ONE Championship is doing everything it can to live up to its promise that the promotion’s new Infinity Series will represent the biggest events mixed martial arts can offer. To that end, ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong has announced on Facebook that a number of big names have been added to the first two events in the series.
ONE Infinity 1, which already featured a champ vs. champ fight between Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson and Adriano Moraes, now includes Aung La N Sang vs. Vitaly Bigdash for the middleweight title, and Roman Kryklia vs. Andrei Stoica.
The Bigdash fight is an interesting one. Earlier this month at Warrior’s Code, Reinier de Ridder defeated Leandro Ataides in what was billed as a title eliminator at middleweight — with Aung La N Sang (26–10, 1NC) holding both the ONE middleweight and light heavyweight titles. de Ridder will have to wait, however, as it’s Bigdash (10-2), a former middleweight champion himself, who is next in line.
‘The Burmese Python’ split a pair of fights with then-champ Bigdash in 2017, winning the belt in the rematch. He has not lost since, and is on a seven-fight win streak currently. Bigdash, meanwhile, has not competed since a 2018 win over Yuki Niimura.
ONE Infinity 2, which is headlined by a heavyweight title fight between champ Brandon Vera and former UFC heavyweight Arjan Bhullar, has also had two additional fights added. Lightweight champ Christian Lee will defend his title against Iuri Lapicus, while Eddie Alvarez vs. Saygid Guseyn Arslanaliev has also been added.
Lee (13-3) is the winner of four straight fights. Just two fights ago, he captured the title from Shinya Aoki at ONE: Enter the Dragon. He then stepped into the finale of the lightweight grand prix on short notice, defending the title against Arslanaliev. Now, he gets undefeated Moldovan Lapicus (14-0).
Alvarez (30-7-1) was also a grand prix participant but was eliminated in the opening round. A win over ex-champ Eduard Folayang saw him return as an alternate, but he was forced out due to injury. He now gets Arslanaliev (8-2) in what is a deceptively dangerous fight.
ONE Infinity Series 1 takes place on April 10 in Jakarta, Indonesia. ONE Infinity Series 2 goes down on May 29 in Manila, Philippines.
