ONE Championship has announced a trio of exciting mixed martial arts fights for their return to Qatar this February.
In a recent press release, promotion officials revealed that ONE 171: Qatar will include the fifth fight between bantamweight rivals Bibiano Fernandes (24-6) and Kevin Belingon (20-10). In addition, former ONE double-champ Martin Nguyen (15-7) will take on Shamil Gasanov (14-1) at featherweight, while welterweight Roberto Soldic (20-4, 1NC) returns against Dagi Arslanaliev (9-2).
The fights join two previously announced contests at the Lusail Sports Arena on February 20, 2025: Jonathan Haggerty vs. Wei Rui, which sees Haggerty put his bantamweight kickboxing championship on the line, and a strawweight MMA title bout between champ Joshua Pacio and Jarred Brooks.
The quintilogy between Fernandes and Belingon is nearly unheard of in MMA. Fernandes, now 44, was once highly coveted by the UFC, and in 2012 they announced he’d agreed to fight with Roland Delorme at UFC 149. Shortly after, Fernandes revealed that while he had been in negotiations with the company, he had never actually signed a contract. Instead, he inked a deal with ONE Championship, going on to become a multi-time bantamweight champion.
Fernandes has not fought since 2022, however, and is coming off back-to-back losses. In his series with Kevin Belingon, he is up 3-1. As for fellow ex-champ Belingon, he has likewise been out of action since 2022, and sits on a five-fight skid including two losses to his rival.
Martin Nguyen will be returning to action for the first time since a loss to Garry Tonon last January. The former bantamweight and featherweight champ has been trading wins and losses since 2021. Gasanov meanwhile has won three straight, and has managed to keep busy, picking up three victories in ONE Championship in 2024.
Roberto Soldic, who is 1-1 in a pair of fights with UFC middleweight champ Dricus Du Plessis under the KSW banner, was a big free agent signing for ONE a couple of years back. He’s fought just twice, however, with his promotional debut ending in a No Contest due to an accidental groin strike. His next bout saw him finished by former ONE welterweight champ Zebastian Kadestam.
His opponent at ONE 171, Saygid Guseyn Arslanaliev (a.k.a. “Dagi”), has not competed in MMA since a 2021 knockout of Timofey Nastyukhin.
