The first ONE Championship card of 2024, ONE Fight Night 18 on January 12, has lost its main event.
ONE officials announced late Friday that Elias Mahmoudi, who had been expected to take on ONE Flyweight Kickboxing World Champion Superlek Kiatmoo9 in a main event title fight, had suffered a rib injury and was off the card. With no replacement able to be found on short notice, instead, the featherweight MMA fight between Shamil Gasanov and Oh Ho Taek has been promoted to headliner.
With Superlek left without an opponent, he has been shifted to ONE 165 in Tokyo, where he will take on multi-time K-1 World Champion Takeru Segawa. That fight takes place on January 28.
Shamil Gasanov (13-1) joined ONE Championship in 2022 with an unbeaten record as a pro. He has since gone 1-1 under the ONE banner, suffering his first defeat in his last outing, against grappling star and ex-ONE Championship title challenger Garry Tonon.
South Korea’s Ho Taek Oh (9-3-1), a.k.a. “Spider,” is also 1-1 under the promotional banner, and in his case coming off a loss to Akbar Abdullaev.
ONE Fight Night 18 takes place on January 12, 2024 at the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. The event airs live on Amazon’s Prime Video streaming platform in North America.
