Former UFC champions Demetrious Johnson and Eddie Alvarez will get their second fights for their new promotional home in August.
“ONE Championship 99: Dawn of Heroes” is set for Aug. 2 at Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines, the promotion announced Monday. The event streams on the B/R Live app.
The card will feature a muay Thai flyweight title bout in ONE’s Super Series as the broadcast headliner. But at the top of the MMA heap is the return of former UFC and Bellator lightweight champion Alvarez (29-7), who is set to meet former ONE champ Eduard Folayang (21-7).
Also set for the card are a pair of flyweight grand prix semifinal bouts. Johnson (28-3-1) meets Tatsumitsu Wada (21-10-2) on one side of the bracket, and Kairat Akhmetov (26-2) fights Danny Kingad (12-1) on the other side. The winners will face each other in the tournament final later this year.
Plus, Honorio Banario (14-8) takes on Timofey Nastyukhin (13-4) in the lightweight tournament semifinals. Banario steps into the tournament for Lowen Tynanes, who had to pull out with an injury.
Alvarez signed with ONE in 2018 after a loss to Dustin Poirier brought his UFC tenure to an end. He made his promotional debut in March against Nastyukhin in the opening round of the lightweight tournament, but suffered a first-round TKO upset loss in Tokyo.
Folayang won ONE’s vacant lightweight title in November 2018 against Amir Khan. It was his second title reign. But in his first defense on the same card Alvarez lost to Nastyukhin, Folayang was submitted by legendary veteran Shinya Aoki and surrendered the belt.
Johnson lost his UFC flyweight title to Henry Cejudo (who two days ago won a second title at bantamweight at UFC 238) in August 2018. Then he signed with ONE and submitted Yuya Wakamatsu at ONE Championship 92 in March in the opening round of the flyweight tournament. The split-decision loss to Cejudo was his first setback in nearly seven years.
Wada got back on track in April after a loss to Kingad in January. He beat Gustavo Balart by decision and now takes on Johnson to try to advance to the 125-pound tournament final.
The ONE Championship 99 lineup includes:
For more on ONE Championship 99, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.
