ONE Championship will present an all-MMA lineup on Friday morning when airing five-fight pre-taped card “Battleground 2.” The event, which was recorded late last month, took place at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore.
Veteran fighters Eduard Folayang and Zhang Lipeng will face off in the main event of the card. Here is a preview of the show.
Main Card (8:30AM EDT / 8:30PM SGT) (Youtube / Bleacher Report App)
Bout 1: Otgonbaatar Nergui (5-2-1) vs. Rahul Raju (7-6) (135 lbs) (MMA Bout)
Making his debut on flagship ONE Championship programming, Otgonbaatar Nergui will face promotional vet Rahul Raju in the opening bout.
Nergui is fighting for the first time since 2019. His carer has been split between competing in Mongolia and on the east-coast U.S. regional scene. His last fight was on ONE’s “Warrior Series,” where he stoppage Takuya Nagata within a round with a guillotine choke.
Raju will be looking to snap a two-fight losing streak. He has been stopped within a round in his past two fights, including a loss he took to Ahmed Mujtaba earlier this year.
Raju currently has a negative promotional record of two wins and five losses.
Bout 2: Eko Roni Saputra (4-1) vs. Liu Peng Shuai (6-6) (135 lbs) (MMA Bout)
Eko Roni Saputra will look to continue his win streak when facing Liu Peng Shuai on Friday.
Saputra has been on a four-fight win streak in ONE since he lost his pro debut in early 2019. Three of his four wins have come via submission against opponents with similar small records.
He now fights Liu, who has 12 pro bouts but only a 50 percent win rate. He took a loss in his last ONE bout, being submitted by Roshan Mainam in October.
Bout 3: Thomas Narmo (4-0) vs. Alain Ngalani (4-6) (265 lbs) (MMA Bout)
Undefeated heavyweight Thomas Narmo will make his ONE Championship debut on Friday against Alain Ngalani.
Narmo has competed on the pro scene since mid-2019. He has scored a stoppage win in all four of his appearances, although he has never faced an opponent with a win on their record – all four have either been making their pro debut or were coming off losses.
Ngalani, an experienced ONE fighter, will be attempting to snap a two-fight losing streak, which he has never had in his career before. He has been stopped in his last two bouts, including a bout against Oumar Kane earlier this year.
Bout 4: Alex Silva (9-6) vs. Miao Li Tao (6-3) (125 lbs) (MMA Bout)
Experienced ONE flyweights Alex Silva and Miao Li Tao will fight in the co-main event of this card.
Silva, a fighter who has competed in ONE for nearly a decade now, has lost his last two fights. He last appeared in March, where he lost a split decision to Hiroshi Minowa. The fight was his third loss in his past five.
Maio avenged a previous loss to Ryuto Sawada in April, defeating him via unanimous decision just six months after they first faced off.
Bout 5: Eduard Folayang (22-11) vs. Zhang Lipeng (30-11-2) (170 lbs) (MMA Bout)
Experience of over 75 bouts combined will clash in the main event when Eduard Folayang faces Zhang Lipeng.
Zhang will be making his ONE Championship debut in the main event fight. The MMA veteran of over a decade has spent nearly half his career in Chinese promotion Kunlun Fight, where he has attained 20 victories.
Viewers may remember Zhang for his short UFC run from 2014 to 2015 that resulted in two wins and two losses. Still only 31 years old, Zhang enters ONE having won three of his last five (the other two were a draw and a loss). He has been out of the cage for the past year or so, with his most recent bout being in September of 2019.
Folayang is one of ONE Championship’s longest-tenured fighters, having competed under their banner 21 times since first joining them in 2011.
He is currently fighting to snap the longest losing streak he has suffered in his entire career, with his last three fights all being losses. He has competed once earlier this year, getting submitted within a round by Shinya Aoki.
Folayang’s fight against Aoki was the second time he suffered a first-round submission to him. The veteran has suffered a loss in five of his last six, and his most recent victory was in 2019.
It could be a must-win for Folayang in this bout.
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