ONE: Dangal Preview

ONE: Dangal Preview

ONE Championship returns on May 15th with ONE: Dangal, an event that was filmed on April 28th at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, the same night as ONE on TNT IV. ONE returns to their normal timeslot this time around.

ONE: Dangal, as the name suggests, takes on a distinctly Indian flavour with four fighters on the five-fight card hailing from India.

The headliner, however, is heavyweight champion Brandon ‘The Truth’ Vera (16-8, 1 NC), who will be looking to make the third successful defence of his title against fellow UFC veteran, Arjan Bhullar (10-1).

Former double-champ Vera fights for the first time since October 2019, when he lost his light heavyweight title to Burmese superstar Aung La Nsang at ONE: Century Part 2. The 43-year-old Filipino native reeled off four first-round finishes prior to the loss and has held the heavyweight title since December 2015.

Bhullar, for his part, started his ONE tenure with a decision win over former title challenger Mauro Cerilli. The win followed a four-fight run in the UFC, where the 34-year-old Canadian-based Indian went 3-1.

The co-main event is a Muay Thai bout featuring 21-year-old Thai phenom Tawanchai PK Saenchai Muaythaigym (124-30-2), who makes his ONE debut against fellow debutant, Irishman Sean Clancy (44-17-1). Both fighters will be looking to kickstart a run towards the ONE Bantamweight Muay Thai Title, held by Nong-O Gaiyanghadao.

Also on the card, Indian wrestling star Ritu Phogat (4-0) will be looking to continue her momentum leading into the ONE Atomweight Grand Prix, when she takes on Vietnam’s Bi Nguyen (5-6).

The bout is a huge risk for Phogat, whose opening bout of the grand prix takes place on May 28th against Meng Bo, leaving her with just 30 days to prepare between fights.

27-year-old Phogat is undefeated in four fights, all under the ONE banner, since making her pro debut in November 2019. All but one of those wins has been by TKO.

Nguyen will be looking to crash Phogat’s party and return to the win column for the first time since April 2019. The 31-year-old has three losses to her name since then, however, she did notch a split decision win under Muay Thai rules against another Indian opponent in Puja Tomar, back in September 2019 at ONE: Immortal Triumph.

The card is rounded out by two catchweight MMA contests.

ONE: Dangal Full Card:

ONE Heavyweight MMA Championship: Brandon Vera (Philippines) (C) vs. Arjan Bhullar (India)

Bantamweight Muay Thai: Tawanchai PK Saenchai Muaythaigym (Thailand) vs. Sean Clancy (Ireland)

Women’s atomweight MMA: Ritu Phogat (India) vs. Bi Nguyen (Vietnam)

Women’s catchweight (58.3kg) MMA: Ayaka Miura (Japan) vs. Rayane Bastos (Brazil)

Catchweight (65kg) MMA: Gurdarshan Mangat (India/Canada) vs. Roshan Mainam (India