A heavy-hitting welterweight MMA contest has been booked for ONE Fight Night 31: Kongthoranee vs. Nong-O next month, and it’s unlikely to go all three rounds.
On Saturday, 2nd May, former ONE Welterweight MMA World Champion Zebaztian Kadestam will collide with rising star Isi Fitikefu inside Bangkok, Thailand’s Lumpinee Stadium.
Both men are riding high in the division, and a triumphant performance for either could result in a shot at two-weight titleholder Christian Lee.
Kadestam has enjoyed a memorable 11-fight tenure in ONE Championship that has spanned the last eight years, and each of his seven wins in that time has come by knockout.
Most notably, he reached the pinnacle of the welterweight MMA division in November 2018, when he finished Tyler McGuire to capture the World Title. He then stopped Georgiy Kichigin the following March to cement his place atop the bracket.
After parting ways with the crown shortly after, “The Bandit” amassed a mixed bag of results. But he’s returned to form of late and will ride a three-fight winning streak into his bout at ONE Fight Night 31, having toppled Iuri Lapicus, Valmir Da Silva, and Roberto Soldic in succession.
Meanwhile, Fitikefu has shown he has all the makings of a true threat to the welterweight MMA division’s upper echelon.
The Australian-Tongan star entered ONE Championship with a 9-0 record in November 2022. However, that perfect run ended when he fell to a narrow split-decision loss against Ruslan Emilbek Uulu on his debut.
Determined to show he wasn’t just there to make up the numbers, Fitikefu went back to the drawing board and returned to score a pair of eye-catching victories over Valmir Da Silva and Hiroyuki Tetsuka in 2023 and 2024, respectively.
“Doxz” seems to have hit his stride in the world’s largest martial arts organization, but Kadestam is a proven commodity on a hot streak. So, there’s no doubt that both men will be looking to make a statement when they clash in early May.
