will also be a middleweight match-up to crown the inaugural champ for that division. More announcements have yet to be named but inside sources suggest another few big names will be added to the card.
ONE FC 19 will take place August 29th in the Dubai World Trade Center.