One Championship has announced their new series on TNT coming in April and much, much more — Fightful has all the latest fight announcements in one article.
ONE Championship announces new series on TNT
TNT will become a home for mixed martial arts action in 2021, announcing that the network will host a new series with ONE Championship called “ONE on TNT” that will debut on April 7 the promotion announced this week. The first card will be ONE’s first event that will air live during United States primetime hours, with ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong, saying this is the long term plan for the company.
“It’s going to be live,” Sityodtong said (h/t MMAFighting). “On April 7, it will be all live. Right now, April 7 is going to be 100 percent live for both Bleacher [Report], B/R Live, and TNT. Let’s see how the rest of the events go. The long-term plan is eventually to give something ONE on TNT is always live. That’s the long-term plan but we have to adapt in COVID. Let’s see how it all shakes out but right now April 7 is 100 percent live.”
The card on April 7 will feature two fights with two former UFC champions. In the first of the two bouts, former UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez will take on Iuri Lapicus and in the other matchup, former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson will look to dethrone the current ONE flyweight champion Adriano Moraes in the night’s headliner. The second event on April 14 will feature a lightweight title fight between champion Christian Lee and Timofey Nastyukhin who finished Alvarez in the Philadelphia native’s promotional debut in March 2019. The third card on April 21 will have a headlining bout between former ONE middleweight champion Aung La N Sang and Vitaly Bigdash in a trilogy matchup to determine the number one contender for champion Reinier de Ridder’s title.
DAZN announces Vergil Ortiz Jr. vs. Maurice Hooker welterweight matchup for March 20
DAZN announced on their official Twitter account that an exciting welterweight matchup between undefeated rising star Vergil Ortiz Jr. and former WBO light welterweight champion Maurice Hooker is scheduled for March 20. No official venue has been announced yet, but the bout is expected to take place from Dallas, Texas, and be for Ortiz’s WBA Gold welterweight title. The Dallas native is 16-0 with 16 knockouts and was named The Ring magazine Prospect of the Year in 2019. Hooker on the other end is 27-1-3, with his only professional defeat coming at the hands of Jose Carlos Ramirez via a sixth-round stoppage back in July 2019.
The last time we saw @VergilOrtiz in the ring. —
March 20, he’s back! #OrtizHooker pic.twitter.com/BU2YHRKJjo
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) January 27, 2021
LFA 100 landmark event headlined by Altamirano vs. Mota flyweight title fight
The LFA announced via the promotions Instagram account, that the main event of their upcoming 100th event on February 19 from the Hartman Arena in Park City, Kansas. The promotion’s landmark night will be headlined by a flyweight title fight between champion Victor Altamirano and undefeated Brazilian contender Carlos Mota. LFA CEO Ed Soares discussed the big event for the LFA in the announcement of the main event.
“We are excited to celebrate LFA 100 by bringing the flyweight championship and second LFA middleweight tournament semi-final to Kansas,” said Soares (h/t MMAWeekly). “Victor Altamirano just broke the LFA’s all-time wins record in November. He will now fight top undefeated Brazilian prospect Carlos Mota for the LFA flyweight title. Anthony Adams and Gregory Rodrigues will also meet with a shot at the LFA middleweight title on the line.”
Nicco Montano out, Joselyne Edwards in against Karol Rosa at UFC Vegas 18
Former UFC women’s flyweight champion Nicco Montano has been forced to withdraw from her upcoming bout against Karol Rosa at UFC Vegas 18 on February 6. Milenio’s Carlos Contreras Legaspi was the first to report Montano’s removal, which apparently was from a neurologist pulling her from the fight as she’s still suffering from lingering concussion issues. Stepping in her place will be Joselyne Edwards, who made won her UFC debut on short notice against Wu Yannan at UFC Fight Island 7 just eleven days ago. Rosa will be looking for her third straight win in the Octagon over Edwards, most recently defeating Vanessa Melo by a unanimous decision back at UFC 251.
30-27
30-27
29-28Joselyne Edwards gets the win on her UFC debut!#UFCFIghtIsland7 pic.twitter.com/qCEHitQzvm
— UFC on BT Sport (@btsportufc) January 16, 2021
Seungwoo Choi gets another new opponent, Youssef Zalal fills in for Colin Anglin at UFC Vegas 18
Featherweight Seungwoo Choi has a third new opponent for his fight at UFC Vegas 18 on February 6, as Colin Anglin now has been forced to withdraw from the matchup due to undisclosed reasons first reported by MMA DNA. The replacement for Anglin will be Youssef Zalal, who originally was supposed to face Choi back at UFC Fight Island 5 but the Korean fighter had to pull out of the bout. Zalal went on to lose that fight by unanimous decision to his replacement opponent Ilia Topuria, whereas Choi is coming off a unanimous decision win of his own over Suman Mokhtarian at UFC Fight Night 165.
***BREAKING NEWS***
Collin Anglin out. Youssef Zalal takes the short notice fight against Seung Woo Choi on February 6th.
(Fight was originally booked for October 2019.) #UFC #MMA #UFCESPN pic.twitter.com/BvD773Bi9H
— MMA DNA (@MMADNANL) January 27, 2021
Here is a quick breakdown of the latest fights announced:
Robert Whittaker (23-5) vs. Paulo Costa (13-1) – UFC Event – April 17
Darren Till (18-3-1) vs. Marvin Vettori (16-4-1) – UFC Event – April 10
Dustin Jacoby (13-5) vs. Maxim Grishin (31-8-2) – UFC Event – February 27
Salahdine Parnasse (14-0-1) and Daniel Torres (11-4) – KSW 58 – January 30
Zak Cummings (24-7) vs. Sam Alvey (33-14-1) – UFC Event – April 10
Brian Kelleher (22-11) vs. Ricky Simon (17-3) – UFC 258 – February 13
Kai Kara-France (21-9, 1 NC) vs. Rogerio Bontorin (16-2, 1 NC) – UFC 259 – March 6
Eddie Alvarez (29-6) vs. Iuri Lapicus (14-1) – ONE on TNT – April 7
Adriano Moraes (18-3) (c) vs. Demetrious Johnson (27-3-1) – flyweight championship – ONE on TNT – April 7
Christian Lee (14-3) (c) vs. Timofey Nastyukhin (14-4) – lightweight championship – ONE on TNT – April 14
Aung La N Sang (26-11) vs. Vitaly Bigdash (10-2) – ONE on TNT – April 21
Vergil Ortiz Jr. (16-0) (c) vs. Maurice Hooker (27-1-3) – Boxing – WBA Gold welterweight title – March 20
Victor Altamirano (8-1) (c) vs. Carlos Mota (5-0) – flyweight championship – LFA 100 – February 19
Joselyne Edwards (10-2) vs. Karol Rosa (13-3) – UFC Vegas 18 – February 6
Seungwoo Choi (8-3) vs. Youssef Zalal (10-3) – UFC Vegas 18 – February 6
For a full breakdown of the upcoming fights, please check out our events section!
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