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Chatri Sityodtong Confirms ONE Championship’s Debut in the Middle East With ONE 165 in Qatar

ByAditya Vaibhav

Sep 19, 2023 | 3:01 AM EDT

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ONE Championship is coming to Qatar before the year ends, and it’s going to be a big one.

ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong dropped the exciting news via Facebook this past weekend, simply writing: “ONE 165: Qatar!!!”. Not many more details have been confirmed, and this has set tongues wagging across the combat sports world.

ONE championship’s arrival in the Middle East confirmed

Currently, ONE has scheduled events for ONE Friday Fights 34: Rodtang vs. Superlek this Friday, September 22, ONE Fight Night 14: Stamp vs. Ham next Friday, September 29, ONE Fight Night 15: Tawanchai vs. Superbon on Friday, October 6, and ONE Fight Night 16: Haggerty vs. Andrade on Friday, November 3. Considering this, it’s possible that the world’s largest martial arts organization’s Middle East debut could take place in November or December.

So far this year, the promotion has held the majority of its shows inside Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, with all of the weekly ONE Friday Fights events and most of the monthly ONE Fight Night events going down inside the iconic striking venue. But Sityodtong’s short-but-sweet post has let the world know that ONE is ready to travel again following its wildly successful U.S. debut event, ONE Fight Night 10, in May. It also appears that numbered events are making a return to the fold for the combat sports giant.

According to the ONE website, these events “represent the flagship product of ONE, featuring World Championship headliners and high-octane matches across the full spectrum of martial arts.” In a text message exchange with the South China Morning Post, Sityodtong revealed that the ONE 165 card will include five World Title matches across the four disciplines under the ONE banner – mixed martial arts, Muay Thai, kickboxing, and submission grappling.

No shortage of potential matchups for the regional debut of the promotion

As for the superstars appearing at the historic show, there is a growing belief that ONE Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight MMA World Champion Anatoly Malykhin will compete for an unprecedented third World Title by challenging middleweight king Reinier de Ridder in a massive rematch. “Sladkiy” snatched De Ridder’s light heavyweight crown when they faced each other last December, and he hasn’t been shy when talking about wanting to take the Dutchman’s remaining World Title. For his part, “The Dutch Knight” is gungho on making the scores even in their rivalry. Though he didn’t confirm the fight was set for the Qatar event, Sityodtong did hint that it was coming soon.“Big fights take time, take the right magic to work, and all sides have to be aligned.

But I think the next big interesting fight is going to be RDR vs Anatoly II at middleweight,” he said in an earlier interview with SCMP. Another potential blockbuster pairing would be Mikey Musumeci defending his ONE Flyweight Submission Grappling World Title against reigning flyweight MMA king Demetrious Johnson. “Darth Rigatoni” has respectfully called out Johnson at least twice already, saying that he is excited to mix it up with the legend. “Mighty Mouse” recently won gold at the IBJJF Masters World Championships, and he has stated that he has a renewed confidence in his grappling skills. Perhaps enough to challenge the American BJJ phenom. More details about the event will certainly come to light in the coming days. With ONE’s penchant for making huge shows, expect them to make a statement with a massively stacked card for ONE 165.