ONE Championship: Chinese fighters Sanlang Gexi, Lan Jiacheng added to ONE Friday 68 bill
- Jarred Brooks and Gustavo Balart will battle each other for the interim strawweight title at ONE Fight Night 24
Chinese fighters Sanlang Gexi and Lan Jiacheng will compete at ONE Friday Fights 68 as they look to earn multi-bout contracts with ONE Championship.
Gexi is set to face Kohei Wakabayashi in a catchweight mixed martial arts (MMA) contest that pits China against Japan in a bout set at 143lbs (64kg).
A breakout star as an amateur in Japan, Wakabayashi enjoyed success with Pancrase and boasts a very impressive 14-2 record but is coming off a loss to Changy Kara-Ool at ONE Friday Fights 56. He will be fighting for ONE Championship for the first time.
Lan will fight Kaito Sakaguchi in a catchweight kickboxing match. The Chinese fighter has been competing regularly in Thailand, fighting on local events such as RWS and Thai Fight.
Sakaguchi is a former Rise featherweight title challenger and also fought for the Shoot Boxing featherweight belt in Japan. The 22-year-old has 14 wins from his 19 fights and both men will be making their ONE Championship debut in this bout which is set for 132lbs (60kg).
Meanwhile, Jarred Brooks and Gustavo Balart will battle each other for the interim strawweight title at ONE Fight Night 24, because of the continued absence of Joshua Pacio.
Pacio holds the title but was injured before his win over Brooks at ONE 166. The American slammed him into the canvas with an illegal suplex and was disqualified as a result.
The Filipino has recovered from the neck injury he suffered during that fight, but was already struggling with a knee problem and discovered he had torn his ACL while preparing for ONE 166.
Before signing for ONE Championship, Brooks had competed as a flyweight in the UFC. He had never lost a match in the strawweight division before the disqualification defeat at the hands of Pacio.
With Pacio unlikely to compete again this year, an interim title has been introduced. Brooks (20-3-0-1) saw a seven-fight winning streak snapped by the disqualification, costing him his undefeated record in the ONE Championship cage as well as his strawweight belt.
Meanwhile, Balart (12-4) has turned his career around after losing his first three ONE Championship fights. The Cuban wrestler has won his past four fights, with each going the distance.
Balart represented Cuba at the Pan-American Games in 2011 and won a gold medal, wrestling in the 121lbs (55kg) division. Standing at just 4ft 11in (1.25m) he is the shortest fighter in ONE Championship’s strawweight division.
ONE 24 is set to take place at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok on August 2. This is the only fight on the card and is set to serve as the headliner with both men fighting at the famous venue for the first time.
