ONE: Masters of Destiny: Gurdarshan Mangat to fight Abro Fernandes

Press Release

07 Jun 2019

The largest global sports media property in Asian history, ONE Championship™ (ONE), has just announced the complete card for ONE: MASTERS OF DESTINY, set for the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur on 12 July. Once again, the absolute best in world-class martial arts talent are ready to descend upon the ONE Championship ring. 

In the main event, striking superstars Giorgio “The Doctor” Petrosyan of Italy and Petchmorakot Petchyindee Academy of Thailand will do battle in a ONE Super Series Featherweight Kickboxing World Grand Prix Quarter-Final bout.

A multiple-time Kickboxing World Champion, Petrosyan is one of the greatest and most dominant kickboxers of all time, having already accomplished an incredible amount in his sensational career. This includes two K-1 World MAX World Championships, a Glory Slam Tournament Championship, and several other prestigious titles.

Petrosyan joined ONE Super Series in 2018 and has since put together a solid run through the ranks. Now competing in the ONE Super Series Featherweight Kickboxing World Grand Prix, Petrosyan looks to emerge the winner of the tournament and claim the million dollar prize.

Hailing from Ubon Ratchathani in Thailand’s northern Isan region, Petchmorakot has already defeated some of the biggest names in Muay Thai, claiming multiple Muay Thai Championships in the process. Petchmorakot has claimed Lumpinee Stadium World Championships in two divisions, as well as a WMC Muay Thai title, in a career spanning almost 200 professional bouts. Incredibly, he is still only at the beginning of his career, and now he hopes to attain international glory on the global stage of ONE Championship.

ONE Women’s Atomweight World Champion “Unstoppable” Angela Lee of Singapore returns to action, competing at strawweight once more, this time against grappling superstar Michelle Nicolini of Brazil.

Since making her professional mixed martial arts debut in 2015, Lee has taken the world by storm, racking up an impressive succession of remarkable victories on her way to capturing the inaugural atomweight title. Last March, Lee challenged Xiong Jing Nan for the ONE Women’s Strawweight World Championship, and fell just short of her bid to become a simultaneous two-division World Champion. Now Lee starts her journey anew, but will have to get past Nicolini in order to move towards her goal.

One of the most decorated champions in the sport of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, eight-time BJJ World Champion Nicolini began her martial arts journey by training in Capoeira at age 14. At age 17, she began training in the grappling arts, not long after winning a series of accolades in BJJ as a black belt, including eight IBJJF World Titles, an ADCC no-gi grappling title, double gold at the BJJ European championships, and three Pan-American championships. She is also one of the few women admitted into the IBJJF Hall of Fame.

Malaysian martial arts superstar and former ONE World Title Challenger Ev “E.T.” Ting of Malaysia is back in action against Japanese lightweight contender Daichi Abe.

Ting is one of the world’s best lightweights, who blazed a trail across Asia, New Zealand, and Australia before making waves on the global stage of ONE Championship. Originally born in Malaysia, Ting was once a promising soccer player in school. But in 2009, he decided to switch his focus to mixed martial arts and began training at a local gym in Auckland. He made his professional debut in 2011, and has since defeated proven contenders such as former ONE Welterweight World Champion Nobutatsu Suzuki, Ariel Sexton, and Kamal Shalorus.

Abe is the former Pancrase Welterweight Champion. He was focused almost exclusively on Judo as a youth, resulting in a national championship in his final year of high school. Apart from mixed martial arts, Abe also owns 10 sensational victories in kickboxing, including seven knockouts, capturing a Heavyweight Championship in RISE as well as the J-Network Light Heavyweight belt in the process. Taking on one of ONE Championship’s top lightweights, Abe wants to shock the world with a victory over Ting.

Multiple-time Indonesia Bantamweight Champion Abro Fernandes is scheduled to face former Battlefield Fight League Featherweight Champion Gurdarshan “Saint Lion” Mangat of Canada.

Fernandes first began his martial arts journey with Kempo as a teenager to get in better shape. After training for a few years and even competing extensively across boxing, Kempo, and grappling, he decided to test himself even further, and made his professional mixed martial arts debut in a regional Indonesian promotion. Since then, Fernandes has built an incredibly successful career. Now he looks to leave a lasting impression on the global stage of ONE Championship.

Mangat, on the other hand, began training in mixed martial arts at the age of 20, after being inspired by the career of mixed martial arts legend Rich Franklin. Within his first year of training, Mangat was already stepping into the cage for his first amateur bout. After a successful amateur career, he made his professional debut and quickly put together an excellent record to earn his place in ONE Championship.

Wushu World Champion and former MIMMA Women’s Champion Jihin “Shadow Cat” Radzuan of Malaysia will take on Filipino star Jomary “The Zamboanginian Fighter” Torres in a women’s atomweight contest.

Radzuan is one of the finest female martial artists to emerge from Malaysia, having competed in various disciplines such as Wushu, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, kickboxing, and boxing. Radzuan made her professional mixed martial arts debut in 2017 and since then, she has certainly impressed with her well-rounded style, racking up a solid professional record. Along the way, Radzuan has defeated top talent Priscilla Hertati Lumban Gaol and former ONE World Title Challenger Jenny Huang.

Her opponent, Torres, is a rising star in the Philippines, who shook up the women’s atomweight division when she upset fan-favorite Rika Ishige in her 2017 ONE Championship debut. Shortly after, Torres went on to claim victory over Indonesian Wushu and wrestling champion Nita Dea, as well as fellow Filipino April Osenio of the renowned Team Lakay. Now seeking international stardom, Torres wants to prove a point with a victory over the talented Radzuan.

ONE Warrior Series alumn “Crazy Dog” Dae Sung Park of South Korea will take on Japan’s Kimihiro Eto in a lightweight mixed martial arts contest. Park, who comes from an extensive background in freestyle wrestling, will look to score his third straight victory in ONE Championship, while Eto aims to score a win over a former conqueror. This is a rematch of their March 2018 bout under the ONE Warrior Series umbrella.

Unbeaten American mixed martial arts prospect Troy Worthen of the United States is ready to make his ONE Championship debut. He will take on ONE Jakarta Bantamweight Tournament Champion Chen “The Ghost” Rui of China in a bantamweight contest. With both men looking to climb up the bantamweight ranks, one of the deepest divisions in ONE Championship, expect an all-action affair from these two incredible warriors.

In a ONE Super Series Kickboxing contest, former WFKO Kyokushin Karate World Champion Hiroki Akimoto of Japan will take on former K1 South Pacific Champion Kenny Tse of Australia.

Aside from training in Kyokushin Karate, Akimoto has also competed in kickboxing, amassing an impressive professional kickboxing record in his native Japan while capturing multiple titles such as the WBC Muay Thai Japan Featherweight Championship. In 2018, Akimoto joined the prestigious Evolve MMA in Singapore, following a successful tryout for the Evolve Fight Team. As part of the ONE Super Series, Akimoto has but one goal, and that is to become a World Champion.

Born to Chinese immigrants, Tse began training in kickboxing at the age of 13. He competed in his first amateur bout at the age of 15, and has since then turned professional, racking up a solid record en route to his ONE Super Series debut. Training under James Roesler at Ultimate Gym Australia, Tse aims to make his country proud and inspire his people. Like Akimoto, he has his sights set on a ONE World Championship.

In a ONE Super Series Kickboxing contest, former ONE Atomweight Kickboxing World Champion Kai Ting Chuang of Chinese Taiwan will take on former ONE World Title Challenger Janet “J.T.” Todd of the United States.

Chuang began boxing as a young teenager and showed enough promise in the sport to become a part of a famous high school team in Chinese Taiwan. Her pugilistic prowess eventually earned her a college scholarship to the National Taiwan University of Sport, where she met her current trainer, former K-1 competitor Wang Chung Yaun. After winning three WAKO Kickboxing Titles, Chuang found her way among the world’s best martial artists in ONE Championship. In a perfect promotional debut in 2018, Chuang defeated Yodcherry Sityodtong to capture the inaugural ONE Atomweight Kickboxing World Title.

A two-time Pan-American Muay Thai Champion, Todd picked up Muay Thai as a simple hobby in her early 20’s. When she discovered she had a natural talent for the sport, she decided to dedicate her time and effort into her budding professional career. Todd previously trained under the legendary Sangtiennoi Sor Rungroj at his gym. She challenged for the inaugural ONE Atomweight Muay Thai World Title just recently falling to Stamp Fairtex earlier this year. Now Todd has a chance to redeem herself and claim her second victory with ONE Super Series when she takes on Chuang.

Finnish mixed martial arts sensation Aleksi “The Giant” Toivonen is ready to step into the ONE Championship ring for the very first time in his promotional debut against ONE Warrior Series alumn Akihiro “Superjap” Fujisawa of Japan. Toivonen joins a stacked flyweight division looking to make a huge statement in his first bout. But Fujisawa looks to get his career back on track following a slight setback in his latest outing.

In a ONE Super Series Muay Thai contest, Malaysian stars Saiful “The Vampire” Merican and Mohammed “Jordan Boy” Bin Mahmoud are set to go at it for three rounds in an all-striking battle.

This is Merican’s first bout under the ONE Super Series banner. He had previously competed for ONE Championship under mixed martial arts. Mohammed, on the other hand, has regularly competed for ONE Super Series and is one of the most active competitors on the roster.

In the preliminaries, Indonesia’s Adrian “The Papua Badboy” Mattheis is scheduled to lock horns with China’s Liu Peng Shuai in a strawweight mixed martial arts contest, while former WBC Muay Thai World Champion George Mann of Scotland takes on Thailand’s Sorgraw Petchyindee Academy in a ONE Super Series Muay Thai showdown.