BAGUIO CITY – Geje Eustaquio will try to take over possession of the ONE flyweight title while Edward Kelly and Danny Kingad takes on separate opponents as they are set to see action during ONE: Pinnacle of Power to be held on June 23, 2018 in Macau, China.
The “Gravity”, who is the current ONE Interim Flyweight World Champion, is set to face ONE Flyweight World Champion Adriano “Mikinho” Moraes of Brazil in a title unification match at the card’s co-main event.
In his most recent bout, the 29-year-old Eustaquio avenged his controversial defeat against former flyweight world titleholder Kairat “The Kazakh” Akhmetov in the main event of the ONE: Global Superheroes held last January 26, 2018 at the Mall of Asia to capture the Interim Flyweight World Championship.
Eustaquio improved his record to 10-6 with the win while becoming just the second man to give Akhmetov a loss in 23 MMA fights.
After winning that bout, Eustquio challenged Moraes, who was in attendance, to unify the two titles.
“Adriano! I’ve got a belt!” Eustaquio exclaimed in the post-game interview. “When we faced the first time, I didn’t make it to the third round. Give me one more try!”
To which the Brazilian quickly responded by climbing the ring to congratulate the victor and accepted the challenge.
“Now he’s (Eustaquio) an interim flyweight world champion. But this is my throne, this is my house, so let’s do it again!” he said
Moraes defeated Eustaquio by a guillotine choke on September 2014 in the inaugural title match.
Moraes has an excellent MMA career record of 17-2 and is on a 4 four winning streak, including victories over Filipinos Kingad and Eugene Torquero.
Meanwhile, Kelly and Kingad are trying to reestablish a winning streak after successfully bouncing back from losses.
Kelly will take on former featherweight world champion Narantungalag Jadambaa in the undercard.
In his latest bout, “The Ferocious” Kelly delivered a sensational first-round knockout of Meas Meul Superhearoes last January 26 at the heels Emilio Urrutia last August 18, 2017
Kelly dropped the Cambodian with a high knee merely seconds into their cage encounter at ONE: Global Superheroes. He engaged Meul at the sound opening bell in the center of the cage and connected on a quick three-punch combination before unleashing the final blow that sent Meul face first into the canvas.
With the knockout at 21 seconds flat, the 33-year-old Baguio City native now owns both the fastest knockout and finish in ONE Championship’s featherweight division, with the highlight-reel stoppage gone viral around the world.
His stellar victory elevated Kelly’s professional record to 10-4 and earned him the GoDaddy Knockout Of The Night award.
Narantungalag “Tungaa” Jadambaa of Mongolia is one of the top contenders in ONE Championship’s deep featherweight division. He is a former ONE Featherweight World Champion with a record of 12 wins and five losses. Jadambaa has faced the biggest names in the sport and holds notable wins over Adrian Pang, Honorio Banario, and Eric Kelly. Although at 42 yrears old, he is a winner of two of his last three bouts.
Kingad returns to action against Ma Hao Bin in an undercard bout.
Kingad picked up a hard-earned unanimous decision victory at the expense of Bulgarian martial artist Sotir Kichukov last March 9 in Malaysia after an unsuccessful attempt to dethrone Moraes last November 10, 2017.
Kingad impressed with a high-level striking and grappling performance in an incredible display of strength during the three fierce back-and-forth rounds with Kichukov.
The King, who enjoyed most of the bout uncorking his lashing hooks and scoring successful takedowns, wore down Kichukov with hard blows from dominant positions to earn the nod of the judges and hiked his MMA career record to 10-4.
“The Southern Eagle” Ma Hao Bin is unbeaten in ONE Championship. Ma, a Chinese national freestyle wrestling champion, made his professional debut in January 2016, where he defeated Wu Ting Shen and Bu Huo You Ga in a single evening of action to claim the ONE Changsha Bantamweight Tournament Championship.
Since then, the 24-year-old has strung together an impressive 11-2 professional record, which includes four wins by submission and two by knockout.
Also seeing action in the undercard is Rodian “The Redeemer” Menchavez of Catalan Fighting Systems. The 24-year-old Menchavez is one of the Philippines’ top featherweight prospects.
Menchavez spent much of the early portion of his career in local promotions. He currently sports a 5-1 professional record, which includes three submission wins and one knockout victory.
He is set to make his ONE Championship debut in this event against the dangerous Li Kai Wen.
“The Underdog” Li Kai Wen of Tianjin is the ONE Featherweight Beijing Tournament 2014 Champion and one of the most fearsome young competitors from China.
The 22-year-old utilizes his tremendous striking ability and aggression to overwhelm foes with his offense, which has resulted in a series of impressive highlight reel stoppages. In his most recent contest, Li stunned Filipino Roel Rosauro with a first-round guillotine choke submission.
According to ONE Championship, Li’s stacked armory of skill set is well-equipt with a versatile elements featuring wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and Muay Thai.
By: ARMANDO M. BOLISLIS
