A heavyweight scrap featuring two of ONE Championship’s budding stars will take place later this month.
Oumar Kane (3-1), better known as “Reug Reug,” is set to face Marcus Buchecha (2-0) at ONE: Reloaded on April 22, 2022. ONE Championship officials confirmed the booking to Cageside Press on Thursday, following an initial report by MMA Fighting.
“Reug Reug” vs. Buchecha was booked once previously, as it was lined up for the ONE on TNT 1 card last April, only to be cancelled. A year later, the heavyweight duo will finally throw down in a fight that pits Kane’s Senegalese wrestling against Buchecha’s world-class jiu-jitsu.
Buchecha (properly Marcus Almeida) captured six openweight IBJJF World Championship titles before making the move to mixed martial arts last year. He’s won both his fights under the ONE Championship banner thus far; not surprisingly, both came via submission.
Oumar Kane competed in hundreds of matches in lutte avec frappe, which is a national sport in Senegal. He compiled a perfect 16-0 record at the Stade Demba Diop in Dakar, where the sport’s top competitors face off. In 2019 he transitioned to MMA, debuting for ONE Championship and winning his first three fights.
At last year’s ONE on TNT 4, however, “Reug Reug” would suffer his first defeat, after he was unable to continue following the second round in a bout against Kirill Grishenko.
He has not fought since.
ONE: Reloaded follows the historic ONE X card last weekend, which saw the promotion belatedly celebrate its tenth anniversary. Two non-MMA title fights top the Reloaded card, with Regian Eersel defending his lightweight kickboxing world championship against Germany’s Arian Sadikovic in the main event. Smilla Sundell will face Jackie Buntan for the promotion’s vacant women’s strawweight Muay Thai title in the co-headliner.
More bouts are expected to be announced for the event, set to take place at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore over the next couple of weeks.
